Accommodation in the capital ranges from real budget accommodation to five-star services. The decision of where to stay depends on what you’are doing in Dhaka. If it’s business, and your contacts are in the Gulshan/Banani area, there are a lot of choices and some good deals to be had if you shop around. However, if you’are doing anything finance-related you might be heading to Motijheel frequently, which can make for a hectic city crossing both in the morning and on the way back. Budget travellers will find more options in the Motijheel area as well. Backpackers and adventurers should check out www.couchsurfing.com – a unique online project whereby members offer other members their couches/spare rooms or floors to crash on. Membership in the system is on a trust basis, and given the nature of Bangladeshi hospitality, this is a great way to find a free place to stay and have a local show you around at the same time.

What follows is comprehensive coverage of Dhaka’s upmarket eating options. Not all the options serve the dishes authentically and every menu has weaker and stronger choices. Just because a restaurant has higher prices doesn’t always make the food more delicious, as there remains a sort of prestige associated with eating out in a fancy Dhaka restaurant. Nevertheless, there are some real standouts, and even a few places that manage to keep you coming back again and again, because of the great value and taste that they offer. These restaurants are recommended below.

If you’re on an especially tight budget, you will find hundreds of restaurants serving mounds of rice alongside a thin dal and a rather oily curry. Eating this way will cost less than US$2 per day, even in Dhaka. Thankfully, this is not the case in Old Dhaka, where some of the city’s most traditional food still lives on to this day.