Cox's Bazar Beach

Cox's Bazar is a city and beach on the southeastern coast of Bangladesh, famous for a sweep of sand that stretches for approximately 120 kilometres along the Bay of Bengal — by most accounts the longest natural unbroken sea beach on earth.

The beach has a gentle slope rather than a dramatic cliff drop, and the sea shelves very gradually, meaning you can walk a hundred metres into the water and still be at knee depth, a fact that makes it unusually safe for swimming and explains why families return year after year.

At sunrise the beach takes on a particular quality: the sky ignites in shades of orange and pink, the line between sea and sky dissolves into gold, and the first worshippers and joggers arrive before the heat sets in.

The Tamarisk trees that once formed a natural windbreak along the beach were nearly wiped out by a twentieth-century timber operation and have been slowly replanted through community effort; they offer shade and habitat by late afternoon when the sea breeze drops and the air is thick with salt heat.

The tourist season peaks between November and March when the weather is coolest and driest, and the city takes on a lively character with visitors from across Bangladesh and an increasing number of international tourists who have discovered this long-overlooked coast.

The beach is not dramatic in the way that cliffs or volcanic shores are dramatic, but it has a restorative quality in its sheer openness — the horizon is always visible, the sound of the waves is constant, and the vastness of the sea provides a counterweight to the density and noise of lowland Bangladesh.

The nearby Himchhari National Park adds a forested hillside to the coastal landscape, where the terrain rises sharply from the beach and evergreen forest covers the slopes, providing a habitat for monkeys, pythons and a variety of bird species that do not live on the beach itself.

The Buddhist temples at Ramu, a short drive from the city, are a reminder that the Chittagong Division has been home to Buddhist communities for centuries, and the temple complex — with its golden Buddha statues and painted murals depicting the life of the Buddha — is both a place of worship and a cultural landmark that tourists often visit before or after a day at the beach.

The beach front is lined with small hotels and restaurants that come alive in the evening, serving fresh fish and lobster caught that same day by the local fishing fleet that launches from the beach each morning at dawn.

It offers approximately 120 kilometres of uninterrupted natural sand, making it the longest natural sea beach in the world by most geographical measures.

Its gentle slope and shallow approach make it uniquely safe for swimming among South Asian beaches, attracting families and groups who find steeper coasts intimidating.

The combination of beach, forested hillside (Himchhari) and cultural sites (Ramu temples) within a short radius gives it more variety than most single-beach destinations.