Top Attractions

A 5th-century rock fortress rising 200 metres from the jungle floor - frescoes, a mirror wall, and the ruins of King Kashyapa's sky palace at the summit.

Kandy's Sri Dalada Maligawa houses Buddhism's most venerated relic - a tooth of the Buddha, brought to Sri Lanka in the 4th century AD.

The 12th-century royal capital's Gal Vihara Buddhas, carved from a single granite face, plus toque macaque troops that gave the ruins their nickname.

An eclectic Colombo temple mixing Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian and Chinese architecture around Beira Lake, with a museum wing that includes a vintage Rolls-Royce.

A Hindu shrine to Shiva perched nearly 100 metres above the sea on Trincomalee's Swami Rock - one of the island's five sacred Pancha Ishwarams.

The island's largest museum, tracing 2,500 years of Sri Lankan history through royal regalia, ancient sculpture and colonial-era artefacts.

A ceremonial plaza built around a replica of the old State Council chamber, marking the 1948 transfer of power from British rule.

An evening of Kandyan drumming and masked devil dances - a living tradition once performed to ward off illness and bring good harvests.

Sri Lanka has mined sapphires and rubies for over 2,000 years; a lapidary tour shows the cutting and polishing behind the island's gem trade.

The last capital to fall to colonial rule, walkable around its lake and market streets, with the hillside Bahirawakanda Buddha for a panoramic close.

Five candlelit caves holding 153 Buddha statues and 2,100 square metres of ceiling murals, carved into a granite outcrop since the 1st century BC.

Cinnamon, cardamom, pepper and vanilla growing side by side in the Matale hills - Sri Lanka has been the world's source of true cinnamon for centuries.

Sigiriya's quieter, cheaper neighbour - a steeper scramble that rewards with the best photograph of Sigiriya itself, especially at sunrise.

A herd of around 60 elephants, from newborns to elderly matriarchs, gathers for a riverside bathing hour that's become one of the island's signature sights.

Up to one leopard per square kilometre in prime blocks makes Yala Sri Lanka's flagship big-cat safari, alongside elephants, sloth bears and crocodiles.

Between July and October, hundreds of wild elephants converge on the ancient Minneriya tank for one of Asia's largest elephant congregations.

Mirissa sees blue whales at 80-90% sighting rates between December and March; Trincomalee's deeper waters add sperm whale pods from May to August.

Inside Udawalawe National Park, this rehabilitation centre has bottle-fed and released over 200 orphaned elephant calves back into the wild since 1995.

Named for its "villus" - natural rain-fed lakes - Wilpattu is quieter than Yala, with elephant herds up to 100 strong gathering at dawn.

Open grassland around a reservoir makes for some of the most reliable elephant sightings on the island, without dense jungle cover to hide behind.

A gentler, slower way to see the countryside, guided by a mahout through forest trails around the Cultural Triangle.

A hiker's hill town reached by one of the world's great train journeys, with Little Adam's Peak and Ella Rock both a short walk from the platform.

A colonial-era railway viaduct, 91 metres long and 24 metres high, timed by most visitors to a passing train.

A misty montane plateau ending at an 880-metre escarpment - go early, before the valley cloud rolls in and swallows the view by mid-morning.

A shorter, gentler alternative to the pilgrim trail up the real Adam's Peak, with a 360-degree view over Ella's tea-terraced valley.

Sri Lanka's "Little England" - Tudor cottages, a golf course and a lake, built as a hill-station retreat for British colonial administrators.

A manicured Nuwara Eliya garden known for its rose beds, migrant birdlife and the cool mountain air that made this town a colonial summer capital.

A high-altitude garden founded in 1861 for cinchona and later roses, set against cloud-forest slopes near Nuwara Eliya.

Nuwara Eliya's cool climate supports the island's only strawberry farms, open for picking and fresh cream teas.

See leaf become Ceylon tea in one afternoon - withering, rolling, oxidising and firing - in a working factory in the hill country.

147 acres near Kandy holding over 300 orchid varieties, giant bamboo and an avenue of century-old palms - one of Asia's finest botanical gardens.

A dawn float over the Cultural Triangle's ancient tanks and forest canopy, Sigiriya rising out of the morning mist below.

A shallow coral sanctuary just offshore, with reef fish and sea turtles visible on a snorkel straight from the sand.

A sheltered, palm-fringed bay near Galle Fort, calm enough for swimming most of the year and a launch point for reef snorkeling.

A crescent beach and fishing harbour on the south coast, doubling as Sri Lanka's best-known departure point for blue whale excursions.

A river-meets-ocean resort town, with the Bentota Ganga good for watersports and a beach among the calmest on the south-west coast.

Jet-skiing, banana boats and windsurfing on the sheltered Bentota River, alongside deeper-water options out on the open coast.

Conservation projects along the south coast protect nesting sea turtles and release hatchlings - five of the world's seven marine turtle species nest in Sri Lanka.

A mangrove-lined river safari near Balapitiya, drifting past a cinnamon island and small Buddhist temple islets.

Warm, clear water and shallow reefs make the south and east coasts approachable for first-time snorkelers and certified divers alike.

Point breaks and beach breaks from Arugam Bay to Weligama, with a season on almost every coast depending on the monsoon.

Steady trade winds nine months of the year, split between a stronger southwest season and a gentler, learner-friendly winter season.

A small 17th-century coastal fort on the Kalpitiya peninsula, one of the quieter Dutch-era ruins on the island.

A shallow, coral-protected bay on the east coast, calm enough to wade far offshore - ideal for beginners on a paddleboard or kayak.

Rapids on the Kelani River, a two-to-three-hour run through a forested gorge close to where "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was filmed.

A historic fishing town whose lagoon and Dutch canal are still worked by the same outrigger boats and cast nets used for generations.

Fort's colonial streets, Pettah's spice bazaar and the Gangaramaya temple complex, within the same low humid skyline that has watched the harbour for a century.

From Dutch Hospital boutiques to Pettah's bargain bazaars, the capital covers both ends of Sri Lanka's shopping spectrum in one afternoon.

The fish market, the Dutch canal and a lagoon boat ride - an easy first or last stop for flights in and out of Bandaranaike International Airport.