15 Things to Do in Sri Lanka

A 5th-century royal palace built on top of a 200-metre vertical granite rock — complete with ancient frescoes on the cliff face, mirror-smooth reflecting pools at the base and the most dramatic staircase in Asia. The climb up metal spiral staircases past the Lion's Paw gateway at dawn, before the tour groups, is one of Sri Lanka's defining experiences.

The Hill Country of central Sri Lanka — cool, misty and carpeted in manicured tea estates that produce some of the world's finest Ceylon tea. The blue train from Kandy to Ella is one of the world's most beautiful rail journeys; the views from the Nine Arches Bridge at Ella are worth stopping for an entire day.

Yala National Park has the world's highest density of leopards and is where visitors actually see them — plus sloth bears, elephants and crocodiles. Minneriya's 'The Gathering' (July–October) sees 300+ wild elephants converge on a dried lake bed at dusk — one of Asia's greatest wildlife spectacles, completely free to witness from the park boundary.

A perfectly preserved 17th-century Dutch colonial fort on Sri Lanka's southern coast — bastioned walls, cobbled streets, colonial churches, boutique hotels in converted warehouses and one of South Asia's most cosmopolitan dining scenes inside its 36 hectares. Walking the ramparts at sunset above the Indian Ocean is Galle's finest moment.

Sri Lanka's most sacred Buddhist site — a 4th-century temple housing a tooth of the Buddha, the island's most venerated relic and its historical symbol of sovereignty. The evening puja ceremony, with drummers and dancers and the incense-thick air of the inner sanctum, is deeply moving regardless of religion.

Mirissa's whale-watching season (November–April) is among the world's most reliable for blue whales — the largest animal ever to have lived on earth, regularly seen 15km offshore. Spinner dolphins ride the boat bow wave; sperm whales surface in the afternoons. Sri Lanka's offshore waters are a marine spectacle.

A 5th-century pleasure garden and palace complex built on a 200m vertical rock — with 1,500-year-old frescoes of the 'cloud maidens' on the cliff face and water gardens at the base that used hydraulic technology 15 centuries ahead of its time. Visit at 7am for the dawn climb before heat and crowds arrive.

Sri Lanka's most celebrated rail journey — 6 hours through the tea country on a train where you hang from the doorway as the world's most beautiful green landscape scrolls past. The section between Nanu Oya and Ella, crossing the Nine Arches Bridge, is the peak of the journey. Book ahead; observation car seats sell out weeks in advance.

The world's highest concentration of leopards in a single park — Yala's Zone 1 almost guarantees sightings on a 3-hour dawn safari. Elephants, sloth bears, crocodiles, peacocks and hundreds of bird species fill the gaps between leopard encounters. Stay at a lodge bordering the park for the full experience.

Sri Lanka's east coast surf capital — a laid-back village with world-class point breaks, a yogi scene, elephant sightings on the beach at dawn and a complete absence of the western coast's commercial tourism. Best July–September.

The largest animals on earth surface regularly 15km off Mirissa's southern coast from November to April — a 4-hour morning boat trip almost always delivers sightings, plus dolphins, flying fish and sometimes whale sharks.

Sri Lanka's first capital (3rd century BC) — ancient stupas, sacred Bo-tree cuttings from the Buddha's original tree, and the ruins of palaces and irrigation systems across a UNESCO heritage landscape that receives a fraction of its deserved attention.

Sri Lanka's south coast delivers palm-fringed beaches with a fraction of the Maldives' price — Mirissa's crescent bay for whale watching and parties; Unawatuna's sheltered cove for families; Tangalle's isolated stretches for solitude.

Sri Lanka's most sacred mountain — a 7km pre-dawn climb to the summit, where a 'Sacred Footprint' is revered simultaneously by Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims. The sunrise view from 2,243m, with your shadow projected in a perfect triangle on the clouds below, is otherworldly.

Better-preserved than Anuradhapura — the 12th-century capital's royal palace, circular relic house and the Gal Viharaya's four Buddha statues carved directly into a granite face are the finest examples of medieval Sinhalese civilisation.