Getting There & Away

Bus Buses for Sylhet, including Sylhet Express, all have their offices on the main drag near the town's main intersection. Those headed east towards Kamalganj (Tk 10) and Madhabkunda leave from Kamalganj Rd. If you're headed to Dhaka or Comilla you can catch buses en route from Sylhet on the main drag in the centre of town. They stop along this route and hail passengers. Expect to pay about Tk 70 for the cheapest Dhaka buses, Tk 150 for a chair coach and Tk 250 for an air-con bus to Dhaka. Two bus companies running air-con and ordinary chair coaches with offices on the main road are SylCom and NP Paribahan. Buses to Comilla cost about Tk 60 (Tk 110 for a chair coach), and to Sylhet Tk 30.

Train There are three trains a day in either direction to and from Dhaka. At the time of writing, departure times from Dhaka station were 7 am, 3.30 pm and 10 pm. According to the schedule, the trip takes five hours, but in reality it normally takes 5 and 1/2 hours. These trains continue on to Sylhet. The summer and winter train schedules vary slightly, so it's best to check.

Fares vary per train. It costs Tk 200/110 for 1st class/sulob on the morning train; Tk 200/110 for I st class/sulob on the afternoon train (Tk 300 for air-con); and Tk 350/110 for 1st class (sleeper)/sulob (Tk 500 for an air-con sleeper) on the evening train. Only the evening train has sleepers. Air-con compartments and sleepers must normally be booked at least several days in advance, and in practice you must book them to Sylhet, which costs about 20% more.

Heading back to Dhaka, you can take trains at 9 am, 4 pm and 11.30 pm. Only the afternoon and evening trains have air-con compartments and only the evening train has sleepers.

You can also travel from Chittagong to Sylhet via Comilla and Srimangal twice a day by express train; the trip takes about eight hours to Srimangal and 9 and 1/2 hours to Sylhet. One train departs from Chittagong at around 10.30 am, arriving in Srimangal in the late afternoon, the other leaves Chittagong at 9 pm, arriving in Srimangal around 5 am. Trains to Chittagong depart from Sylhet at 11.30 am and 10.30 pm, arriving in Srimangal about 90 minutes later. The fare to Chittagong is Tk 260/150 1st class/sulob. Only the night train has air-con sleepers (Tk 395).