Sigiriya, Galle and Yala deserve their fame. But the Sri Lanka I love most lives slightly off the standard loop, in places the coaches never reach. Here are a handful I send curious travellers to — the trip you take on your second visit, or on a braver first one.
The north: Jaffna and its islands
Long closed and only recently reopened, Jaffna is the island’s most distinctive corner — a proud Tamil culture with its own temples, cuisine and a string of flat, sun-bleached islands reaching toward India. The crab curry alone is worth the journey north.
The Knuckles and Yapahuwa
The Knuckles Range offers multi-day trekking through cloud forest and villages few travellers ever see. And Yapahuwa — a short-lived rock-citadel capital with a magnificent carved staircase — gives you a Sigiriya-scale thrill with almost nobody else there.
The quiet coasts
Skip the busiest south-coast bays for the headlands around Tangalle, or cross to the east in summer for the undeveloped sands beyond Trincomalee. For something different again, Kalpitiya’s lagoons offer dolphins, kitesurfing and not a tour bus in sight.
Itineraries mentioned in this article
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