Known for
- 1
The maharajas' town on the Brahmaputra.
The zamindars of Muktagachha gave Mymensingh its land and its finest buildings: Shashi Lodge, their marble-floored palace in the middle of town, and Alexandra Castle, the iron-framed garden house where Tagore stayed in 1926.
- 2
Muktagachha, a palace town.
Sixteen zamindar families once ruled this small town west of the city. Their Rajbari, a pair of mirror-image temples from 1820 and a Shiva temple cut from stone stand a few minutes' walk apart.
- 3
Zainul Abedin's river.
The painter who drew the famine of 1943 grew up sketching by the Brahmaputra here. His museum stands in a riverside park, with an art school and an open-air stage beside it.
- 4
Nazrul's school years in Trishal.
In 1914 a police officer from Kazir Shimla took the boy Nazrul into his home and into the Darirampur school. The house, the school and the banyan where he is said to have played the flute are all remembered now.
- 5
A campus of gardens and fish.
Bangladesh Agricultural University spreads over 1,200 acres on the Old Brahmaputra: a Paul Rudolph master plan, a botanical garden of 1,500 species, a fish museum and the Bijoy '71 sculpture.
- 6
Monda.
Muktagachha's flat milk sweet has come from one family since 1824 and became a geographical indication product in 2024. Mymensingh town adds its sour jilapi.
Best season
GoodFairNov–Feb
- Nazrul's birth anniversary 11 Jaishtha (late May), on the Nazrul Academy field in Trishal
- Kuasha Utsab Winter, at the Nazrul university in Trishal: folk music, crafts and pitha
- Rash Purnima kirtan 56 prahars of kirtan at Muktagachha's Radha Gobinda temple (November)
- Kali Puja at Boro Kali Bari Kali Puja night (October or November), with themed pandals
- Zainul Abedin's anniversary Every December at his museum: talks and a painting competition
- Martyrs' Day at Abdul Jabbar's memorial 21 February, at the language martyr's memorial library in his home village, Panchua, Gaffargaon
November to February is the time to come. Mymensingh is a little cooler than Dhaka, the days are dry and clear, and in December and January the temperature drops below 15 °C, cold enough for a shawl in the evening by the river.
April and May are the hottest months, up to 40 °C with heavy humidity. The monsoon usually arrives in May or June and lasts through August, sometimes raining for days on end; the palaces and museums are still open, but the Brahmaputra banks and Kadigarh's forest paths turn to mud.
Plan around a festival if you can. Trishal celebrates Nazrul's birthday on 11 Jaishtha (late May) on his old school's field, as it has every year since 1965. In winter the Nazrul university's students hold the Kuasha Utsab, a fog festival of folk music, crafts and fifty kinds of pitha, and at Rash Purnima in November Muktagachha's Radha Gobinda temple holds 56 prahars of continuous kirtan.
Getting there
Train
From Dhaka
About 3 h
Intercity trains via the Airport station, Joydebpur and Gaffargaon.
Bus
From Dhaka
From Mohakhali, about 120 km on the N3 through Bhaluka and Trishal.
Getting around
In town
Rickshaws and auto-rickshaws; Muktagachha is 16 km west, Trishal about 22 km south.
By train is the old way and still the cheapest. The Dhaka–Mymensingh line opened in 1886, and intercity trains such as the Tista, Brahmaputra, Jamuna and Agnibina Express run from Dhaka via the Airport station, Joydebpur and Gaffargaon, taking about three hours or a little more.
By bus, Mymensingh is about 120 km north of Dhaka's Mohakhali bus stand along the N3 highway through Bhaluka; Trishal and the Nazrul university lie on the same road, south of the city.
Around the district, rickshaws and auto-rickshaws cover the town. Muktagachha is 16 km west of the city, Trishal about 22 km south, and Kadigarh National Park lies off the road from Seedstore Bazar to Sakhipur in Bhaluka.
Local food
Muktagachhar mondaMust try
Hand-pressed milk sweet, made by the Gopal Pal family since 1824; a GI product since 2024.
Tok jilapiMust try
Sour jilapi; Jakir Miah's is the one people name.
Kathkochur bora
Fritters of wood taro.
Chepa shutkir puli
Dumplings filled with fermented dried fish.
Muktagachha's monda comes first. It is a round, flat sweet of milk solids and sugar, pressed by hand on cloth so that one side is smooth and the other cracked at the edge. Ram Gopal Pal first made it in 1824 and served it to the zamindars; his descendants still run the business and still keep the recipe to themselves. In winter they also make it with date-palm molasses.
In town, look for sour jilapi. The district's own list of favourites names Jakir Miah's tok jilapi, and the old bazaar has a Jilapi Patty where they are fried and sold.
Home cooking is rice with fish or meat curry, dal and fried vegetables, with khichuri for a simple meal. Two local dishes to ask for are kathkochur bora, fritters of wood taro, and chepa shutkir puli, dumplings filled with fermented dried fish.
Places to see
Fort and palaceSanjayBeen · CC BY-SA 4.0Alexandra Castle
The maharaja's iron-framed garden house, called Lohar Kuthi, where Tagore stayed four days in 1926.
Fort and palaceBhoboghure · CC BY 4.0Atharobari Zamindar Bari
The zamindars' house that gave Atharobari, "eighteen houses", its name, where Tagore was entertained in 1926.
Park, eco park and picnic spotTopumym · CC BY 4.0Bangladesh Agricultural University campus
A 1,200-acre campus on the Old Brahmaputra, planned by Paul Rudolph, with a 25-acre botanical garden and the country's first agricultural museum.
Monument and memorialMrb Rafi · CC BY-SA 4.0Bijoy '71
Shyamal Chowdhury's sculpture of a farmer, a woman and a student fighting for independence, on the campus that was a Pakistani army headquarters in 1971.
Hindu templeBhoboghure · CC BY 4.0Boro Kali Bari
Mymensingh's oldest Kali temple, about 300 years old, home of the goddess known as Joy Kali.
Mymensingh Boro Masjid
The town's great mosque by the Brahmaputra, begun in the 1850s under a tin roof and now a three-storey hall for 5,000.
Fish Museum & Biodiversity Centre
One of the largest fish collections in the region, on the agricultural university's campus.
Gabrakhali Garo Hills Tourist Centre
167 green hillocks of the Garo hills on the Indian border in Haluaghat, with views across to Meghalaya, a lake and a Garo museum.
Hindu templeAnup Sadi · CC BY-SA 4.0Jora Mandir (Anandamoyee Kali and Shiva temples)
Two identical temples of 1820, a mirror pair to Shiva and Kali outside Muktagachha's Rajbari.
Forest and mangroveMahfuzulangkon17 · CC BY-SA 4.0Kadigarh National Park
A small national park of 344 hectares of sal forest in Bhaluka, declared in 2010; quiet and little visited.
Fort and palaceTopumym · CC BY-SA 4.0Muktagachha Rajbari
The Aat Ani palace of the Muktagachha zamindars, behind a great gate, once home to the first revolving stage in Asia outside Kolkata.
Museum and galleryTopumym · CC BY-SA 4.0Mymensingh Museum
Three rooms of treasures from the district's zamindar palaces, in Madan Babu's old garden house.
Monument and memorialNahian · CC BY-SA 4.0Government Nazrul Academy (Darirampur School)
The school of 1913 where Nazrul studied, with the two rooms he used kept as they were.
Park, eco park and picnic spotJubair Sayeed Linas · CC BY-SA 4.0Nazrul's Bottola and the Nazrul University
The banyan at Namapara where the boy Nazrul is said to have played the flute, and the university built beside it in his name.
Nazrul Smriti Kendra, Kazir Shimla
The Darogabari, home of the police officer who brought the boy Nazrul to Trishal in 1914, now a memorial centre.
Sri Sri Radha Gobinda Temple, Muktagachha
A living temple beside the Rajbari, known as the 56-prahar ground for its Rash Purnima kirtan.
Santoshpur Rubber Garden
A state rubber plantation in Fulbaria's forest country, with a rubber-processing plant inside and monkeys in the trees.
Fort and palaceNajmul Huda · CC BY-SA 4.0Shashi Lodge
The Muktagachha maharajas' palace in the heart of Mymensingh, rebuilt after the 1897 earthquake and known as the town's Rajbari.
Hindu templeTopumym · CC BY-SA 4.0Stone Shiva Temple, Muktagachha
A small Shiva temple carved from stone in 1863 by an architect from Patna, rare in a country of brick.
Museum and galleryHermitage17 · Public domainShilpacharya Zainul Abedin Sangrahashala
The museum of Bangladesh's great painter, in a riverside park on the Brahmaputra where he learned to draw.
Park, eco park and picnic spotSanjayBeen · CC BY-SA 4.0Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Udyan
The town's riverside park on the Old Brahmaputra, with rides, a mini zoo, boats on the river and the Zainul Abedin museum inside.
Times, fares and opening hours change. Check before you go.
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