Highlights
Cuisine
Sri Lankan cuisine incorporates spices to great effect to produce mouthwatering curries, rice dishes, pickles and chutneys. Experiencing a traditional Sri Lankan ‘rice and curry’ for the first time is a joy to behold, as more and more bowls of steaming flavoursome treats are delivered to your table! Try one of our favourites, succulent black pork, made with a bewildering array of local spices and marinated to perfection. Prepare your tastebuds for an explosion of flavours and spices that will simply leave you wanting more and more!
Shopping
Colombo offers plenty of fascinating shopping opportunities, including street markets and modern shopping centres, perfect to buy keepsakes and souvenirs. Our favourites are the interior design havens of Barefoot Road and Paradise Road for an array of gorgeous artisan home decor items and knick-knacks. Good buys whilst in the country include Ceylon tea, spices, hand loomed fabrics and jewellery, including indigenous blue sapphires.
Cultural Highlights
In addition to the main attractions, there is a vast array of sites to discover across the country. Just outside Tangalle is Mulkirigala Temple – a series of natural caves filled with wall paintings and statues of Buddha. It was here, in 1862, that a British Administrator discovered some palm-leaf manuscripts that contained the key to translating the Mahawamsa, the Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka. The climb to the summit is challenging, but well worth it for its magnificent views. Meanwhile, in the dry zone known as ‘The Cultural Triangle’ you will find ancient cities such as Anuradhapura and Polonaruwa, rock fortresses including Sigiriya and the Dambulla Rock Temples, some of Sri Lanka’s oldest relics and famous UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Further inland, towards Kandy, you will find a temple that reputedly houses Buddha’s tooth, while the vibrant arts scene has survived colonisation and remains true to its millennia-old roots.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Travel north to see the amazing UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle. Marvel at Sigiriya Rock, built in the 5th century AD by King Kasyapa as a great fortress in the sky, to protect himself from the rightful heir, his brother, who had sworn revenge and returned from India to fight an epic battle with armies of warrior elephants. The nearby ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa will also wow with their hidden monasteries, cave temples and sacred rocks. The scattered ruins of one of the ancient world’s greatest civilisations await!
Wildlife
Sri Lanka is amongst the most bio-diverse countries in the world, and a little-known fact is that it has the world’s largest density of leopards in Yala National Park. Monkeys, crocodiles, elephants, innumerable species of birds, lizards, deer and rare bears can all be spotted, if you are lucky, on game-drives around the park. Close by is one of Sri Lanka’s finest parks, Uda Walawe National Park and one of the best locations for elephant-watching, surpassing many of East Africa’s famous national parks. With low-lying vegetation, enjoy interrupted views of wild buffalo, herds of elephants, sambar and spotted deer, the occasional leopard and much, much more!