The culture trip

Best for: Archaeology, culture & history

DURATION 10-14 days ROUTE Kandy • Polonnaruwa • Dambulla • Sigiriya • Anuradhapura • Anamaduwa WHY DO IT? To tick off five of Sri Lanka’s eight UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Kandy was the last kingdom to fall into British hands in 1815. Busy by day yet ghostly quiet by evening, it’s popularly visited for its gilt-roofed Tooth Temple and the Botanical Gardens flanking Peradeniya University’s leafy campus. Other sights are deserving too – do the ‘three-temple loop’ by tuk-tuk and travel to the outskirts of the city to visit three intricately carved, historic devales

(sacred shrines) at Embekke, Lankatilake and Gadaladeniya

In the dry-zone plains some three hours north of Kandy lie the origins of Sri Lankan civilisation – vast, ancient cities with man-made tanks, graceful stupas and carved moonstones lying partly excavated beneath dusty forest. Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa’s ancient ruins are extensive, and best explored by bicycle (hire one from the entrances). Visit former rocktop fortress Sigiriya as soon as it opens to avoid the heat and coach party queues, or scale Pidurangala rock, opposite, for views of Sigiriya’s giant lion paws. Not to be outdone, Dambulla’s cave temples glow in the late afternoon light.

Wind your trip up in an eco-lodge in Anamaduwa (themudhouse.lk), ringed by rocky outcrops, rice fields and lotusstrewn lakes. From here, visit archaeological sites Yapahuwa and Dambadeniya (both former royal capitals), the rock temple at Mulegama and then Tonigala’s 30m-long rock inscriptions (the longest of its kind in Asia).

Rock of ages Sigiriya, the ancient rock fortress, is nearly 200m high and served as a monastery before becoming the site of a royal residence around 500BC; (bottom left) Buddhas at Dambulla’s caves