Introducing Chittagong Division
Chittagong division contains some of the highlights of Bangladesh. And we mean literally HIGH lights. This fantastically diverse region stretches from the world’s longest, unbroken beach at the brash resort of Cox’s Bazar to Burmese-tasting hills 1000m high and a thousand stories thick. Much of the region feels like a different country altogether. If you’ve spent much time absorbing the ruler-straight horizons elsewhere in Bangladesh, it will be a pleasure to stare at ruffled peaks and troughs, and after visiting so many straight-edged mosques, the golden pinnacles of a Buddhist stupa are poetry indeed. Even the people themselves are different; gone are the clogging crowds of India, in are the gentle smiles of southeast Asia.
Chittagong division is truly a meeting point and, unfortunately, sometimes a battleground between two very different sets of ideas, religions, cultures, peoples and landscapes. All this means that it’s not just one of the highlights of Bangladesh, but that it is one of the most fascinating areas of Asia.
Activities in Chittagong Division
Chittagong
The sticky city of Chittagong (the second-largest city in Bangladesh, with a population of around four million) is the country’s busiest port.
Cox's Bazar
Welcome to beach life, Bangladeshi style.
Chittagong Division destination guides
Chittagong Hill Tracts
Decidedly untypical of Bangladesh topography and culture, the 13,180 sq km of the Hill Tracts comprises a mass of hills, ravines and cliffs covered with dense jungle, bamboo, creepers and shrubs.
Rangamati
The elongated village of Rangamati, 77km east of Chittagong, is beautifully situated over a series of islands in Kaptai Lake and is, alongside Cox’s Bazar, the place every Bangladeshi wants to take their summer holidays.
Comilla
Comilla is a boisterous and bustling market town 90km southeast of Dhaka and a few kilometres west of the Indian state of Tripura.
Shopping in Chittagong Division