Mermaid Eco Resort, Cox's Bazar

Mermaid Eco Resort is situated in a fishing village beside the Rezu Khal in Cox's Bazar. The resort is located 16kms from Cox’s Bazar towards Inani Beach through Marine Drive.

 

 

The resort has an accommodation of 30 wooden bungalows. The 30 bungalows are divided into 5 categories.

 

 

Standard Bungalows - Tk. 2500/night There are 12 Standard bungalows. Each has the following: 1 bedroom +  toilet +  veranda with lake / hill view.

 

 

 

 

Deluxe Bungalows - Tk. 3000/night. There are 4 Deluxe bungalows set in a garden setting. Each has the following: 1 bedroom  +  toilet  +  veranda overlooking the garden and lake.

 

 

 

 

Premium Deluxe Bungalows - Tk. 3500/night. There are 4 bungalows of its kind. Built on stilts these bungalows are on top of two water bodies looking out to the lake and the sea. Each bungalow has the following: 1 bedroom  +  toilet  +  veranda.

 

 

Supreme Deluxe Bungalows - Tk. 4000/night. There are 3 bungalows each with its unique characters. Each bungalow has the following: 1 bedroom  +  toilet  +  veranda  +  extended water deck  +  hammock / swing  +  sea view.

 

 

 

 

Villas - Tk. 5000/night. There are 4 uniquely designed Villas.

 

 

Mud house – a two floor house made of mud with 1 bedroom  +  toilet  +  porch sitting  +  huge wooden deck on second floor.

 

 

 

Flower Pot – Wooden duplex with 2 bedroom  +  1 toilet  +  sitting area with makeshift bed  +  hanging veranda with lake and sea view.

 

 

 

Apple on the Beach and Banana Pistol - a combination of two wooden bungalows with 2 bedroom  +  2 toilet  +  veranda sitting looking out to the hill range  +  hammock  +  on top of a pond.

 

 

 

 The resort has a restaurant, Mermaid Cafe, in the premises where authentic Italian and Bangladeshi cuisine is available. 

 

 

 

There is a Spa, which provides all services with herbal homemade products. 

 

 

There is a Tour desk from where regular tour solutions are provided like St. Martin tour and also beach lunch trips and other fun trips are arranged. The resort has its own boat pier from where private boat rides on the lake and regular beach shuttles are available. The kids can have a fun time in the kids club where table football and pool is available. Airport and bus pick up is available. Motorbikes are also available on Full/Half day hire basis.

 

 

Hangout In Mermaid Cafe

Night life community on the beach in Cox's Bazar. The only party place where the music and sea food comes to live.

Mermaid Cafe is a must visit place of Cox's Bazar. It would be on the expensive side but once you go there and take the service you wont be regreting for what you would spend there.

 Dont forget to take the SEA FOODS of Mermaid Cafe and also dont miss the Juice Bar. The view of the night is something worth watching.

For a Hangout place Mermaid Cafe is the ideal one. But be sure that you have enough time to spend there. Dont go there if you are in a hurry.

Angel Drop - Cox's Bazar

If you ever go to Cox's Bazaar there is one thing that you just cannot afford to miss. Its a small beach side cafe called Angel Drop. Angel Drop is probably the best place from where you can witness the sunset.

The place has got something special about it. You just cant stop thinking about when you will be visiting it again.

Railway to link Cox's Bazar

The communications ministry has taken up seven priority projects to upgrade the internal railway links and signal system and connect Bangladesh with Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) network.

Under the projects of around $ 5 billion, the tourist city of Cox's Bazar will be connected with Dhaka via Chittagong while new tracks will be constructed between Dohazari and Cox's Bazar via Ramu at an estimated cost of $ 298 million. This rail track will reach Gundum near Myanmar border to connect TAR, a railway network across Europe and Asia. This is the only missing link with TAR inside the country.

Apart from that, the Mongla port will again be brought under railway network through construction of a 53-kilometre track at a cost of about $246 million.

Considering the TAR traffic scenario, the plan also aims at constructing two railway bridges over the river Jamuna--one parallel to Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge at a cost of $ 1,640 million and the other near Phulchari-Bahadurabad Ghat at $1,500 million.

Meanwhile, signalling system of 20 train stations between Ishwardi-Parbatipur section, five between Rajshahi-Abdullapur section and 15 between Darsana and Khulna will also be modernised.

The project proposals have been sent to the planning commission Wednesday for scrutiny and approval.

"Once the projects are finalised, we hope to implement those in three to four years," said a communications ministry official.

The priority projects were prepared as a follow-up action, as the Regional Cooperation and Integration (RCI) in road, rail and waterways got momentum after signing of the Joint Communiqué between Bangladesh and India this January, said the official.

"Based on the decision of the joint communiqué, Bangladesh Railway identified and prioritised some projects to connect the regional and Trans-Asian Railway corridors," a senior railway official told The Daily Start last week.

He said realising the importance of the regional connectivity the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has come forward to provide technical assistance to prepare the projects by allocating $12 million in the form of ADF (Asian Development Fund) loan.

The official said implementation of the projects would increase sub-regional trade among South Asian countries, especially to and from and through Bangladesh.

According to the communications ministry's plan, the capacity of Hardinge Bridge will be strengthened to accommodate the TAR traffic load. Rail tracks between Dhaka-Maowa-Jajira-Bhanga and Bhanga-Narail-Jessore will be constructed at a cost of $1,112 million to connect Dhaka with the south-western part of the country through planned Padma Multipurpose Bridge.

At present railway network in the northern part of the country is very roundabout. The government plans to construct the two railway bridges over the Jamuna to reduce distance between Dhaka and the region. Regional and TAR traffic will also move smoothly through the region to other parts of Bangladesh via Dhaka.

Construction of the rail tracks between Mongla port and Khulna will facilitate transport from Nepal and Bhutan since Bangladesh agreed to allow the two South Asian nations use the sea port.

According to transport experts the projects require immediate implementation, as Bangladesh has the potential to become a transport and trans-shipment centre for this region since it borders India and Myanmar and is close to the landlocked countries of Bhutan and Nepal, and Kunming, the key transportation hub in southern China.

These corridors have also been identified as potential investment in the Saarc Regional Multimodal Transport Study in 2006. Of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) priority corridors, Bangladesh has six out of 10 road corridors, two out of five rail corridors, and two principal ports--Chittagong and Mongla--for trade.

Although the economy of South Asia is growing fast, intra-regional trade is still around 5 percent of the total trade comparing to 26 percent in ASEAN (Association for South East Asian Nations), 52 percent in NAFTA (North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement) and 56 percent in European Union.

“Bangladesh plays a key role for RCI due to its geographical position and thus requires massive investment in development of its infrastructure and connectivity for national economic development and regional trade,” said Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain.

He said the present government has emphasised improving the railway sector to make it a safe, less expensive and comfortable mode of transport for both national and international traffic.

Once implemented the projects will hugely contribute to the development of national, regional and international economy and trade, said the minister.

Cox's Bazar green hotel takes off in 2012

The country's first eco-friendly five-star hotel will start operations in Cox's Bazar in early 2012. Sea Pearl Beach and Spa, being built on seven acres at Inani, 20 kilometres away from Cox's Bazar, is based on the time sharing concept.The time sharing model allows members of a hotel to swap or exchange time with another affiliated hotel or resort anywhere in the world depending on availability.

The cost of the Seal Pearl project has been estimated at Tk 143 crore, with Prime Bank raising Tk 85 crore in syndicated funds. Shamim Enterprise that owns Sea Pearl will finance the rest.Aminul Haque, managing director of the hotel, said: "We have started a marketing campaign to get time sharing members."The company says Sea Pearl will be the "real eco-friendly green resort" in the country, which will provide a pollution-free environment for visitors.

“Waste and water from the hotel will be recycled. And it will use solar power," said Md Atoar Hossain, vice president of Sea Pearl.The hotel has been affiliated with Interval International, a timeshare exchange company, based in Miami. Interval has been providing value-added services to its clients worldwide for more than 30 years.Members of Sea Pearl will be able to use the facilities of Interval International-affiliated 2,500 hotels in 75 countries.“A membership contract will be valid for 20 years,” said Atoar. “A member will be given seven days to spend in any Interval International-affiliated resort every year.”The access fee, which is $118 within Asia and $159 in the rest of the world, will be charged, he added. Also, members will have to pay $100 in maintenance fees.Alwyn Dixon, director for sales of Sea Pearl, said the hotel would meet all the needs of holidaymakers -- both from home and abroad.

"The tourism and hospitality sector in Bangladesh has a huge growth prospect. It will grow exponentially, as a large segment of middle-class families will spend much more money in the next five years, " said Dixon.On the time sharing idea, he said it would help get international tourists, particularly the members of Interval that has 45 lac members across the globe.A timeshare is a form of ownership or right to the use of a property, or the term used to describe such properties.These properties are typically resort condominium units, in which multiple parties hold rights to use the property, and each sharer is allotted a period of time (typically one week, and almost always the same time every year) in which they may use the property.

It is also known as holiday ownership that is the art of sharing one's ownership in the resort with other people. Sea Pearl consists of 200 rooms for residential accommodation, including 150 timeshare rooms and suites .It will have the facilities such as spa, bar, barbecue, water sports, swimming pool, children amusement, restaurant, coffee shop, lobby, gymnasium, indoor-outdoor games, air-conditioned shuttle bus for pick-up and drop services and sightseeing. The hotel will generate over 300 employments in different categories and most of them will be recruited locally.

Cox’s Bazar - The Longest sea-beach in the world

Cox’s Bazar, the world’s longest natural sandy sea beach with its incredible 125 km length, and most visited tourist destinations in Bangladesh. It is also a modern town; well known fishing port and a district headquarter in Bangladesh.It is a district in the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh near the border of Myanmar. The town is located 150 kilometer south of Chittagong. Due to lack of development, publicity and mismanagement; the spot has so far to become a most desirable international tourist destination in Asia. Cox’s Bazar now is competing to get top for “New7Wonders of Nature”.

Alternative Name: “Panowa” means “yellow flower”.
Old Name: “Palongkee”.

Modern Cox’s Bazar: The modern Cox’s Bazar gained its name from British-Indian Captain Hiram Cox in the 18th century. He was an officer of British East India Company. He did several social works here as the Superintendent of Palongkee outpost before he died in 1799. The works he had done made him a place in the hearts of the locals. As a result, to commemorate Cox’s role in social work a market was established here and named after him as “Cox’s Bazaar” (”Cox’s Market”) with time it turn as Cox’s Bazar.

Cox’s Bazar city is not so big. It has only 6.85 km² of area. But its weather condition is always good for healthy life. Bangladesh is situated in the monsoon area. So in the Cox’s Bazar there is very seasonal change. In this region most of the time there stay high temperature, heavy rainfall excessive humidity because of the Bay of Bengal. The weather is controlled by the beautiful sea Bay of Bengal. The Bay of Bengal in Cox’s Bazar is a small port and health resort.

Near the Cox’s Bazar city there are several places to visit which places are really attractive for the tourists. Himchari, Laboni Beach, Sonadia Island, Maheshkhali, Teknaf, ST Martin Island etc places are really exciting and enjoyable spot for the viewers.

The best remarkable scenery of Cox’s Bazar is the sunrise and sunset scenery. You can enjoy there with water-related activities. A lot of small shopping mall are located here you can get very nice handmade clothes, Barmiz shoes, dress and various types of showpieces. You will also get various kinds of food. The traditional Achar (pickle) and Shutki (dry fish0 of Cox’s Bazar are really famous around the world.

Cox’s Bazar is really a great place to visit for a tourist. Every year a huge number of tourists come here from across the world. Many high class hotels are driving their business in the Cox’s Bazar. So, don’t think for accommodation. It is a matter of sorrow for the country that a few number of foreign tourists come here for visiting. However, for the lack of publication the spot cannot attack more visitors which should be. But recently, the administrations take some step to increase its facilities and publicities.