Touring Sri Lanka

Historically, as a tourist destination Sri Lanka was renowned for its beach resorts providing the perfect sun, surf and sand to relax and unwind. The coastline is dotted with many golden sandy beaches such as Bentota, Hikkaduwa, Unawatuna, Mirissa on the south western coast and Tangalle, Arugam Bay, Pasikudah and Nilaweli on the eastern coast providing the beach lover options for a beach holiday the whole year through. Apart from relaxing at the beach many coastal resorts provide adventurous activities such as surfing, kite-surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving and whale and dolphin watching excursions out in the open seas.

Sri Lanka boasts of 8 UNESCO World Heritage sites of which 6 are cultural sites providing a rich history dating back as far as to the 5th Century BC. These are the ancient kingdoms of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya and the cave temples in Dambulla, the hill capital of Kandy and the Dutch Fortress of Galle. Each of these cities boasts of a unique story as related in recorded ancient chronicles, bearing witness to the great deeds of the Kings and Queens who built the proud heritage of this island nation. The 2 other Heritage sites – Sinharaja Rainforest and the Peak Wilderness collection, providing an insight to the rich bio-diversity of the island while also showcasing the scenic panorama from the high elevations. Most of these hilly regions have now been converted to velevety green carpeted hills claimed by tea that Sri Lanka mainly exports to the world.

Metropolises such as Colombo and Jaffna have a lot to be explored and experienced with its own unique cultures, cusine and heritage. Ideally, a visitor should spende a couple of days in these large cities to get familarized with the many areas that provide wonderful opportunuties to experience the essense of these cities.

There are currently 26 national parks in Sri Lanka which together cover an area of 5,734 SqKm. The most popular of theses being Yala, Udawalawe, Minneriya and Wilpattu. The main attractions of these parks are the elusive leopards and sloth bears but there are countless numbers of elephants, deer, buffaloes and wild boar that you could easily observe in most of these parks togerther with endless possibilities of spotting varieties of endemic and migratory species of birds at the water’s edge of numerous ponds and lakes which are part and parcel of these parks.