In 1978, S. M. Sultan established Shishu Swarga as a community art school where rural children could learn painting without formal academic barriers. He also commissioned a massive sixty-foot two-storey wooden boat so students could float along the Chitra River and sketch waterways and birds from life. While the floating school now rests on the riverbank, the academy still hosts weekend art classes and workshops for young local painters. If visiting on a Friday morning, you can watch children painting river landscapes along the bank.
- Best time
- November to February
- Give it
- About an hour
- Cost
- Entry free; rickshaw from town centre roughly ৳25–40
How to get to Shishu Swarga
Beside the Chitra River near Sultan's home in Machimdia, a 10-minute rickshaw ride from central Narail.
Narail town is about 138 km from Dhaka, around 2.5 hours by road. Every way to get there is in the Narail guide.
More to see in Narail
Photo: Reaid Hossain, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons S. M. Sultan Memorial Complex এস এম সুলতান স্মৃতি সংগ্রহশালা
The riverside studio, grave and art gallery of painter S. M. Sultan, showcasing his large-scale canvases and preserved living quarters.
- Best time
- November to March
- Give it
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Entry roughly ৳20 for locals, ৳100 for foreign visitors; rickshaw from Rupganj about ৳25–35
Goalbari Otter Fishing গোয়ালবাড়ির ভোঁদড় দিয়ে মাছ শিকার
A rare living heritage in Goalbari village where traditional fishermen use trained otters to herd fish into their nets.
- Best time
- October to February
- Give it
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- No official fee; hiring a local country boat and tipping the fishing family roughly ৳500–1,000
Photo: Md. Shazidul, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Chitra Riverfront চিত্রা নদীর ঘাট
The wide river bends in Narail town near Victoria Bridge, renowned for the annual autumn S. M. Sultan memorial boat races.
- Best time
- September to February
- Give it
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free to visit; hiring a country boat for an hour costs about ৳150–250
Nihar Ranjan Gupta's Ancestral House নীহাররঞ্জন গুপ্তের পৈতৃক বাড়ি
The secluded colonial estate in Itna village of novelist Nihar Ranjan Gupta, creator of the famous Bengali sleuth Kiriti Roy.
- Best time
- November to February
- Give it
- 2–3 hours
- Cost
- Entry free; return auto-rickshaw hire roughly ৳250–350