6 Best Reasons to Visit Sri Lanka: Sights & Activities
For more than 500 years of colonial heritage under Portuguese (1505-1656), Dutch (1656-1796), and British (1796-1948) and more of European influence, left by those colonial rulers are still visible in most major cities in Sri Lanka. Same times many hundreds of important tourist places such as Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura are one of the best reasons to visit Sri Lanka. The island had been able to attract a large number of travellers over the last few decades, sealing its position as a popular long haul holiday destination in the world.
Sri Lanka offers a wide range of places to visit, pristine beaches, wildlife reserves, primaeval rainforests, colonial Forts, ancient cities are among the most popular. The beaches are the most popular tourist attraction, which spreads all around the island measuring 1300 km. This is where originality and luxury come together, hippies, celebrities and politicians lying elbow-to-elbow while sunbathing. Here is a list of places that you should seriously consider to visit when you travel to Sri Lanka.
1. West Coast is one of the 6 best reasons to visit Sri Lanka
The west coast of Sri Lanka is the most popular beach holiday destination on the island. Many hundred beach resorts dotted along the beaches of west coast starting from north-west Sri Lanka to the southern coast and beyond. West coast of Sri Lanka is a perfect gateway for a short trip from Colombo, as it has become very easy to reach mots cities due to the southern expressway.
Hikkaduwa beach is one of the most popular beach resorts and a place to enjoy a peaceful beach holiday in Sri Lanka. Hikkaduwa is hippie hangout and also a place to pamper your self on luxury. There are many beach bars and beach restaurants in Hikkaduwa to entertain travellers, who like techno music and cool drinks.
Things are much quieter in Hikkaduwa. Picture perfect scenery is decorated by swaying palms, golden-coloured sands and torques coloured waters of Indian Ocean. There are also coral reefs with rich marine life, here you can witness a wide range of sea creatures such as exotic fish species, sea turtles and corals reefs.
In Bentota, there is also a freshwater lagoon giving you the opportunity for boating and canoeing. Madu River estuary is a perfect place to see the mangroves, where overhanging mangroves make a gloomy tunnel. The protruding mangrove roots are covered with moss and mud, which is perfect feeding and hiding places for crabs, shrimps and many other fish species. Monkeys, snakes, monitor lizards and crocodiles, as well as hundreds of avian fauna species, can be spotted here.
No matter which beach you choose on the west coast of Sri Lanka, you can definitely do one thing here: Relax, enjoy tropical fruits and witness the diminishing sun over the behind the horizon ad the sky turns to amber.
2. In Sri Lanka, you can experience exotic animals.
Have you wondered if you are able to witness some of the big 5s in Sri Lanka? If so, Yes! You can witness leopards, bear, crocodile, elephant and many other exotics creates up close in Yala national park. In fact, Yala is one of the best wildlife reserves in the world to see leopards due to the high concentration of them within a small area.
Udawalawe national park is another national park, which is smaller in size compared to Yala. Despite its small size, Udawalawe has a large concentration of wild elephants, therefore it is one for the best places to see wild elephants. Udawalawe national park also functions as the foster home for orphan elephants found elsewhere in Sri Lanka.
The elephant transit camp of Udawalawe is home to many dozens of babies in varying sizes, these little jumbos are fed and taken care of by the rangers. The animal lovers can witness a large herd of wild elephant at Udawalawe, sometimes these herds are consisting of more than 100 elephants.
Udawalawe is one of the best places to encounter wild elephants, you will also be able to crocodile, buffaloes, jackal, mungo, reptiles, lizards, as well as leopards and bear with a little bit of luck. In addition, Sri Lanka is known for many rare species of cats (civets, musangs, reed cats and many more) as well as 423 different species of birds, some these avian fauna species are occurring at Udawalawe national park. A real paradise for animal lovers!
3. Sri Lanka has some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the region
Sri Lanka offers a lot in terms of Fauna, and Sri Lanka is not short of its richness on Flora. Cascading waterfalls is one way of demonstrating Sri Lanka’s natural beauty and the island posses many dozens of them. You should not miss the Ramboda waterfall, which cascades through the Ramboda plateau.
You will encounter many waterfalls on your way to Sri Lanka’s mountains and Ramboda fall is one of the most scenic waterfalls among them. The visitors also can take a closer look into Ramboda waterfall without any difficulty, and you just need about to make 100 meters trek through the tea plantation from the main road.
The Ramboda waterfall is 50 meters tall, therefore, it is not one of the tallest waterfalls in Sri Lanka. But its smaller size has not been a reason to make it less attractive because it pours a large amount of water and it falls with a mighty roar throughout the year. During the monsoon season, the spray and foam remind the locals of this very poured milk.
4. Temples and Dagobas: reasons to visit Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is like a fairy tale from 1001 nights. Incidentally, “Prince” is a good keyword. In Sri Lanka, every woman can feel like a princess. Sri Lanka offers many thousands of temples, stupas, Dagobas, Hindu temple that you can visit on a Sri Lanka trip.
First and foremost place to visit is the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka, which is an archaeological zoo with many hundreds of religious monuments from ancient time to the modern period. E.g Sri Lanka 5 days cultural tour with historical cities is a very popular activity among the as it includes major tourist sites in the cultural triangle.
Ruwanweli stupa of Anuradhapura, which dates back 2nd century BC is one of the oldest monuments on the island yet still in very good shape. But the Tooth relic temple of Kandy, which sits on the bank of Kandy Lake, is dedicated to the left eyetooth of Buddha, is definitely worth a trip with its inner and outer architecture.
5. Experience Sri Lanka’s spirituality
Sri Lankan is very spiritual, almost everyone has a religion. The great spirituality of Sri Lanka is also displayed in the density of churches, Hindu temples and mosques. Sri Lanka has many beautiful Hindu temples, which is due to the 14% share of the Tamil community on the island. The most beautiful Hindu temples include the temple of Kompanna Vidiya in Colombo, and on the other hand, Sita temple of Nuwara Eliya is one of the oldest and sacred Hindu religious sites.
6. Healing effects of Ayurveda one of the 6 best reasons to visit Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka you can regenerate yourself completely, that’s where Ayurveda comes in Handy. Ayurveda is an ancient healing system dating back to 3rd century BC, is practised everywhere in Sri Lanka. A large number of professional health and wellness resorts are dotted along the shoreline allowing you to bring body, mind and soul into harmony.
In Sri Lanka, Ayurveda is practised by trained medical professionals. They are either from modern Ayurvedic medical universities or with the knowledge and traditions that passed on within the family.
But how can this whole beauty of Sri Lanka be experienced in one trip? As an experienced Sri Lankan tour operator, we recommend you to have a combination of a round trip and a subsequent beach or Ayurveda holiday. In this way, you can see something of the country and its people and relax wonderfully at the same time.
Why you should Sri Lanka trip with Seerendipity
Serendipity Tour is an entirely locally owned travel company with a head office in Colombo. The highly experienced local staff is a key strength of Serendipity Tours, and they can plan your dream holiday to Sri Lanka.
The best price guaranteed for your Sri Lanka trip
When you book a tour with Serendipity Tours, you directly book the tour with the local company, which means there are no middlemen and therefore you can guarantee the best price. Simply get in touch with us and let us know when you travel and what you like to see.
Plan your best Sri Lanka trip with-expert
Our staff makes a personalised program for you, which you can change until you find the best Sri Lanka trip package for you. Visit www.sirilaktours.com to browse our existing tour packages, which you can customise to meet all your expectations. Write to us at admin@seerendipitytours.com, tel. 0094-77-440977, WhatsApp 0094-77-4440977.
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