All visits to Sri Lanka currently begin at the international airport just outside Colombo, the island’s capital and far and away its largest city – a sprawling metropolis whose contrasting districts offer an absorbing introduction to Sri Lanka’s myriad cultures and multilayered history. Many visitors head straight for one of the west coast’s beaches, whose innumerable resort hotels still power the country’s tourist industry. Destinations include the package-holiday resorts of Negombo and Beruwala, the more stylish Bentota, and the old hippy hangout of Hikkaduwa. More unspoilt countryside can be found north of Colombo at the Kalpitiya peninsula and in the vast Wilpattu National Park nearby, home to leopards, elephants and sloth bears.
Beyond Hikkaduwa, the south coast is significantly less developed. Gateway to the region is the marvellous old Dutch city of Galle, Sri Lanka’s finest colonial town, beyond which lies a string of fine beaches including the ever-expanding villages of Unawatuna and Mirissa along with quieter stretches of coast at Weligama and Tangalla, as well as the lively provincial capital of Matara, boasting further Dutch remains. East of here, Tissamaharama serves as a convenient base for the outstanding Yala and Bundala national parks, and for the fascinating temple town of Kataragama.
Fact file
• Lying a few degrees north of the Equator, Sri Lanka is slightly smaller than Ireland and a little larger than the US state of West Virginia.
• Sri Lanka achieved independence from Britain in 1948, and did away with its colonial name, Ceylon, in 1972. The country has had a functioning democracy since independence, and in 1960 elected the world’s first female prime minister.
• Sri Lanka’s population of 22.5 million is a mosaic of different ethnic and religious groups, the two largest being the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese (75 percent), and the predominantly Hindu Tamils (15 percent); there are also considerable numbers of Christians and Muslims. Sinhala, Tamil and English are all officially recognized languages.
• Sri Lankans enjoy a healthy life expectancy of 77 years and a literacy rate of almost 93 percent, but also have one of the world’s highest suicide rates.
• Cricket is a countrywide obsession, although the official national sport is actually volleyball.
• The country’s main export is clothing, followed by tea; coconuts, cinnamon and precious gems are also important. Revenues from tourism are vital to the national economy, while remittances from the hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans working overseas (mainly in the Gulf) are also significant.
Alamy
ASIAN ELEPHANT, MINNERIYA NATIONAL PARK
Buddhism runs deep in Sri Lanka. The island was one of the first places to convert to the religion, in 247 BC, and has remained unswervingly faithful in the two thousand years since. As such, Sri Lanka is often claimed to be the world’s oldest Buddhist country, and Buddhism continues to permeate the practical life and spiritual beliefs of the majority of the island’s Sinhalese population. Buddhist temples can be found everywhere, often decorated with superb shrines, statues and murals, while the sight of Sri Lanka’s orange-robed monks is one of the island’s enduring visual images. Buddhist places of pilgrimage – the Temple of the Tooth at Kandy, the revered “footprint” of the Buddha at Adam’s Peak, and the Sri Maha Bodhi at Anuradhapura – also play a vital role in sustaining the faith, while the national calendar is punctuated with religious holidays and festivals ranging from the monthly full-moon poya days through to more elaborate annual celebrations, often taking the form of enormous processions (peraheras), during which locals parade through the streets, often accompanied by elaborately costumed elephants. For more on Buddhism, turn to our Contexts chapter.
Inland from Colombo rise the verdant highlands of the hill country, enveloped in the tea plantations (first introduced by the British) which still play a vital role in the island’s economy. The symbolic heart of the region is Kandy, Sri Lanka’s second city and the cultural capital of the Sinhalese, its colourful traditions embodied by the famous Temple of the Tooth and the magnificent Esala Perahera, Sri Lanka’s most colourful festival. South of here, close to the highest point of the island, lies the old British town of Nuwara Eliya, centre of the country’s tea industry and a convenient base for visits to the spectacular Horton Plains National Park. A string of towns and villages – including Ella and Haputale – along the southern edge of the hill country offer an appealing mixture of magnificent views, wonderful walks and olde-worlde British colonial charm. Close to the hill country’s southwestern edge, the soaring summit of Adam’s Peak is another of the island’s major pilgrimage sites, while the gem-mining centre of Ratnapura to the south serves as a starting point for visits to the elephant-rich Uda Walawe National Park and the rare tropical rainforest of Sinharaja.
North of Kandy, the hill country tumbles down into the arid plains of the northern dry zone. This area, known as the Cultural Triangle, was the location of Sri Lanka’s first great civilization, and its extraordinary scatter of ruined palaces, temples and dagobas still gives a compelling sense of this glorious past. Foremost among these are the fascinating ruined cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, the marvellous cave temples of Dambulla, the hilltop shrines and dagobas of Mihintale and the extraordinary rock citadel of Sigiriya.
The two main gateways to the east are the cities of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, each boasting a clutch of colonial remains backed by bays and lagoons. Elsewhere, the east’s huge swathe of coastline remains largely undeveloped. A cluster of upmarket new resort hotels dot the seafront at Passekudah, north of Batticaloa, although most visitors prefer the more laidback beachside charms of sleepy Nilaveli and Uppuveli, just north of Trincomalee, or the chilled-out surfing centre of Arugam Bay, at the southern end of the coast. Further afield, the north remains relatively untouristed, although increasing numbers of visitors are making the journey to the absorbing city of Jaffna, while a side trip to remote Mannar, closer to India than Colombo, is another enticing possibility.
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GALLE
