Kalakopa and neighbouring Bandura were busy trading villages on the Ichamati in the 1800s, and their merchants left a string of mansions a few hundred metres apart. The best known are Jaj Bari and the older Kokil Peari house beside it, with a wide bathing ghat on its pond, and Ukil Bari next door. A short walk away is the temple-house of Khelaram Data, its lower floor now half buried, with eight small hut-roofed rooms around a central shrine; legend makes Khelaram a river bandit who gave his loot to the poor.
- Best time
- November to February
- Give it
- Half a day
- Cost
- No entry fees; bus from Dhaka about ৳100 each way; rickshaw around the houses about ৳150–200
How to get to Kalakopa zamindar houses
Nawabganj is about 40 km south-west of central Dhaka. Buses from Gulistan and Babubazar reach Nawabganj in about 2 hours; a rickshaw or auto then takes 10–15 minutes to Kalakopa.
Several houses are lived in or used as offices; look from outside unless you are invited in.
More to see in Dhaka
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An unfinished Mughal fort of 1678 in the old city, with a mosque, a governor's hall and the tomb of Pari Bibi set among lawns.
- Best time
- November to February
- Give it
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Entry roughly ৳20–30 for Bangladeshis, more for foreign visitors; rickshaw from Azimpur about ৳50
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- Best time
- November to February
- Give it
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Entry roughly ৳20–40 for Bangladeshis, more for foreign visitors; a boat across the river about ৳20–50 a person
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- Best time
- November to February
- Give it
- About an hour
- Cost
- Free to view from outside; rickshaw from Farmgate about ৳30–50
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- Best time
- November to February
- Give it
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Entry free; bus from Gabtoli about ৳50 each way
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- Best time
- June–July for the Rath Yatra, or November to February
- Give it
- Half a day
- Cost
- No entry fees; bus from Gabtoli under ৳100 each way; rickshaw in town about ৳30–50