Place
Cox's Bazar
Bangladesh's beach city, billed as the longest beach in the world at around 130 km — busier than Harry expected, with quad bikes on the sand and the country's luxury resorts along it.
Cox’s Bazar
The beach city on the south-east coast of Bangladesh, reached by a short domestic flight from Dhaka on a small aircraft. It is promoted relentlessly as the longest beach in the world — Harry says he was told this about twenty times before he arrived — and runs around 130 kilometres.
His main correction on arrival is that it is not the quiet seaside village he had pictured. From the roof of his hotel it reads as a proper city, busy and built up, with the resorts strung along the front.
The beach
Working and recreational at once. Quad bikes and ATVs for hire on the sand, which Harry rates well above the usual rental machines, plus jet skis and horses. Local fishing boats with a distinctive curved hull sit along the water.
The Sayeman Resort
The luxury end, and the most expensive room in the bundle. What the top suite includes:
- A piano, a lounge, a dining area and 360-degree views over the beach.
- A private hot tub, switched on by calling reception.
- A private sauna and steam room, in addition to the shared ones downstairs.
- Netflix, marble bathroom, and a shower open to the sky.
Downstairs: an infinity pool over the beach, a kids’ pool, poolside dining, spa, bar, and a gym that Harry found completely empty because every guest was at the pool.
Seafood
Cox’s Bazar is where Harry finally eats seafood in Bangladesh, which he concedes he should have done sooner given the coastline.
- Bombay duck, battered and fried, caught the same day — effectively fish and chips.
- Prawn curry in a creamy coconut sauce, the best thing he eats there.
- Dried fish, the pungent staple sold in the markets. He is straightforward that it isn’t for him and suspects it belongs in a dish rather than on a plate.
- Fried fish pakora as a starter.
Breakfast runs Bengali, Sri Lankan — including kottu — and Western. The Bengali options are heavy enough that he calls them closer to brunch, and spicy: his summary of the country is spice for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Harry’s tips
- Don’t come expecting a village. It’s a city with a beach attached.
- Eat the seafood. It’s the coast, and he waited too long.
- Ask reception to turn things on. Hot tubs, saunas and steam rooms here are switched on to order rather than left running.
Source
Videos featuring Cox's Bazar
Linked from
- Bangladesh Country