Gulshan, Banani, Dhanmondi or Bashundhara? Choosing where to live in Dhaka

In Dhaka, the neighbourhood you choose shapes daily life more than the apartment itself. It decides how many hours you spend in traffic each week, which schools your children can reach, how far you are from a hospital at night, and what your flat will be worth in ten years. Two identical apartments in Gulshan and Bashundhara can lead to very different lives.

Aakash Developments builds in eight Dhaka neighbourhoods: Gulshan, Dhanmondi, Bashundhara, Banani, Baridhara, Lalmatia, Eskaton and Tejgaon. Buyers often ask us to compare them. This guide covers the seven residential areas among them, with the facts that matter when you are choosing where to buy.

Start with your daily routes

Before you compare neighbourhoods, map the trips your household makes every week. Mark your workplace, your children’s schools, your parents’ home and the hospital your family uses. In Dhaka, a distance of five kilometres can take fifteen minutes or an hour depending on the route and the time of day.

Two recent pieces of infrastructure have changed some of these trips. The Dhaka Elevated Expressway opened between the airport and Farmgate in September 2023, with ramps at Kuril, Banani, Mohakhali, Bijoy Sarani, Karwan Bazar and Farmgate. Metro Rail Line 6 has run from Uttara North to Motijheel since November 2023, with stations at Agargaon, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar and Shahbag among others. Living near a ramp or a station can save real time, so check the distance from any building you are considering.

School runs deserve special attention. In many Dhaka families the school trip happens twice a day at the busiest hours, and a long school run can shape a child’s whole day. If your children are settled in a school, list the neighbourhoods within a reasonable drive of it before you look at anything else. The same logic applies to elderly parents who need regular visits to a hospital or clinic.

Gulshan

Gulshan began as a planned residential area in 1961, when the Dhaka Improvement Trust selected the land, then a rural settlement, for development. It is divided into Gulshan-1 and Gulshan-2, each built around a main circle, and wraps around Gulshan Lake.

Gulshan hosts the majority of Dhaka’s foreign embassies and high commissions, and Gulshan Avenue holds the offices of many multinational companies and banks. Residents have access to Gulshan Club and the International Club, parks such as Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed Park, and a wide choice of restaurants, supermarkets and international schools. According to the 2022 census, Gulshan Thana covers 8.85 square kilometres and has about 110,000 residents.

Gulshan suits senior professionals who work in Gulshan or Banani, families who want international schools nearby, and investors looking for tenants from embassies and multinational companies. The trade-offs are price, which is among the highest in Dhaka, and congestion around the two circles at peak hours. Commercial use has spread into several residential roads over the years, so check the immediate surroundings of any plot.

Planning rules allow dense development here. A draft DAP amendment reported by The Daily Star in August 2025 set Gulshan-Banani’s floor area ratio at 5.5, among the highest in the city.

Aakash has six projects in Gulshan: Tower of Aakash, Aakash Avenue, Aakash Signature, Aakash Platinum, Aakash Lake View and Aakash Lake Breeze.

Banani

Banani sits between Gulshan, Mohakhali and the cantonment, and forms Ward 19 of Dhaka North City Corporation. It combines quiet residential roads with one of Dhaka’s busiest commercial strips along Kemal Ataturk Avenue. Five-star hotels, corporate offices, restaurants and international schools are all close at hand, and Banani Lake borders the area.

Connectivity is a strength. The Banani ramp of the Elevated Expressway gives a direct run to the airport, and Mohakhali and Gulshan are minutes away. Banani also has its own railway station.

Banani suits professionals who want to live close to work and families who enjoy an active neighbourhood with restaurants and shops within reach. The trade-off is noise and traffic on the commercial roads, especially in the evenings. Inner residential roads are calmer, so the exact road matters.

Aakash projects in Banani include Aakash Anupom and the upcoming Aakash Horizon, with apartments from 3,509 to 3,874 square feet.

Baridhara

Baridhara lies east and northeast of Gulshan, across the Gulshan-Baridhara Lake. It has three distinct parts: the diplomatic zone in the southwest, a general residential area in the east and Baridhara DOHS in the northeast. Many embassies, including those of the United States, China, France, Japan and India, are located here, and police maintain strict security in the diplomatic zone.

Several international schools operate in Baridhara, among them the American International School of Dhaka, the Japanese School Dhaka and the French International School. The result is a calm, well-guarded neighbourhood with little traffic inside the zone.

Baridhara suits diplomats, expatriate families and anyone who values quiet and security above nightlife. The trade-off is that daily shopping and dining usually means a short drive to Gulshan, and supply of new apartments is limited because plots rarely come up for redevelopment.

Aakash completed Aakash Atrai in the Baridhara Diplomatic Zone, and Nahar Aakash Villa in Baridhara is under construction.

Dhanmondi

Dhanmondi is one of Dhaka’s oldest planned residential areas. In 1950, the government acquired roughly 500 acres of farmland and horticultural land and divided it into plots, and the Dhaka Improvement Trust, set up in 1956, developed the infrastructure. The lake that winds through the area, with walkways and cafés around Roads 2, 5, 8 and 32, remains one of the city’s most loved public spaces. Rabindra Sarobar, the open-air amphitheatre near Road 8, hosts concerts and cultural events through the year.

Education is Dhanmondi’s biggest draw. Schools such as Sunbeams, Scholastica, South Breeze, Oxford International School and Mastermind sit within the area, along with universities including the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh and Dhaka City College. Large private hospitals and diagnostic centres line Mirpur Road and Satmasjid Road, and Dhaka University, New Market and Science Lab are close by.

Dhanmondi suits families with school-age children, people who work in central and old Dhaka, and anyone who wants established neighbourhood life with green space. The trade-offs are traffic on Mirpur Road and Satmasjid Road, and the spread of schools, coaching centres and restaurants into residential roads. The draft DAP figures reported in August 2025 set Dhanmondi’s FAR at 5.0, slightly below the previous 5.1.

Aakash has four projects in Dhanmondi: the completed Aakash Serenity, Aakash Lake Park on Dhanmondi 12/A, Aakash Tranquil, and the commercial Shamsul Aakash Center.

Bashundhara Residential Area

Bashundhara is the largest private housing project in Greater Dhaka. It is owned and run by East West Property Development, a Bashundhara Group company, and work on it began in the 1980s. More than 10,000 residential plots had been sold by 2005.

Because it was planned from scratch, Bashundhara has wider roads and a newer building stock than the older neighbourhoods. North South University and Independent University, Bangladesh are both here, as are Evercare Hospital Dhaka, International School Dhaka and The Aga Khan Academy. The Kuril ramp of the Elevated Expressway is close to the area’s entrance, giving a fast route to the airport and to Banani and Mohakhali. Daily shopping is easy too, with Jamuna Future Park, one of the largest shopping malls in Bangladesh, across Progoti Sarani at Kuril.

Bashundhara suits families who want newer buildings and planned blocks, households with children at the universities and international schools inside the area, and buyers who want more space for their budget than Gulshan offers. The trade-offs are the distance from older central Dhaka, and the fact that some blocks are still being built out, which means construction nearby for years.

Aakash projects in Bashundhara include Neel Aakash, Sara Aakash House and the upcoming Aakash IndiGo, with apartments from 3,121 to 3,148 square feet.

Lalmatia

Lalmatia is a small residential neighbourhood within Mohammadpur Thana, bordering Dhanmondi and Sher-e-Bangla Nagar. It is organised into lettered blocks and is mostly residential, with fewer commercial buildings than its neighbours.

The main attraction is location. Dhanmondi’s schools, hospitals and lake are within easy reach, and Farmgate and Agargaon, with their metro stations, are close. Buyers who want Dhanmondi’s amenities in a quieter setting often look at Lalmatia.

The trade-off is a small supply of new apartments, and some inner roads are narrow. Aakash Godhuli is our project in Lalmatia.

Eskaton

Eskaton sits in the heart of the city, near Moghbazar, Ramna and Bangla Motor, with Hatirjheel a short distance away. It is one of central Dhaka’s older residential pockets, and its location puts Motijheel, Shahbag, Karwan Bazar and the older parts of the city within short reach.

Eskaton suits people whose work or family ties lie in central Dhaka and who prefer an established area to the northern suburbs. New apartment supply is limited, and some surrounding roads carry heavy traffic. Aakash completed Hurun Aakash Manor in Eskaton.

Comparing the neighbourhoods at a glance

Neighbourhood	Best suited to	Main trade-off	Aakash projects
Gulshan	Senior professionals, international school families, rental investors	Highest prices, congestion at the circles	Tower of Aakash, Aakash Avenue, Aakash Signature, Aakash Platinum, Aakash Lake View, Aakash Lake Breeze
Banani	Professionals who want to live near work	Noise and traffic on commercial roads	Aakash Anupom, Aakash Horizon
Baridhara	Diplomats, expatriate families, buyers who value security	Limited shopping and few new apartments	Aakash Atrai, Nahar Aakash Villa
Dhanmondi	Families with school-age children	Traffic on Mirpur Road and Satmasjid Road	Aakash Serenity, Aakash Lake Park, Aakash Tranquil
Bashundhara	Families wanting newer buildings and more space	Distance from central Dhaka	Neel Aakash, Sara Aakash House, Aakash IndiGo
Lalmatia	Buyers who want Dhanmondi’s amenities in a quieter area	Limited new supply, some narrow roads	Aakash Godhuli
Eskaton	People tied to central Dhaka	Limited new supply, busy surrounding roads	Hurun Aakash Manor

What apartments look like in each area

Plot sizes and building rules shape the kind of apartment each neighbourhood offers. A few Aakash projects show the pattern.

In Gulshan and Baridhara, large plots and high land prices favour spacious apartments with one unit on each floor. Aakash Lake View in Gulshan stands on 10 katha 4 chatak, with two basements, a ground floor and nine floors above, holding nine apartments of 5,051 square feet each. Aakash Atrai in the Baridhara Diplomatic Zone follows a similar plan, with nine apartments of 4,905 square feet.

Our projects in Banani and Bashundhara include apartments in the range of 3,000 to 4,000 square feet. The upcoming Aakash Horizon in Banani, on 7.7 katha, will have nine apartments from 3,509 to 3,874 square feet. Aakash IndiGo in Bashundhara, on 7.5 katha, will have nine apartments from 3,121 to 3,148 square feet.

Our Dhanmondi and Lalmatia projects offer mid-sized family apartments. Aakash Tranquil in Dhanmondi has 18 apartments from 2,378 to 2,658 square feet on 9.88 katha, and Aakash Godhuli in Lalmatia offers apartments of 2,839 square feet. In Bashundhara, Neel Aakash offers 2,194 square foot apartments on a 5 katha plot.

These figures describe individual projects, and every area also has buildings with smaller or larger units. The pattern still helps. If your family needs four bedrooms and staff quarters, the one-unit-per-floor buildings of Gulshan and Baridhara are worth a close look. If you want a comfortable family home close to schools, Dhanmondi, Lalmatia and Bashundhara give you more choice.

A note on Tejgaon

Tejgaon is the eighth area where Aakash builds, and it is mainly a business district. Aakash Square, our 13-storey commercial building there, was designed for financial institutions and corporate offices. For families, Tejgaon matters as a place of work. Homes in Gulshan, Banani and Eskaton all have short routes to it through Hatirjheel and the roads linking Tejgaon to Gulshan.

Questions to ask before you decide

Once you have a shortlist, visit each area at the times you would actually travel. Drive from the building to your office at 9 in the morning and back at 6 in the evening. Walk around the block after dark. Visit during the monsoon, or ask residents whether the road floods after heavy rain. Talk to the people who already live there. Ten minutes with a guard, a shopkeeper or a resident will tell you more about noise, parking, waterlogging and security than any brochure.

Think about what will change nearby. The revised Detailed Area Plan, approved in October 2025, allows taller buildings and more floor area in most zones. A low house next door today may become a twelve-storey building, which affects your light, ventilation and view. Ask an architect or the developer what the rules allow on the neighbouring plots. The same plan bans construction in areas classed as flood flow zones, so confirm that the land you are buying on is clear of them.

Decide whether you are buying to live or to rent out. Rental demand in Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara comes largely from companies, embassies and expatriate professionals. Dhanmondi and Bashundhara draw demand from families and from people linked to their universities and hospitals. The best area for an investment and the best area for your own home can be two different places.

Look at how the building and the road are managed. Some residential areas have active resident societies and shared security arrangements, while others rely on each building’s own guards. Ask what the monthly service charge covers in buildings you like, and whether the owners’ association keeps proper accounts. Good management keeps a building pleasant to live in and protects its value when you sell.

Find your home with Aakash

Aakash Developments has built residential and commercial projects across Dhaka since 2015. Our designs are submitted to and approved by RAJUK, our structures follow the Bangladesh National Building Code, and our service continues after handover.

Browse our ongoing residential projects, see what is coming next on the upcoming projects page, or visit buildings we have already delivered on our completed projects page. To arrange a site visit in any of these neighbourhoods, call 01879-336666, email info@aakashgroupbd.com or contact our sales team.

Choosing well

Start from your family’s daily routes, then choose the building with as much care as the area. A RAJUK-approved building from a developer with a solid delivery record, on an ordinary road, will serve your family better for decades than a weak building on a famous one.

Facts in this guide come from public sources including census data, news reports and official records, and some details may change over time. Visit any area and verify current conditions before you buy.