Bangladesh: 9-Day Private Heritage Expedition to Ancient Wonders

I had an unforgettable journey! The trip was truly enhanced by the rich history and lively culture, complemented by stunning archaeological sites that left me in awe. The warmth and hospitality of the locals made the experience even more special. The accommodations were both clean and comfortable, ensuring a restful stay. The seamless combination of private and public transport—ranging from cars and boats to ferries, trains, and rickshaws—was perfectly organized. My guide, Mahib, brought a wonderful blend of charm and expertise, elevating the entire tour. Every driver was prompt and skilled, making the travel experience smooth and enjoyable. A heartfelt thank you to Travel Trips for curating such an exceptional adventure!

Hello I travel with travel trips in Bangladesch. My Guide was Mahib a very nice person. He give me a lot of information. We also have nice time together and a lot of fun. The tour was well organised and the Hotels clean. The trip with a beautiful combination of private and public transport included private cars, Rail, Ferry, boats Rickshaw TukTuk etc I got mostly cars. All drivers goes safety. Good hotels. Thanks a lot of the nice 9 days experience of Bangladesch. Herbert

"We have been fortunate enough in having the opportunity from the start of our adventures in Bangladesh in meeting Mahibur Rahman and him becoming our go-to guide. We have done three tours with him including this "9 days World Heritage tour of Bangladesh" and have never been disappointed in the least. He is very organized, itinerary meticulously planned and agreed to in advance and always felt safe and secure. The tour was very interesting based on culture and heritage of Bangladesh. Mahibur makes sure all needs are met and if not goes out of his way to ensure that they are. Even when he is under the weather, as he was during our latest trip, he made sure that our wants and needs were taken care of. We definitely would recommend this tour and him as a tour guide and have given his name to colleagues and friends. Thank you Mahibur for being not only our tour guide but becoming our friend as well."

First of all: You should generally refrain from traveling to Bangladesh until at least February 2024. Because of the election in January 2024, there were protests in November 2023 with dangerous situations and restrictions on our travel itinerary. General: We did not expect the trip to be quite so easy. Most of the journeys are made by tuktuk. Sometimes up to 70 km a day and bad roads. What we found particularly dangerous were the tuktuk and car journeys at night. Here you should definitely change the plan to avoid this. There were also no belts in the car to fasten yourself. You should also only have backpacks with you because traveling with suitcases is very arduous (you always have your luggage with you during the day)! The suitcases were almost easier to transport in the tuktuk than in a car journey. The accommodations are very simple. In Bogra, for example, the Momo Inn (5* on Google 4.5) was swapped for a motel (Parjatan Motel on Google 4.0). Considering that when booking as a couple you only need one room but pay as an individual traveler, better accommodation could be booked (some of these were very moldy, worn and had lots of insects). In general, you wonder why the trip is so expensive when you consider the prices for hotel rooms (40 euros per night) or for the 3-day cruise (with permission on the ship without AC, which was rather simpler than the other ships that were on the way, for 150 euros per person). Since you otherwise use the train (5 euros per person), public bus and tuk-tuks, the price of the trip is simply too high. The tour guide was a bit difficult to understand, and an American on the cruise also had a poor understanding of his English. There wasn't much information about the country and its people. You were also very strongly patronized about what to eat, what, where and how to take photos, etc. We personally found this exhausting. But this seems to be the general mentality in Bangladesh. Most of the time there were options to decide, although it was usually clear which was the right one and which was ultimately made. If you are OK with all of this and know what you are getting into, then it can be a really intense, authentic experience. We have certainly never been so close to the local population as we were on this trip. What really spoiled the impression in the end was that the police in Bogra gave us the choice of staying in the motel in Bogra for 2-3 days because of the protests, with an uncertain outcome. Or driving back to Rajshahi immediately because it was too dangerous in Bogra. Our tour guide told us this and said that he was also very scared, which worried us a lot. We drove 120 km at night with the driver, who had already been on the road for a total of 16 hours. At the same time, we were pressured to book flight tickets from Rajshahi to Dhaka, which we were supposed to pay for ourselves (approx. 30 euros per person). We would have preferred to have the tour guide pay for the ticket as well. We did not understand why the agency did not take care of this, especially since the costs for another transfer and a day's program were not covered. In any case, we then brought our departure forward. Our tour guide was very surprised because we had another trip to Dhaka the next day. We were very surprised by this, first they spread great fear and then everything was completely unproblematic. It also didn't fit that we were taken to the airport with a police escort. We had already experienced at the train station in Rajshahi that the situation can change quickly, just seconds after we left the station, a group of demonstrators drove into the station. It was also sad that Travel Trips, as a tour operator, no longer responded to a WhatsApp regarding the flights that we had to pay for ourselves. It didn't bother us, but just for your information, in Dhaka the tours were/should be carried out in a larger group (i.e. not a complete private trip).

Als erstes: Man sollte bis mindestens Februar 2024 von Reisen nach Bangladesch allgemein Abstand halten. Wegen der Wahl im Januar kam es bereits im November 2023 zu Protesten mit gefährlichen Situationen und Einschränkungen in unserem Reiseverlauf. Allgemein: Wir hätten die Reise nicht ganz so einfach erwartet. Man legt die meisten Strecken mit dem Tuktuk zurück. Teilweise bis zu 70 km am Tag. Was wir als besonders gefährlich empfanden waren die Tuktuk- und Autofahrten bei Nacht. Hier sollte man unbedingt den Plan umstellen, dass dies vermieden wird. Auch gab es im Auto keine Gurte zum Anschnallen. Auch sollte man maximal Rucksäcke dabei haben, weil die Reise mit Koffern sehr beschwerlich ist! Im Tuktuk waren die Koffer fast besser zu transportieren, als in einer Autofahrt der Reise. Die Unterkünfte sind sehr einfach. In Bogra wurde z.B. das Momo Inn (5* bei Google 4,5) gegen ein Motel (Parjatan Motel bei Google 4,0) getauscht. In Anbetracht, dass man bei Buchung als Paar nur ein Zimmer benötigt, aber wie Einzelreisende zahlt, könnten bessere Unterkünfte gebucht werden. Allgemein fragt man sich warum die Reise so teuer ist, wenn man unterwegs die Preise für Hotelzimmer (40 Euro pro Nacht), oder für die 3 Tage Kreuzfahrt (mit Permission auf dem im Vergleich zu den anderen Schiffen die unterwegs waren eher einfacheren Schiff ohne AC für 150 Euro pro Person). Da man ansonsten Zug (5 Euro pro Person), öffentlichen Bus und Tuktuks nutzt ist der Preis der Reise einfach zu hoch. Unser Reiseleiter Mahib war etwas schwierig zu verstehen, auch ein Amerikaner auf der Kreuzfahrt verstand sein Englisch eher schlecht. Es gab auch nicht so viele information rund um Land&Leute. Auch wurde man sehr nachdrücklich bevormundet, was man essen, von was, wo und wie man Fotos machen muss etc. Wir empfanden dies persönlich als anstrengend. Dies scheint aber allgemein die Mentalität in Bangladesch zu sein. Meist gab es Entscheidungsmöglichkeiten, wobei meist klar war, welche die richtige ist, die am Ende auch gemacht wird. Wem das alles so passt und weiß worauf er sich einlässt, dann kann es eine wirklich sehr intensive, authentische Erfahrung werden. Wir waren auf jeden Fall noch nie so nah an der Bevölkerung dran, als bei dieser Reise. Was bei am Ende den Eindruck sehr getrübt hat, war dass die Polizei in Bogra und die Wahl ließ, wegen der Proteste für 2-3 Tage im Motel in Bogra zu bleiben mit ungewissem Ausgang. Oder aber unverzüglich zurück nach Rajshani, weil es in Bogra zu gefährlich sei. Unser Reiseleiter teilte uns dies mit und meinte, der er auch Angst habe, was uns sehr beunruhigt. Wir fuhren 120 km bei Nacht mit dem Fahrer, der dann insgesamt 16h unterwegs war. Zeitlgeich wurden wir dazu gedrängt Flugtickets von Rajshani nach Dhaka zu buchen, die wir selbst bezahlen sollten (ca. 30 Euro pro Person). Am liebsten hätten wir auch das Ticket vom Reiseleiter bezahlen sollen. Warum dies nicht durch die Agentur erschloss sich uns nicht, zumal ja ein anderer Transfer und ein Tag Programm entfiel. Auf jeden Fall haben wir dann unsere Ausreise vorgezogen. Worauf hin unser Reiseleiter ganz verwundet war, weil wir am nächsten Tag ja noch einen Ausflug in Dhaka hätten. Wir waren darüber sehr verwundert, erst wurde große Angst verbreitet und dann sei alles ganz im Ordnung gewesen. Dazu passte dann auch nicht, dass wir mit einer Polizeieskorte zum Flughafen gebracht wurden. Das die Lage schnell umschlagen kann, hatten wir auch schon am Bahnhof in Rajshahi erlebt, nur Sekunden nachdem wir aus dem Bahnhof gekommen waren, steuerte ein Gruppe Demonstranten in den Bahnhof.