Where to Stay in Cox’s Bāzār, Chittagong

What is Cox’s Bāzār known for?

Cox's Bazar is the beach town of Bangladesh. On the coast of the Bay of Bengal in the far southeast, it runs beside a beach of sand that stretches unbroken for scores of miles, the longest of its kind on earth, and it keeps the endless golden sands and surf, a busy harbour of fishing boats, the drying grounds of the famous dried fish, and the wooded hills and Buddhist pagodas along the coast behind. The long beach runs out of sight.

Waves roll in from the bay.

What are the main landmarks in Cox’s Bāzār?

The long beach is the glory of Cox's Bazar. The unbroken strand of golden sand running scores of miles down the coast, the longest of its kind in the world, draws crowds to the surf, the emblem of the town, by the sea. A harbour lies to the south.

The fishing boats crowd the estuary mouth, their catch spread to dry on the shore, while the beach resorts, the coastal pagodas, and the offshore islands mark the coast around Cox's Bazar.

What is the history of Cox’s Bāzār?

Cox's Bazar took its name from an English officer. In the days of the East India Company, an officer named Cox set up a market on this coast for people displaced by war, and the town that grew kept his name. The coast was long remote.

Far in the southeast corner of Bengal, among fishing villages and Buddhist Rakhine settlers, the town lived quietly by the sea and its fish for a long age. The great beach made it famous. In the last century the world discovered the vast unbroken beach of Cox's Bazar, said to be the longest natural sand beach on earth, and the town grew into the chief seaside resort of Bangladesh.

Fish still fill the harbour. The fishing boats and the drying grounds of dried fish kept their old trade as the hotels rose along the sands, and Cox's Bazar became a busy town of beach and boats. The long beach still draws the crowds.

Cox's Bazar keeps its beach and its harbour on the Bay of Bengal.

Where is Cox’s Bāzār?

Cox's Bazar lies in the far southeast of Bangladesh, on the coast of the Bay of Bengal near the Burmese border. The town sits on a narrow plain between the sea and green hills, where a long straight beach of golden sand runs down the coast, with wooded ridges rising inland and islands lying offshore. The beach runs straight and long.

Green hills rise behind the shore.

What is the climate of Cox’s Bāzār?

Cox's Bazar has a hot, wet tropical monsoon climate. Warm weather holds all year on the coast, with one of the heaviest monsoons in the land pouring down in the middle months and drier sunny weather the rest of the year. The monsoon soaks the coast.

Dry months draw the crowds.

How do you get to Cox’s Bāzār?

Cox's Bazar lies on the southeast coast, on the road and air south of Chittagong. Buses and the coast road run to it down from Chittagong along the shore, and an airport brings the holiday crowds. Boats run out to the islands.

Chittagong lies north up the coast.