Start at Shah Jalal's dargah and Shah Paran's hilltop tomb, walk Keane Bridge and the Surma riverfront, and end the first day in the Malnicherra tea garden. Give the second to Ratargul's flooded forest and the white stones at Bholaganj, and the third to the Tamabil road for Lalakhal's blue river and Jaflong.
Bangladesh's northeastern city sits on the Surma below the Meghalaya hills, with a Sufi saint's tomb at its centre and tea gardens at its edge. Past the city limits it is water country: swamp forest, clear border rivers and haors the monsoon fills each year.
The tomb of the Sufi saint whose arrival in 1303 brought Islam to Sylhet, and the most visited shrine in Bangladesh. The pond holds the sacred gojar catfish and the courtyard the Jalali pigeons. Come after dawn prayers, before the crowds.
A 3,325 acre stand of koroch trees that the monsoon floods to the branches, and the best known freshwater swamp forest in Bangladesh. You see it from a small wooden boat poled between the trunks. Go between June and September, when the water is high.
The first commercial tea garden in the country, set up in 1854 on about 1,500 acres of low hills at the city's edge. Walk the estate roads between the bushes, the shade trees and the planters' bungalows. Mornings are cooler and the light is softer.
Where the Dauki leaves Meghalaya, becomes the Piyain and spreads across a wide bed of stones below the Khasi hills. The view is across the border, with the hills and the old suspension bridge on the Indian side. Pair it with Lalakhal on the same road.
The Sari runs down from the Cherrapunji hills a startling blue-green, and Lalakhal is the stretch just inside Bangladesh. Hire a boat at Sarighat on the Jaflong road; the run up to the river's source takes about an hour and a quarter.
The 1936 iron bridge over the Surma, named for a British governor of Assam, is the city's front door and now carries only rickshaws and walkers. At the city end stands Ali Amjad's Clock, the riverside tower a Prithimpasha nawab raised in the 1870s.
White stones carried down the Dhalai from the Meghalaya hills pile up where the river meets the border, with clear water running over them. A boat from Bholaganj takes you out to the bed. The country's largest stone quarry surrounds it, so the approach is industrial.
The hilltop tomb of Shah Jalal's nephew, who fought beside him in 1303 and then set up his own lodge here. An old tree locals call the tree of hopes spreads over the grave. Fridays are crowded, so come early on a weekday.
Several folds of the Khasi hills meet at one point, with a waterfall dropping from the Indian side into a clear, stony stream. Reach it by boat from Hadarpar. The monsoon is the time, when high water slows the stone collecting that crowds the dry months.
A Mughal open-air prayer ground on a hill, built under the faujdar Farhad Khan and laid out for more than 100,000 worshippers. Gandhi, Jinnah and Fazlul Huq all addressed rallies here. Outside the two Eid mornings it is quiet and open.
The 1936 bridge over the Surma and the clock tower at its foot.
The family home of General Osmani, 1971 commander-in-chief, run by the National Museum.
The industry's research station since 1957. Phone ahead to visit.
Flowers at the Central Shaheed Minar from midnight, for the 1952 martyrs.
Bengali New Year, with processions, music and fairs across the city.
Two days at the dargah, opening with a new cover laid on the grave.
The morning prayer fills the Shahi Eidgah on its hill.
Held on the 4th to 6th of the month at the Khadim Nagar shrine.
High water at Ratargul, Bisnakandi and the haors. Boats run all day.
Hindu Bengal's biggest festival, with pandals across the city.
The Manipuri dance festival at the full moon, in Mashimpur and Kamalganj.
About 7 km north of the centre, with daily flights from Dhaka on Biman, US-Bangla and Novoair. Biman also flies to the UK, routing its services through Dhaka.
Intercity expresses including the Parabat, Jayantika, Upaban and Kalni cover the 319 km from Dhaka in around seven hours. Book on Bangladesh Railway's e-ticket site.
Coaches run day and night on the road via the Dhaka-Sylhet highway, about 240 km, and take six and a half to seven and a half hours depending on traffic.
CNG three-wheelers and rickshaws cover the city. For Ratargul, Jaflong or Bisnakandi, hire a CNG or a car with a driver for the day.
Beef curry sharpened with the rind of the bitter shatkora citrus.
Sylhet's meat-and-rice pilau, a close cousin of biryani.
Sticky Birin rice smoked slowly inside young bamboo.
Dried fish cooked down with vegetables into a thin curry.
Dried fish fermented in earthenware. Pungent, and used sparingly.
A mild duck curry, cut with fresh bamboo shoot.
Mashed potato, dried fish or aubergine, eaten with rice and dal.
Srimangal's layered tea, each band a different brew.
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