The stretch of Cox's Bazar beach directly in front of the town centre goes by the name Laboni, after the adjacent square. It is the most accessible and the most crowded section of the beach — food stalls, souvenir sellers, carnival rides, photographers with trained parakeets, and a churning mass of domestic tourists at weekends and holidays. In high season it looks less like a beach and more like a very large fairground.
That said, watching the scene from a distance has its own appeal: this is Bangladesh having its version of a beach holiday, and it is genuinely boisterous. The light at sunrise is exceptional — arrive early and you will have the sand almost to yourself before the crowds materialise. The beach here is wide and flat, and the surf is gentle enough that children wade in safely. The beach narrows and grows dirtier toward the rocks near Kolatoli; aim for the section north of Laboni Square for the best sand.