Insight Guides: Explore Sri Lanka

How To Use This E-Book

This Explore Guide has been produced by the editors of Insight Guides, whose books have set the standard for visual travel guides since 1970. With top-quality photography and authoritative recommendations, these guidebooks bring you the very best routes and itineraries in the worlds most exciting destinations.

Best Routes

The routes in this book provide something to suit all budgets, tastes and trip lengths. As well as covering the destinations many classic attractions, the itineraries track lesser-known sights. The routes embrace a range of interests, so whether you are an art fan, a gourmet, a history buff or have kids to entertain, you will find an option to suit.

We recommend reading the whole of a route before setting out. This should help you to familiarise yourself with it and enable you to plan where to stop for refreshments options are shown in the Food and Drink box at the end of each tour.

Introduction

The routes are set in context by this introductory section, giving an overview of the destination to set the scene, plus background information on food and drink, shopping and more, while a succinct history timeline highlights the key events over the centuries.

Directory

Also supporting the routes is a Directory chapter, with a clearly organised AZ of practical information, our pick of where to stay while you are there and select restaurant listings; these eateries complement the more low-key cafs and restaurants that feature within the routes and are intended to offer a wider choice for evening dining. Also included here is a handy language guide and our recommendations for books and films about the destination.

Getting around the e-book

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights mentioned in the text are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

Youll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of the destination. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

2017 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Table of Contents

Recommended Routes For...

Ancient temples

Marvel at cave temples and ruins of ancient shrines ().

Sri Lanka Tourism

Animal lovers

Watch the magnificent Gathering of the Elephants at Minneriya ().

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Beaches

Laze on Negombos sandy seafront ().

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Botanical gardens

Get back to nature at Sri Lankas very different botanical gardens ().

Bigstock

Colonial architecture

Discover ornate British colonial buildings in Colombo Fort and inspiring Dutch designs in Pettah ().

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Hottest curries

If hotel food is too bland, search for spicier cuisine in rest houses, or in the cities of Kandy (), where youll find a wide spread of restaurants.

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Mountain views

Peer through Ella Gap for fabulous views down to the south coast () for breathtaking vistas.

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Tea trekking

Trek through tea gardens to your hearts content at Kandapola (), relishing the cool mountain air, then warm up with a cup of pure Ceylon tea in a plantation bungalow.

Sylvaine Poitau/Apa Publications

Explore Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is one of Asias ultimate island paradises, with endless miles of golden beaches and verdant tropical landscapes. But the island also boasts remarkable physical, cultural and ethnic diversity, as well as a long and dramatic history.

The shape of Sri Lanka on the map has been compared to many things: a teardrop falling from the tip of India, a pearl, a mango and (to Dutch colonists) a leg of ham. Tears were for many years the islands dominant emotion, the result of 26 years of devastating civil war which blighted the islands recent history. Since the conclusion of hostilities in 2009, however, Sri Lanka has boomed, enjoying its new-found peace and emerging once again as one of the pearls of the Indian Ocean. Indeed, this new tourism star has never burned more brightly, with large annual increases in the number of visitors to the country (up to nearly 1.8 million tourists in 2015, 17.8 percent up on the previous year, continuing a trend since 2010). And its no surprise Sri Lanka has everything visitors could want from a tropical holiday: beaches, culture, natural splendors, unique attractions, wildlife and more.

Tea plantations near Ella

Getty Images

Geography and layout

Sri Lanka is a small country: a modest 435km (271 miles) from top to bottom, and 240km (149 miles) from east to west. Lying a few degrees north of the Equator in the balmy waters of the Indian Ocean, the island has an incredibly diverse range of landscapes, from the sultry tropical beaches, coconut plantations and lowland jungles of the coast to the cool green hill country with its mist-shrouded mountains, crashing waterfalls and endless tea plantations.