Sri Lanka Attractions

Kandy

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

🎟 LKR 2000 (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)

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

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

Trincomalee

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

🎟 Free

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)

Polonnaruwa

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

🎟 Free

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)

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

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

🎟 Free

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)

Ratnapura

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

🎟 LKR 300 (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)

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)

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)

Matara

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

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

🎟 LKR 200 (foreign)

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

Colombo

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

🎟 LKR 300 (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)