Attractions

Kandy

A towering white seated Buddha on a hilltop with a sweeping panorama over Kandy.

🎟 LKR 250 (foreign)

Kandy

A quiet colonial-era cemetery behind the Temple of the Tooth, with a knowledgeable caretaker who brings its stories to life.

🎟 Free

Kandy

A restored tea factory at Hantana telling the story of Ceylon tea, with vintage machinery and a top-floor tea room.

🎟 LKR 1000 (foreign)

Kandy

The artificial lake at the heart of the city, ringed by a walkable promenade and overlooked by the Temple of the Tooth.

🎟 Free

Peradeniya

One of Asia's grandest botanical gardens, spread over 60 hectares in a loop of the Mahaweli River.

🎟 LKR 3000 (foreign)

Kandy

Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist shrine, enshrining a tooth relic of the Buddha inside the former royal palace complex.

🎟 LKR 2000 (foreign)

Kandy

A historic forest sanctuary on the ridge behind the Temple of the Tooth, laced with shady walking trails.

🎟 LKR 660 (foreign)

Matale

A cave temple among great boulders where the Buddhist Pali Canon was first committed to writing in the 1st century BC.

🎟 LKR 300 (foreign)

Matale

Roadside herbal and spice gardens where guides walk you through cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, nutmeg and Ayurvedic plants.

🎟 Free

Matale

A small, complete ancient stone temple blending Buddhist and Hindu architecture, near the geographic centre of Sri Lanka.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Elkaduwa

A montane grassland plateau ending abruptly at a sheer cliff drop known as Mini World's End.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Elkaduwa

A windswept viewpoint on the western edge of the Knuckles Range, with sweeping views over montane grasslands and valleys.

🎟 Free

Elkaduwa

A strikingly clear man-made lake ringed by pine forest and hills in the highlands above Elkaduwa.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Matale

A vividly painted Hindu temple in the town centre with a towering gopuram covered in hundreds of Dravidian figures.

🎟 Free

Nuwara Eliya

A famous roadside tea estate and factory with free guided tours and a cafe overlooking the tea gardens.

🎟 Free

Nuwara Eliya

One of Sri Lanka's grandest gardens, set against the Hakgala rock at high altitude and famous for its roses and orchids.

🎟 LKR 3540 (foreign)

Nuwara Eliya

A high-altitude plateau of montane grassland and cloud forest, home to the sheer cliff viewpoint known as World's End.

🎟 LKR 10000 (foreign)

Nuwara Eliya

A colonial-era reservoir at the edge of town, ringed by a park with boat rides, cycling paths and pony rides.

🎟 LKR 200 (foreign)

Nuwara Eliya

A colourful Hindu temple linked to the Ramayana, said to mark where Sita was held captive by the demon king Ravana.

🎟 Free

Nuwara Eliya

A beautifully kept town-centre park of flower beds and lawns, prized by birdwatchers for its rare highland species.

🎟 LKR 300 (foreign)

Arugam Bay

A palm-backed crescent of golden sand and one of the world's classic right-hand point breaks, the heart of Sri Lanka's east-coast surf scene.

🎟 Free

Ampara

A serene forest monastery on rocky outcrops just outside Ampara, dotted with ancient ruins and a white stupa amid the jungle.

🎟 Free

Ampara

An ancient sacred stupa north of Ampara, counted among the sixteen holiest Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka and linked by legend to a visit of the Buddha.

🎟 Free

Ampara

The only national park in Sri Lanka offering boat safaris, famous for elephants swimming between islands on the vast Senanayake Samudra reservoir.

🎟 LKR 3000 (foreign)

Arugam Bay

A remote 3rd-century-BCE cave monastery in the jungle south of Panama, with hundreds of rock shelters and a hilltop stupa offering sweeping views.

🎟 Free

Arugam Bay

One of Sri Lanka's smallest national parks, whose reservoirs draw elephants and water birds within easy reach of Arugam Bay.

🎟 LKR 3000 (foreign)

Arugam Bay

An ancient ruined temple in the jungle near Lahugala, traditionally said to mark the royal wedding of King Kavantissa and Queen Viharamahadevi.

🎟 Free

Arugam Bay

A mangrove-fringed lagoon a short ride from Arugam Bay, explored by boat safari for elephants, crocodiles and abundant birdlife.

🎟 Free

Batticaloa

A compact Portuguese-Dutch fort on Puliyanthivu island, ringed by the lagoon and a canal, at the heart of the old city.

🎟 Free

Batticaloa

A slender colonial-era lighthouse near the lagoon estuary at Palameenmadu, with fine views over the water.

🎟 Free

Pasikudah

A long, quiet stretch of sand just around the headland from Pasikudah, less developed and good for peaceful walks.

🎟 Free

Batticaloa

A long iron bridge over the Batticaloa Lagoon, famous as the place to listen for the city's mysterious 'singing fish'.

🎟 Free

Batticaloa

One of the oldest Hindu temples in Batticaloa, dedicated to Ganesh and famous for its colourful June-July chariot festival.

🎟 Free

Pasikudah

A wide, reef-sheltered bay of blond sand and shallow turquoise water, one of the safest swimming beaches in Sri Lanka.

🎟 Free

Trincomalee

A colonial-era fort guarding the Trincomalee headland, its wooded grounds roamed by wild spotted deer and leading up to Koneswaram Temple.

🎟 Free

Trincomalee

A cluster of seven square wells of naturally warm mineral water enclosed in a walled bathing complex west of town.

🎟 LKR 300 (foreign)

Trincomalee

A dramatic clifftop Hindu temple to Shiva on Swami Rock, high above the ocean at the tip of the Trincomalee headland.

🎟 Free

Nilaveli

A long, quiet stretch of white sand north of Trincomalee, popular for swimming and as the gateway to Pigeon Island.

🎟 Free

Nilaveli

A protected coral island off Nilaveli with one of Sri Lanka's best shallow snorkelling reefs and resident blacktip reef sharks.

🎟 LKR 2000 (foreign)

Trincomalee

The nearest sweep of golden sand to Trincomalee town, lined with guesthouses and calm swimming water.

🎟 Free

Anuradhapura

A huge brick stupa at the centre of the ancient Abhayagiri monastic city, once a great international seat of Buddhist learning.

🎟 Free

Anuradhapura

A rock-cut cave temple beside a lotus pond, famous for its exquisite ancient stone carvings including the 'Isurumuniya Lovers'.

🎟 LKR 300 (foreign)

Anuradhapura

The sacred fig tree grown from a cutting of the Buddha's own Bodhi tree, said to be the oldest historically documented tree in the world.

🎟 LKR 200 (foreign)

Anuradhapura

A colossal red-brick stupa, once among the tallest structures in the ancient world, at the ruins of the Jetavana monastery.

🎟 Free

Mihintale

The mountain where Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka, reached by a monumental stairway past ancient stupas and monastic ruins.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Anuradhapura

A gleaming white dome-shaped stupa and one of the most sacred and revered monuments in the Buddhist world.

🎟 Free

Anuradhapura

The oldest dagoba in Sri Lanka, a small bell-shaped stupa ringed by slender ancient stone pillars.

🎟 Free

Polonnaruwa

Four colossal Buddha images carved from a single granite wall, among the greatest masterpieces of ancient Sri Lankan sculpture.

🎟 Free

Polonnaruwa

A towering brick image house whose roofless walls soar around a great headless standing Buddha, one of Polonnaruwa's most dramatic ruins.

🎟 Free

Polonnaruwa

A serene circular relic house crowning a low rock hill about 30 km north of Polonnaruwa, ringed by concentric rows of stone pillars.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Giritale

A dry-zone national park around an ancient reservoir, famous for 'The Gathering', when hundreds of wild elephants converge on the drying lakebed.

🎟 LKR 4500 (foreign)

Polonnaruwa

An exquisite circular relic house at the heart of the Sacred Quadrangle, regarded as the finest surviving example of vatadage architecture in Sri Lanka.

🎟 LKR 9000 (foreign)

Polonnaruwa

The largest stupa in Polonnaruwa, a great bell-shaped brick dome modelled on the ancient dagobas of Anuradhapura.

🎟 Free

Polonnaruwa

A dignified rock-cut relief of a robed figure beside the Parakrama Samudra, popularly believed to portray the great king who built the reservoir.

🎟 Free

Kurunegala

The atmospheric ruins of an ancient forest hermitage of meditating monks, set in cool woodland north of Kurunegala.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Kurunegala

The largest of Kurunegala's animal-shaped rocks, a 300 m granite dome shaped like a crouching elephant, crowned by a temple and giant Buddha statue.

🎟 Free

Kurunegala

A large ancient reservoir on the edge of the town centre, with a lakeside path and views across the water to the elephant rock.

🎟 Free

Kurunegala

A pretty Kandyan-style temple at a road junction north-west of Kurunegala, famous for its carved wooden pillars and huge ornate doorway.

🎟 Free

Kurunegala

The overgrown ruins of a 12th-century royal capital, with a moated citadel, palace foundations, stupas and a restored tooth-relic shrine.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Kurunegala

A 2nd-century BCE cave temple near Ridigama, named for the silver ore discovered here, with fine Kandyan murals and Dutch-tile decoration.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Yapahuwa

A dramatic medieval rock citadel crowned by an ornate ceremonial staircase, once a royal capital and home of the sacred Tooth Relic.

🎟 LKR 2000 (foreign)

Puttalam

A Ramsar-listed wetland of ancient man-made tanks, mangroves and coastal lagoon south of Puttalam, alive with resident and migratory birds.

🎟 Free

Kalpitiya

Boat trips from the Kalpitiya peninsula out to superpods of spinner dolphins, with sperm and blue whales offshore in season.

🎟 Free

Puttalam

An ancient and important Hindu temple complex near Chilaw, one of the five sacred Shiva shrines (Pancha Ishwaram) of Sri Lanka.

🎟 Free

Kalpitiya

A historic Catholic shrine on the Kalpitiya coast, one of Sri Lanka's largest pilgrimage sites, set beside the sea under coconut palms.

🎟 Free

Puttalam

Sri Lanka's largest national park, a wilderness of scrub jungle and natural lakes famous for leopards, sloth bears and quiet safaris.

🎟 LKR 4500 (foreign)

Jaffna

A long, shallow white-sand beach on Karainagar island, one of the best and calmest swimming beaches in the north.

🎟 Free

Jaffna

A remote coral-and-baobab island famous for its herds of wild ponies descended from colonial-era horses.

🎟 Free

Jaffna

A vast star-shaped Dutch fort beside the lagoon, the second-largest fortress in Sri Lanka and a focus of the city's history.

🎟 Free

Jaffna

A gleaming white colonial-style library, one of Jaffna's proudest landmarks and a powerful symbol of Tamil cultural resilience.

🎟 Free

Jaffna

A natural mineral-water bathing spring beside the sea, believed to have healing powers, next to the ancient Naguleswaram temple.

🎟 Free

Jaffna

A revered Buddhist temple on Nainativu island, one of the sacred sites believed to have been visited by the Buddha.

🎟 Free

Jaffna

A towering Hindu temple on Nainativu island dedicated to the goddess Parvati, ranked among the sacred Shakti Peethas.

🎟 Free

Jaffna

Jaffna's most important Hindu temple, a golden, five-tiered Dravidian gopuram complex dedicated to the war god Murugan.

🎟 Free

Jaffna

The northernmost tip of Sri Lanka, a quiet fishing town with a lighthouse, palmyrah-lined coast and windswept beaches.

🎟 Free

Kilinochchi

A lagoon-and-mangrove national park northeast of Kilinochchi, a haven for migratory water birds and wintering greater flamingos.

🎟 LKR 2500 (foreign)

Kilinochchi

A dramatic roadside monument on the narrow isthmus that guards the gateway to the Jaffna Peninsula, scene of some of the war's fiercest battles.

🎟 Free

Kilinochchi

One of Sri Lanka's largest irrigation reservoirs, a vast sheet of water southeast of Kilinochchi rimmed with birdlife and rural calm.

🎟 Free

Kilinochchi

A striking monument in the centre of Kilinochchi town commemorating the army's capture of the LTTE's former capital in 2009.

🎟 Free

Kilinochchi

A much-loved roadside Ganesha temple on the A9 where travellers stop to break a coconut and pray for a safe onward journey.

🎟 Free

Talaimannar

A chain of sandbanks and limestone shoals stretching from Talaimannar toward India, protected as a marine national park and steeped in the legend of the Ramayana.

🎟 Free

Mannar

A giant, ancient African baobab in Pallimunai village, believed to be some 700 years old and the largest tree in Sri Lanka by girth.

🎟 Free

Mannar

The crumbling seaside ruin of a British colonial governor's residence at Arippu, built to oversee the Gulf of Mannar pearl fisheries.

🎟 Free

Mannar

A square Portuguese-and-Dutch coastal fort guarding the causeway entrance to Mannar Island, with sturdy ramparts and corner bastions.

🎟 Free

Talaimannar

The derelict pier and weathered lighthouse at the island's western tip, once the ferry gateway to India across the Palk Strait.

🎟 Free

Mannar

An ancient Hindu temple to Lord Shiva near Mannar, one of the revered Pancha Ishwarams of Sri Lanka, crowned by a colourful gopuram.

🎟 Free

Mannar

A vast coastal wetland of lagoons, mudflats and salt marsh south of Mannar, and one of Sri Lanka's finest sites for migratory waterbirds and flamingos.

🎟 Free

Mullaitivu

A vast estuarine lagoon of mangroves, seagrass and mudflats south-east of Mullaitivu, one of Sri Lanka's oldest bird sanctuaries and a haven for migratory waterbirds.

🎟 Free

Mullaitivu

A long, wide stretch of golden sand lined with fishing boats and palmyrah palms, one of the north-east's most peaceful and undeveloped beaches.

🎟 Free

Mullaitivu

A large, calm lagoon whose name means 'the sea of conches', ringed by mangroves and birdlife and marking the site where Sri Lanka's civil war ended in May 2009.

🎟 Free

Puthukkudiyiruppu

An army-run open-air war museum and adjoining Victory Monument at Puthukkudiyiruppu, displaying captured LTTE vehicles, weapons and vessels from the final phase of the civil war.

🎟 Free

Puthukkudiyiruppu

A preserved LTTE naval boatyard near Puthukkudiyiruppu where the Sea Tigers built submarines, semi-submersibles and attack craft, discovered by the army at the end of the war.

🎟 Free

Mullaitivu

An ancient Hindu temple on the shores of Nanthikadal lagoon dedicated to the goddess Kannagi, one of the most important Kannagi pilgrimage sites in Sri Lanka.

🎟 Free

Vavuniya

A small regional museum in the town centre displaying Buddhist and Hindu statuary and antiquities excavated across the Vavuniya region.

🎟 Free

Vavuniya

A landmark town-centre mosque with distinctive onion-shaped golden domes and aqua-tinted tilework rising above the busy bazaar.

🎟 Free

Vavuniya

A colourful Hindu temple in the heart of Vavuniya dedicated to Lord Murugan, with a golden shrine and an ornately carved gopuram.

🎟 Free

Vavuniya

An ancient Buddhist temple 4 km east of Vavuniya, revered as an early resting place of the Sacred Tooth Relic on its journey to Anuradhapura.

🎟 Free

Vavuniya

A large irrigation reservoir on the edge of town, a peaceful spot for sunset and waterbirds away from the bustle of the bazaar.

🎟 Free

Kegalle

A dramatic flat-topped mountain resembling an open book on a lectern, with panoramic views over the central hills after a rewarding hike.

🎟 Free

Kegalle

An ancient truncated stupa built on the reputed birthplace of King Parakramabahu the Great, with an on-site archaeological museum.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Kegalle

A small forest reserve and bird sanctuary on the edge of Kegalle town, with shady walking trails and a hilltop temple.

🎟 Free

Pinnawala

A small charity sanctuary near Pinnawala caring for a handful of rescued working elephants, with an ethical, hands-off visitor experience.

🎟 LKR 2000 (foreign)

Pinnawala

A famous sanctuary for orphaned and injured elephants, home to the world's largest captive herd, best seen at its twice-daily river bathing.

🎟 LKR 2800 (foreign)

Pinnawala

Sri Lanka's first open-air zoo, where animals roam in large landscaped enclosures mimicking their natural habitats.

🎟 LKR 2500 (foreign)

Kegalle

A rugged rock mountain near Mawanella, once the hideout of Sri Lanka's legendary Robin Hood-style bandit Saradiel, with fine views from the top.

🎟 Free

Ratnapura

A sacred 2,243 m conical mountain crowned by a rock 'footprint', climbed by night by pilgrims of four faiths for a famous dawn.

🎟 Free

Ratnapura

A shapely 30 m waterfall near Kuruwita whose cascade narrows into the form of a sacred bo (fig) leaf.

🎟 LKR 300 (foreign)

Ratnapura

A low, wide waterfall and popular bathing spot in the Sri Pada forest just outside Ratnapura town.

🎟 Free

Ratnapura

A grand Kandyan-style shrine to the god Saman on the edge of Ratnapura, built on the site of a former Portuguese fort and church.

🎟 Free

Ratnapura

A regional national museum in a historic Kandyan-era manor, exploring Sabaragamuwa's natural history, prehistory and folk culture.

🎟 LKR 300 (foreign)

Ratnapura

A museum in the City of Gems displaying precious and semi-precious stones alongside the tools and story of Sri Lanka's gem trade.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Ratnapura

Sri Lanka's last major tract of primary lowland rainforest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site teeming with endemic birds, plants and wildlife.

🎟 LKR 2700 (foreign)

Galle

An 18th-century Dutch colonial church inside the fort, its floor paved with old gravestones and memorial slabs.

🎟 Free

Galle

A UNESCO World Heritage fortified old town of Dutch ramparts, churches and cobbled lanes jutting into the Indian Ocean.

🎟 Free

Galle

Sri Lanka's oldest light station, a whitewashed tower standing above the palms at the southern tip of Galle Fort.

🎟 Free

Unawatuna

A gleaming white Buddhist stupa on Rumassala hill with sweeping views over Unawatuna bay and the Indian Ocean.

🎟 Free

Galle

A maritime archaeology museum inside a 1671 Dutch warehouse above the fort's Old Gate.

🎟 LKR 300 (foreign)

Galle

The oldest surviving Dutch building in the fort, now a museum of southern Sri Lankan history and crafts.

🎟 LKR 300 (foreign)

Unawatuna

A curving, palm-fringed bay with calm reef-protected water, one of the south coast's most popular beaches.

🎟 Free

Tissamaharama

A coastal wetland and Ramsar site of lagoons and salt pans, one of Sri Lanka's finest birdwatching parks and a winter home for greater flamingos.

🎟 LKR 7500 (foreign)

Hambantota

A dramatic rock-temple monastery on a towering granite outcrop, its terraced cave shrines holding reclining Buddhas and vivid murals.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Hambantota

A protected stretch of golden coast near Tangalle where wild sea turtles come ashore at night to nest, watched under strict conservation guidelines.

🎟 LKR 1000 (foreign)

Hambantota

Sri Lanka's first drive-through safari park, where visitors tour landscaped zones of lions, elephants, deer and other animals by vehicle.

🎟 LKR 3000 (foreign)

Tissamaharama

An ancient rock monastery of caves and stupas set deep within Yala National Park, once home to thousands of meditating monks.

🎟 Free

Tissamaharama

A monumental white dagoba dating from the Ruhuna kingdom, one of the largest ancient stupas in Sri Lanka and the centrepiece of Tissa town.

🎟 Free

Tissamaharama

Sri Lanka's most famous wildlife park, renowned for one of the world's highest leopard densities alongside elephants, sloth bears and abundant birdlife.

🎟 LKR 8500 (foreign)

Mirissa

A palm-topped headland jutting into the sea at Mirissa, one of the most photographed spots on the south coast.

🎟 Free

Matara

An ancient temple town near the southern tip of the island, once a great medieval pilgrimage port, host to a famous Esala festival.

🎟 Free

Matara

The tallest lighthouse in Sri Lanka, standing on Dondra Head, the southernmost point of the island.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Matara

A large Dutch-era seafront fort enclosing part of the old town on a promontory between the Nilwala River and the sea.

🎟 Free

Mirissa

Sri Lanka's premier whale-watching launch point, where dawn boats head into deep water off the south coast to find blue and sperm whales.

🎟 LKR 10000 (foreign)

Matara

A small Buddhist temple on a rocky islet just off the Matara shore, reached by an elegant cable-stayed footbridge.

🎟 Free

Matara

A calm, reef-protected lagoon beach just southwest of Matara town, popular for safe swimming and snorkelling.

🎟 Free

Matara

A compact six-pointed Dutch star fort of 1765, with a small museum inside its bastioned walls near the Nilwala River.

🎟 LKR 600 (foreign)

Matara

A temple complex east of Matara famous for one of Sri Lanka's largest seated Buddha statues and a tunnel of painted murals.

🎟 Free

Mirissa

A wide, gently curving bay just west of Mirissa, known for beginner-friendly surf and the famous stilt fishermen of the south coast.

🎟 Free

Badulla

A rare 16th-century roofed wooden footbridge, said to be the oldest surviving bridge of its kind in Sri Lanka.

🎟 LKR 100 (foreign)

Badulla

A powerful 63 m waterfall near Badulla, nicknamed the bridal-veil falls for the misty spray that cloaks its plunge.

🎟 LKR 200 (foreign)

Ella

An easy hilltop hike rewarded with panoramic views over Ella Gap, tea slopes and the surrounding hill country.

🎟 Free

Badulla

An ancient Buddhist temple in the heart of Badulla, counted among the sixteen most sacred places of worship in Sri Lanka.

🎟 Free

Ella

An iconic curved stone railway viaduct set amid jungle and tea, famous for photos of the train crossing its nine arches.

🎟 Free

Ella

A wide, roaring cascade tumbling down the hillside on the road below Ella, tied to the legend of the demon king Ravana.

🎟 Free

Wellawaya

Seven colossal figures carved into a rock face around a 15 m standing Buddha, the tallest such rock-cut Buddha in Sri Lanka and a rare Mahayana site.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Buttala

An ancient temple at Okkampitiya with one of Sri Lanka's oldest stupas, linked in legend to the brothers Dutugemunu and Saddhatissa.

🎟 Free

Buttala

A free-standing 7th-century limestone Buddha over 11 m tall, the tallest ancient free-standing Buddha statue in Sri Lanka, set in forested grounds.

🎟 Free

Buttala

A vast, squat ancient stupa near Buttala with a base circumference of over 300 m, one of the largest dagobas in southern Sri Lanka.

🎟 Free

Colombo

Sri Lanka's largest museum, an elegant colonial-era building housing the island's finest collection of art, regalia and antiquities.

🎟 LKR 1000 (foreign)

Colombo

A breezy oceanfront promenade in the heart of the city, famous for kite-flyers, families and legendary street food at sunset.

🎟 Free

Colombo

Colombo's most eclectic Buddhist temple, an eccentric treasury of relics, statues and curiosities beside Beira Lake.

🎟 LKR 300 (foreign)

Colombo

A stately open-pavilion monument commemorating Sri Lanka's independence, set in the gardens of Cinnamon Gardens.

🎟 Free

Colombo

A landmark red-and-white striped mosque in the Pettah bazaar, one of Colombo's most photographed buildings.

🎟 Free

Colombo

The oldest surviving colonial building in the Fort, now a stylish precinct of restaurants, bars and boutiques.

🎟 Free

Colombo

Colombo's oldest and largest public park, a green oasis of flowering trees and lawns opposite the Town Hall.

🎟 Free

Negombo

A Buddhist temple famous for its dramatic dragon-mouth entrance, towering Buddha statue and murals of the Jataka tales.

🎟 Free

Gampaha

An ancient royal temple and archaeological site linked to the self-sacrificing King Sri Sangabodhi, with a rare intact circular relic house.

🎟 Free

Gampaha

A shady 19th-century botanical garden where the first rubber trees in Asia were grown, laced with old trees and a lily-covered lake.

🎟 LKR 1100 (foreign)

Gampaha

An ancient and deeply sacred Buddhist temple believed to have been visited by the Buddha, famed for its vivid murals and the Duruthu Perahera.

🎟 LKR 200 (foreign)

Negombo

Sri Lanka's largest coastal peat-bog wetland, a biodiverse marsh south of the lagoon best explored by boat safari.

🎟 Free

Negombo

A long golden-sand beach nicknamed the 'Golden Mile', lined with resorts, seafood restaurants and swaying coconut palms.

🎟 Free

Negombo

The gateway and ramparts of a 17th-century Dutch fort near the lagoon mouth, with a fine inscribed archway dated 1678.

🎟 Free

Negombo

A large mangrove-fringed lagoon famous for its outrigger fishing fleet, birdlife and boat trips along old Dutch canals.

🎟 Free

Negombo

One of Sri Lanka's largest Catholic churches, its vast nave crowned by richly painted ceilings.

🎟 Free

Kalutara

A serene white-walled Buddhist temple in Kalutara North, known for its bright shrine halls and reclining Buddha.

🎟 Free

Aluthgama

The lush hillside garden and eccentric artist's home created by landscape designer Bevis Bawa, hidden in the hills near Beruwala.

🎟 LKR 1000 (foreign)

Kalutara

A gleaming white hollow stupa beside the Kalu Ganga bridge, one of very few Buddhist stupas in the world you can walk inside.

🎟 Free

Aluthgama

A hilltop Buddhist temple near Aluthgama crowned by one of the tallest seated Buddha statues in the world.

🎟 Free

Kalutara

An opulent Edwardian mansion on a hill above the Kalu Ganga, blending Italian, British and Asian architecture on a 42-acre estate.

🎟 LKR 500 (foreign)

Kalutara

A gentle two-tier waterfall inland from Kalutara with a natural rock pool for swimming, set amid lush lowland jungle.

🎟 Free