Day one: beach walking and street food
Check into Hotel Prime Park or Sea Crown Guest House near Kolatoli for $12-15/night. Drop your bag and walk south along the beach to Sugandha Point, a 6-km round trip that costs nothing and shows you the full sweep of the bay. Rent a beach chair from a local vendor for 50 taka if you need a rest. Lunch at a beachside shack: fried hilsa and rice is $2.50.
Afternoon is for Laboni Point and the fish market just north of it. Watch the auction if you arrive between 3-5 PM—hundreds of buyers bidding on the day catch, all in rapid Bengali. Dinner at Panshi Restaurant on Ziaur Rahman Road: chicken bhuna with paratha costs $3, and the ceiling fans actually work. Walk back along Marine Drive and buy sugarcane juice for 20 taka.
Day two: Himchari and Inani on local transport
Take a local bus from Kolatoli Bus Stand to Himchari; it leaves every 30 minutes starting at 7 AM and costs 40 taka. Get off at the park entrance and hike the trail to the falls—entry is 50 taka for locals, sometimes they charge foreigners 100. Pack snacks and water because there is only one tea stall and it is overpriced.
Catch another bus toward Inani Beach for 30 taka. The beach here is cleaner and you can swim without dodging a hundred other people. Lunch at a roadside hotel: vegetable curry with daal and rice totals $2. Return to town by 5 PM on the same bus route. Dinner at Jhauban Hotel near the beach: beef tehari is $2.50 and comes with a boiled egg and salad.
Day three: Ramu and markets
Hire a shared CNG to Ramu for $1 per person—ask your hotel to arrange it or go to Kolatoli Circle and bargain with drivers. Visit Lamanchor Buddhist Temple and U Ottama Monastery. Donations are optional but 50 taka is polite if a monk shows you around. Breakfast at Ramu Bazaar: paratha and vegetables cost 40 taka.
Return to Cox's Bazar by noon and spend the afternoon at Burmese Market. Skip the overpriced coral jewelry and focus on spices, thanaka paste, and woven bags—bargain to half. Lunch at a market stall: samosas and cha run 50 taka total. Final dinner at Mermaid Cafe on Beach Road: fried rice with chicken is $3. Walk the beach one last time before your early bus to Chittagong.
Money-saving tips
Eat at places without English menus—prices are half what the tourist traps charge. Always ask the rate before getting in a CNG; the meter is decorative. Stay in guesthouses behind the main hotel strip; they are quieter and $5-8 cheaper. Carry a refillable water bottle and use the filtered water at hotels to avoid buying six plastic bottles a day. Street vendors sell fresh fruit for pennies; a pineapple costs 80 taka and feeds two people.
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