Kandy
The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Peradeniya Botanical Gardens, the Kandyan dance tradition and the Esala Perahera in July and August combine to give Kandy a weight the island’s other cities don’t quite match. The evening puja ceremony, when the inner shrine opens and the drums begin, is worth planning an entire day around. […]
Polonnaruwa
The Gal Vihara, where four Buddhas were carved from a single granite rock face in the 12th century, is the centrepiece of this compact and unusually well-preserved medieval capital. The Royal Palace complex, the Sacred Quadrangle and the Vatadage are all within comfortable cycling or tuk tuk distance of each other. Polonnaruwa rewards travellers who […]
Anuradhapura
Founded in the 4th century BC and occupied for over a millennium, Anuradhapura holds the Sri Maha Bodhi Tree, planted in 288 BC as a cutting from the original Bodhi Tree and now the oldest documented living tree on earth. The Ruwanwelisaya Dagoba stands 55 metres tall and remains an active site of daily devotion. […]
Sigiriya
The hydraulic water gardens at the base of Sigiriya are engineering from the 5th century AD, still intact. The Mirror Wall carries devotional poetry from a thousand years of visitors, and the Apsara frescoes have survived 1,500 years on a sheer rock face. The summit view at first light across the Cultural Triangle plains is […]