Good Time to Visit
Weather
Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon climate, with a hot season in March to June with heavy thunderstorms. The main rainy season is June to September, when rainfall averages over 250 cm. The best time to visit is during the cool season, between November and March.
Visitors are advised to bring lightweight cottons and linens throughout the year, with waterproofs during the monsoon season and warmer clothes for the evenings during the cool season.
More information about the Bangladeshi weather may be found in Climate in Bangladesh.
Festivals
The most important secular festival is Pohela Baishakh or Bengali New Year, the beginning of the Bengali calendar. Other festivities include Nobanno, Poush parbon (festival of Poush) and observance of national days like Shohid Dibosh.
Durga Puja, a five day Hindu festival, is held in October, ending with a parade of effigies to Sadarghat. A mela is held in Dhamrai in late June/early July during the full moon. Sitakunda, north of Chittagong, holds the Siva Chaturdasi Festival over ten days during February, attracting thousands of Hindu pilgrims.
Buddhist festivals are held every Bengali New Year in Chitmorong in mid-April. Comilla holds Hindu and Buddhist festivals in November as part of a local trade fair. Holi, the Spring Festival is held in March. Buddha Purnima, which marks the birth of Gautama Buddha, is one of the most important Buddhist festivals while Christmas, called Borodin (Great Day) in Bangla is celebrated by the minority Christian population.
The two Eids, Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha are the largest festivals in the Islamic calendar. The day before Eid ul-Fitr is called Chad Rat (the night of the Moon), and is often marked by firecrackers. Other Muslim holidays are also observed.
Public Holidays
The following table shows the public holidays celebrated in Bangladesh:
| Date | Holiday |
|---|---|
| 1 January | New Year's Day |
| 21 February | International Mother Language Day |
| 26 March | Independence Day |
| 14 April | Bangla New Year |
| 1 May | Labour Day |
| 2 May | Buddha Purnima |
| 2 October | Durga Puja (Dashami) |
| 20 October | Shab e-Qadr (Evening of Destiny) |
| 7 November | National Revolution Day |
| 16 December | Victory Day (Bijoy Dibosh) |
| Variable* | Islamic New Year |
| Variable* | Eid-e-Milad-un Nabi (Birth of the Prophet) |
| Variable* | Shab-e Barat (Ascension of the Prophet) |
| Variable* | Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan) |
| Variable* | Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) |
* Although Muslim holidays always fall on the same day of the Islamic calendar, the date they are celebrated on the Gregorian calendar varies from year to year, due to the fact that the Islamic calendar is lunar whilst the Gregorian calendar is solar. Because this lunar year is about 11 days shorter than the solar year, Islamic holy days usually shift 11 days earlier each successive solar year. The method used to determine when each Islamic month begins also varies from country to country.
