Places to Visit
in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's destinations include historic cities, mountain landscapes, wildlife areas and coastal towns. Browse our destination guides to learn what makes each place distinctive and discover which tours or itineraries connect to your preferred locations.
Colombo
Sri Lanka's energetic commercial capital – colonial heritage, sacred temples, busy markets and a fast-changing waterfront skyline.
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Kandy
The last royal capital and spiritual heart of the island – home to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, a serene lake and encircling green hills.
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Sigiriya
The 5th-century Lion Rock – a sheer 200-metre fortress rising from the plains, crowned by the ruins of a royal citadel and ringed by ancient gardens.
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Dambulla
The Golden Cave Temple – five caves of Buddha statues and vivid ceiling murals beneath a single granite overhang, a place of worship for over two thousand years.
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Nuwara Eliya
'Little England' – a cool-climate hill station of tea estates, colonial architecture, rose gardens and misty mornings at nearly 1,900 metres.
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Ella
A small mountain town wrapped in tea gardens and cloud forest – the Nine Arches Bridge, Little Adam's Peak and some of the island's most photographed scenery.
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Yala
Sri Lanka's most famous national park – leopards, elephants, sloth bears and crocodiles across a landscape of scrub, lagoons and beach.
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Mirissa
The south coast's whale-watching capital – blue whales and dolphins offshore, a crescent of golden sand and palm-topped Coconut Tree Hill.
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Galle
A UNESCO-listed walled city of ramparts, lighthouse and colonial lanes – Sri Lanka's best-preserved fort, alive with cafés, galleries and boutiques.
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Bentota
The classic west-coast beach escape – a long golden strand, the Madu River mangroves, turtle hatcheries and water sports on the lagoon.
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Trincomalee
The east coast's natural harbour town – Koneswaram Temple on its clifftop, the white sands of Nilaveli and Uppuveli, and Pigeon Island's reef.
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Weligama
A wide, gentle bay that is Sri Lanka's best place to learn to surf – with the famous stilt fishermen and Taprobane Island just offshore.
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Hikkaduwa
A coral-reef marine sanctuary, sea turtles on the beach and a long-running surf and beach-bar scene on the south-west coast.
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Sinharaja
Sri Lanka's last great lowland rainforest – a UNESCO World Heritage Site of endemic birds, giant trees, waterfalls and guided jungle treks.
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Kitulgala
Sri Lanka's adventure playground on the Kelani River – white-water rafting, canyoning, jungle trails and the filming location of The Bridge on the River Kwai.
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Udawalawe
The surest place on the island to see wild elephants – open grassland around a great reservoir, plus the Elephant Transit Home for orphaned calves.
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Minneriya
Home of 'The Gathering' – hundreds of wild elephants converging on the shrinking reservoir each dry season, minutes from Sigiriya.
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Anuradhapura
Sri Lanka's first capital and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities – colossal stupas, monastic ruins and the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi tree.
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Polonnaruwa
The island's medieval capital – a compact, beautifully preserved royal city of palaces, temples and the serene rock-cut Buddhas of Gal Vihara.
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Arugam Bay
The east coast's world-class surf town – long right-hand point breaks, lagoon safaris, Elephant Rock and a laid-back beach scene from May to September.
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Wilpattu National Park
Sri Lanka's largest and oldest national park – leopards, sloth bears and elephants around a wilderness of natural lakes called villus.
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