top spots

Lush jungles, abundant wildlife, cool mountains and glorious palm-lined beaches offer instant appeal to the traveller. Head to Sri Lanka, you’ll love it!

	COLOMBO Capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo is a city filled with good hotels, restaurants, shopping and every form of transport imaginable! Just off the north end of Galle Road is the Fort, once a colonial stronghold but now the site of many government buildings. To the south is Galle Face Green, a seaside expanse where informal cricket games are played out amongst city folk. Just east of the Fort is the Pettah, the traditional bazaar where you can enjoy a colourful retail experience.
	KANDY  Set around an attractive man-made lake in scenic hill country.It is also the site of Sri Lanka’s greatest annual spectacle, the Esala Perahera. Kandy’s star attraction is the Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth). The main temple contains the well-guarded tooth casket. The elephants are paraded in the courtyards of the temple during Esala Perahera. Local women sell lotus flowers to worshippers and monkeys scamper around the buildings.
	NUWARA ELIYA Sri Lanka’s cool hill country offers a welcome antidote to the heat of the coast and low-lying plains. Situated amongst verdant tea plantations and at an elevation of 1990 m, Nuwara Eliya is one of the highest and most attractive towns in Sri Lanka’s hill region. Built by English tea growers, it remained their favourite hill station during colonial times. Nuwara Eliya boasts the best golf course in Sri Lanka and is home to the impressive Hakgala Botanical Gardens.
	POLONNARUWA  An ancient and compact city, Polonnaruwa features 12th-century stone sculptures and the Gal Vihara – comprising three enormous Buddha figures, one reclining (it’s 13 m long), one standing and one sitting. The statues, located in a cluster along a dirt road, are revered as being amongst the most sacred monuments in Sri Lanka. There are also palace ruins, great bas-reliefs and friezes.
	SIGIRIYA  Located atop a rock plateau overlooking verdant jungle and a vast plain is Sigiriya, the mysterious remains of the 5th-century fortress of King Kasyapa. These ruins of Sigiriya are the most unique of the ancient sites in Sri Lanka. Be sure to brave the rickety-looking spiral staircase to see the awesome 1500-year old painted frescoes located beneath an overhang about 90m up the rock.
	PINNEWALA One of the most popular attractions in Sri Lanka is the Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage, home to abandoned or orphaned wild, young elephants including babies. Situated in the hill country near Kegalle, around 60 elephants are fed, bathed and cared for at this sanctuary of sorts. Perhaps the star attraction is viewing the elephants enjoying their daily river soak. Pinnewala rates highly with lovers of animals.
	ANURADHAPURA  From origins as a settlement in the 6th century BC, Anuradhapura was already a sophisticated and advanced civilization. Acclaimed as the greatest monastic city of the ancient world. It has large artificial lakes, temples, frescoes and dagobas (solid hemispheres topped with spires), several museums and royal baths. One of the city’s most important sites is the holy Sri Maha Bodhi Tree which was brought to Sri Lanka 2,300 years ago as a sapling from the tree under which Buddha became enlightened, which makes it the world’s oldest historically documented tree.