Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is absurdly compact for what it contains. In an area roughly the size of West Virginia, you can visit 2,500-year-old ruins, surf world-class waves, hike through tea plantations that look like green velvet draped over mountains, spot leopards in the wild, and eat rice and curry so good it redefines what you thought rice and curry could be. The distances are short — Colombo to Kandy is three hours, Kandy to Ella is a six-hour train ride through some of the most beautiful scenery in Asia — and the variety is unreasonable. No country this small should contain this much.

The Cultural Triangle

The Cultural Triangle in the north-central plains holds ruins that rival anything in Southeast Asia and draws a fraction of the visitors. Anuradhapura was the island’s first great capital, a spread of giant white domes and a sacred fig tree that pilgrims still tend. Polonnaruwa is the medieval successor, and its reclining and standing Buddhas carved from granite are easier to appreciate on a bicycle than on a bus.

Sigiriya is the famous one. The fortress on top of Sigiriya Rock rises abruptly out of the forest, with frescoes along the climb and a view from the summit across the plain. Go as early as you can, before the heat and the queue. Nearby, the Dambulla Cave Temple holds painted caves full of Buddha statues.

Kandy and the hill country

Kandy sits around a lake in the hills, home to the Temple of the Tooth, which holds a relic of the Buddha. If you can arrange it, the Kandy Perahera in summer is a procession of drummers, dancers and decorated elephants that carries on through the night. The Knuckles Range rises to the northeast, a rugged massif of forest and grassland that gets few visitors and is wonderful for walking.

The train from Kandy to Ella is the experience that defines Sri Lanka for most travelers, and deservedly so. The blue carriages wind through tea country with the doors open, mist rolling through, emerald hillsides falling away into valleys dotted with Tamil tea pickers in bright saris. Nuwara Eliya is the cool hill town in the middle of it, with tea estates and colonial-era villas. Haputale has quieter ridgelines.

Ella

Ella is a small village in a gap in the hills, with views down to the plains. The walk to Ella Rock takes a few hours, starts along the railway line, and finishes with a wide view over the valley. The Nine Arches Bridge is nearby, where the blue train crosses a curved stone viaduct through the trees, and standing there when it passes is worth the wait.

The coast

The south coast, from Galle’s Dutch colonial fort to the surf breaks of Mirissa and Hiriketiya, has the laid-back beach culture that Bali had twenty years ago. Galle’s fort is a walled old town of white-washed houses, cafés and a lighthouse, best at the end of the day. Mirissa is known for its crescent beach and for whale-watching boats in season.

On the east coast, Arugam Bay has a long surf point and a relaxed village feel, and Trincomalee has a deep natural harbour with beaches on either side. Far in the north, Jaffna is a Tamil city with its own food, temples and pace, and it is a different Sri Lanka again.

The food

Eat everything. Rice and curry arrives as a small feast of vegetable curries, dhal, sambols and something fried, all for a modest sum at a roadside place. Hoppers, a crisp bowl-shaped pancake with an egg in the middle, are breakfast, and kottu roti, chopped on a hot griddle, is dinner, heard long before you see it.

Sacred places, politely

Temples and shrines are living places, not monuments. Cover shoulders and knees, take off your shoes and hat before entering, and never pose with your back to a statue of the Buddha. Many sites sell separate tickets for foreigners, and the prices change, so check at the entrance. Carry small bills for tuk-tuks and snacks, agree on a price before you climb in, and expect to be offered tea wherever you stop for more than a few minutes. People are curious and warm, and a few words of Sinhala or Tamil, even badly pronounced, go a long way.

Moving around

Trains are slow, scenic and cheap, but the popular seats on the Kandy to Ella line sell out, so reserve ahead if you can. A driver with a car is the easiest way to link the Cultural Triangle, the hills and the south, and many travelers hire one for a week or two. Roads are winding and traffic is busy, so allow more time than the map suggests. Buses are frequent and packed. For short hops on the coast, a tuk-tuk is hard to beat.

Pace yourself. It is tempting to try to see the ruins, the tea country, a safari park and the beach in ten days, but the best moments tend to come in the gaps: a roadside breakfast of hoppers, a monk walking along a rice paddy, a long rain shower watched from a veranda with a pot of tea.

When to go: Sri Lanka has two monsoon seasons affecting different coasts. The west and south coasts are best from December to April. The east coast is best from May to September. The hill country is pleasant year-round but driest from January to April. You can always find good weather somewhere on the island.

What most guides miss: They underestimate the food. Sri Lankan cuisine — fiery pol sambol, hoppers with egg, black pork curry, kottu roti chopped on a hot griddle at midnight — is one of Asia’s most underrated. Eat everything. Also, take the train. Every time there is a choice between a bus and a train, take the train.