Experience a cultural tour in SRI LANKA
Experience An Adventure Tour In Sri Lanka – It seems somehow incongruous that a tropical Buddhist island should be associated with so much political turmoil, but the end of the civil war marks a new chapter for this land of sand and cinnamon at the southern tip of India. Travellers can once again focus on the languorous beaches, the steamy tropical air, the tea plantations and the historic cities scattered around the interior. Sri Lanka is a place where you can start the day sipping from a fresh coconut with your toes in the Indian Ocean, and end it scouring the jungle for leopards or gazing at monumental statues of the Buddha. Think of it as India-on-sea, with a sprinkling of Southeast Asian Buddhism and Arabian spice.
Best time to visit in Sri Lanka
December to March, to avoid the southwest monsoon
Places to visit in Sri Lanka
- Museums, monuments and colonial trim in the frenetic capital, Colombo.
- Ruined palaces and super-sized Buddhas in the old royal capital of Polonnaruwa.
- A window onto the Dutch colonial past in historic Galle.
- Elaborate gardens and equisite frescoes in the ancient fortress at Sigiriya.
- A very different side of Sri Lanka in the Tamil city of Jaffna.
Top things to do in Sri Lanka
- Kick back on the sparkling sands of Sri Lanka’s southern beaches.
- Watch the rising sun cast its rays over the island from Adam’s Peak.
- Search for leopards and elephants in the foilage of Yala National Park.
- Surf the wild breaks at Arugam Bay.
- Make the pilgrimage to the Temple of the Tooth in World Heritage-listed Kandy.
Discover Sri Lanka
- Read Shyam Selvadurai’s unconventional love story Funny Boy, or Romesh Gunesekera’s coming-of-age drama Reef.
- Listen to www.lankabroadcast.com for streaming broadcasts of local pop and baila (Sri Lankan dance music).
- Watch the antiwar films of Asoka Handagama – his Aksharaya (A Letter of Fire) was banned in Sri Lanka, but copies are circulating online.
- Eat ‘hoppers’ (or more properla appa), delicious pancakes made from fermented rice and coconut milk
- Drink toddy (a local wine made from fermented palm sap), or arrack, the same thing but distilled and bottled.
Sri Lanka Highlights
Bendy palm trees, sun-kissed beaches, Ceylon tea, colonial hand-me downs, jumbos in the jungle, fresh coconuts, short eats, batik, cricket-obsessed locals, Tamil Tigers
One word for Sri Lanka Tourism
Ayubowan (May you live long)
