Chittagong rewards travellers who walk. Its best sights — a Sufi turtle pond, a candy-striped mosque, an 85m hill over the port — charge nothing, and mezbani beef, sampan crossings and bazaar tea keep a full day under 1,500 BDT.
The hilltop dargah sits above a walled tank holding roughly 450 giant black softshell turtles that pilgrims feed with 20 BDT packets of puffed rice. Open dawn to 21:00 daily; no ticket, only a donation box at the gate.
Chittagong's most photographed mosque: a candy-striped Chawkbazar landmark bristling with green, red and white minarets and onion domes. Free to enter outside prayer times, shoes left at the racks, women use the side hall.
Some 755 graves from the Burma campaign lie in clipped lawns on a hillside off Badshah Mia Road — the quietest green space in the central city and the one place traffic noise never reaches. Free, open 08:00 to 17:00.
A stepped road behind Parade Ground climbs to the red Victorian court complex on Fairy Hill, giving a free sweep over Anderkilla rooftops to the port cranes. Students fill the wall from 17:00; grounds empty at dusk.
The densest wholesale bazaar in the city: arcades of dried Bay of Bengal shutki fish, Hill Tracts spices, and cotton lungis from 60 BDT. Arrive before 11:00 while the fish rows still smell of the morning boats.
Chittagong's signature mezbani beef: bone-broth rich, heavy with dried chilli, ladled over plain rice at shared tables. A full plate with dal, salad and rice runs 220-280 BDT, well under half the Dhaka price for the same dish.
South Asia's biggest commodity wholesale market, where sacks of sugar, lentils and onions move by handcart along the Chaktai canal to the river. Walking costs nothing; the porters' chai stalls are the best free theatre in town.
After dark the strip round GEC fires up: 15 BDT singara, 40 BDT beef chapli kebab, 25 BDT jhalmuri, and Bonoful's mishti counters for 20 BDT rosogolla. Stalls run 18:00 to midnight and 150 BDT feeds two.
At about 85m this is the highest point in the only hilly major city in Bangladesh, and the free panorama takes in the Karnaphuli, the container terminal and the Bay. A paved 15-minute climb starts at Tiger Pass.
The country's only museum of its indigenous peoples: Chakma back-strap looms, Marma bamboo house models, Mru instruments and Tripuri textiles from the Hill Tracts, housed in a 1965 Agrabad block. Tickets are 20 BDT.
Take the local bus down Airport Road from Agrabad for 25 BDT to the river mouth, where the brown Karnaphuli meets the grey-green Bay and outbound container ships pass close to the seawall. Beach access is free.
Wooden sampans ferry workers across the Karnaphuli from Sadarghat for 10-15 BDT a seat, weaving between lighter vessels and fishing boats as the port lights come on. A whole boat for a half-hour circuit costs about 200 BDT.