Known for
- 1
The great monastery.
Paharpur, the Somapura Mahavihara, is the largest Buddhist monastery south of the Himalayas and a UNESCO World Heritage Site: a vast square of monks' cells around a stepped, cross-shaped temple mound, with a site museum beside it. It is the reason most people come to Naogaon.
- 2
Ruins across the Barind.
Beyond Paharpur the district keeps a whole trail of the old Bengal: Halud Vihara and Jagaddala, two more Buddhist sites; the granite pillar standing in the middle of Dibar Dighi; the grey stone Kusumba mosque of 1558, the one on the five-taka note; and Tagore's Patisar kachari, where he managed the family estate.
Best season
GoodFairNov–Feb
- Tagore's birth anniversary, Patisar 25 Boishakh (early May), songs and a fair at the kachari
November to February: dry, cool days that suit walking open ruins with no shade. Summer on the Barind is very hot; the rains make the village roads muddy but turn Altadighi green. Mango season (June and July) is a reason of its own.
Getting there
Bus
Dhaka
5–6 h
To Naogaon town; day and night coaches
Train
Dhaka
To Santahar junction, then bus to Naogaon town
Getting around
Naogaon town
Local buses and CNGs to the upazilas; hire a car to see several sites in a day
Buses run from Dhaka to Naogaon town in about 5 to 6 hours. By train, Santahar junction in the south of the district is on the Dhaka–Rajshahi and northern lines; for Paharpur, Jamalganj station in Joypurhat is the closest. Around the district, local buses, CNGs and hired cars link the sites; Paharpur and Halud Vihara pair well in one day, Jagaddala and Altadighi in another.
Local food
Barind mangoesMust try
From Sapahar and Porsha, June and July
Naogaon is rice country, and its Barind uplands in Sapahar and Porsha have become one of the biggest mango-growing areas in Bangladesh. In season, buy mangoes straight from the orchards and markets; the rest of the year, plain Bengali rice meals with river fish are what the town's eateries do best.
Places to see
Park, eco park and picnic spotDebashish95 · CC BY-SA 4.0Altadighi National Park
A sal forest around the district's largest tank, right on the Indian border at Dhamoirhat, declared a national park in 2011.
Monument and memorialRangan Datta Wiki · CC BY-SA 4.0Dibar Dighi and the Divya Pillar
A great tank at Patnitala with a carved, eight-sided granite pillar about 31 feet tall rising from the middle of the water, linked by tradition with the Kaivarta rebel king Divya.
Fort and palaceRaifarusa · Public domainDubalhati Rajbari
The crumbling palace of the Dubalhati zamindars, about 7 km south-west of Naogaon town: tall Roman-style columns and courtyards from an estate that once reached across north Bengal.
Buddhist vihara and pagodaMohammad Mahmodul ha… · CC BY 3.0Halud Vihara
A large brick mound of an early Buddhist settlement in Badalgachhi, about 10 km south of Paharpur: a short detour on the way there.
Buddhist vihara and pagodaNajmul Huda · CC BY-SA 4.0Jagaddala Mahavihara
The excavated base of a Pala-era Buddhist monastery near the Indian border at Dhamoirhat, linked with King Ramapala and long known as a seat of learning.
Mosque and shrineMemotiur · CC BY-SA 4.0Kusumba Mosque
A grey stone mosque of 1558 on the bank of a large tank at Manda, built in the last years of Afghan rule in Bengal: the mosque printed on the five-taka note.
Buddhist vihara and pagodaAtiqur.Rahman · CC BY-SA 4.0Paharpur Buddhist Vihara
Somapura Mahavihara, the great monastery the Pala king Dharmapala founded in the late 8th century: the largest Buddhist monastery south of the Himalayas and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.
Museum and galleryNajmul Huda · CC BY-SA 4.0Patisar Rabindra Kachari Bari
The Tagore family's estate office on the Nagar river at Atrai, where Rabindranath came from 1890 to run the Kaligram estate and wrote poems, stories and letters: now a protected building and small museum.
Sources 2
Times, fares and opening hours change. Check before you go.
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