Known for
- 1
Palaces of the zamindars.
Natore was the seat of Rani Bhabani's great estate. Her rajbari stands in the town among ponds and old trees, and a few kilometres north the Dighapatia palace, now Uttara Gonobhaban, keeps its gardens, gates and lily ponds.
- 2
Water in the rains.
In the monsoon the low land fills: Chalan Beel spreads across the district's east and Halti Beel turns into a sea with a single road across it.
Best season
GoodFairNov–Feb
November to February for the palaces, in cool clear weather. For the beels come in August to October, when they are full and boats go out; by the dry season they turn into fields.
Getting there
Bus
Dhaka
About 5 h
Coaches towards Rajshahi and the north from Gabtali and Kalyanpur
Train
Dhaka
Northbound intercity trains stop at Natore
Bus
Rajshahi
About 1 h
Frequent buses via Puthia
Buses from Dhaka take about five hours over the Bangabandhu bridge. Trains to the north stop at Natore station. From Rajshahi it is about an hour by road. In town, auto-rickshaws reach the rajbari, Uttara Gonobhaban and Halti Beel.
Local food
Kancha gollaMust try
Fresh-curd sweet from the town's old sweet shops
Natore's kancha golla, a soft fresh-curd sweet, is the town's pride; in the rains, freshwater fish from the beels.
Places to see
River, lake and haorShahnoor Habib Munmun · CC BY 3.0Chalan Beel
The largest wetland in the country, a web of beels and rivers spread over Natore, Pabna and Sirajganj that fills in the monsoon and turns to rice fields in the dry season.
Dayarampur Rajbari
The old palace of Dayaram Roy, the able officer of the Natore Raj who founded the Dighapatia house, at Bagatipara in the south of the district.
River, lake and haorMasum-al-hasan · CC BY-SA 4.0Halti Beel
A wide beel north of Natore town that becomes an inland sea in the monsoon, crossed by a raised road where people come to walk, swim and take boats.
Fort and palaceAshik2850 · CC BY-SA 4.0Natore Rajbari
The palace grounds of the Natore Raj, the estate Rani Bhabani ran and enlarged in the 18th century: several old buildings among large ponds and trees in the town.
Fort and palaceAshik2850 · CC BY-SA 4.0Uttara Gonobhaban
The palace of the Dighapatia rajas, now the government's official residence in the north: a moated compound with a clock-tower gate, Italian-style garden, statues and lily ponds.
Sources 2
Times, fares and opening hours change. Check before you go.
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