Attractions of Sri Lanka: Top 22

Full of roman­tic scenery, exhil­a­rat­ing moun­tains, lush green tea gar­dens and gold­en beach­es, the island nation of Sri Lan­ka is a savory tourist des­ti­na­tion for trav­el­ers from all over the world. The coun­try has no short­age of beau­ti­ful, awe inspir­ing places, nat­ur­al, his­tor­i­cal and cul­tur­al attrac­tions of Sri Lan­ka, each more per­fect than the last. Take a trip to these beau­ti­ful places in Sri Lan­ka to diver­si­fy your trav­el expe­ri­ence.

When plan­ning your next vaca­tion in this serene coun­try, check out the list of Sri Lan­ka attrac­tions to see where you can trav­el with your friends and fam­i­ly. Make sure you cov­er all the most inter­est­ing places from our rank­ing

Ella

Deva­ma­ra Demodara Bridge in Ella is one of the most beau­ti­ful sights in Sri Lan­ka. Take in stun­ning views of Ella Bay against the back­drop of the south­ern moun­tain range, in the midst of beau­ti­ful coun­try­side with small veg­etable gar­dens, tea plan­ta­tions on the hill­sides and forests on the peaks. Ella is con­sid­ered one of the most beau­ti­ful places to vis­it in the coun­try for a rea­son.

Nuwara Eliyaya

Nes­tled in the hills, a 19th-cen­tu­ry vil­lage called Nuwara Eliya retains a colo­nial feel with a golf course, gen­tle­men’s clubs and Tudor-style build­ings. This is one of the most suit­able des­ti­na­tions for a scenic train tour. Enjoy stun­ning views of tea plan­ta­tions, water­falls and impres­sive moun­tains. The train will take you from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya and you won’t want this trip to end.

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

Can you imag­ine any­thing as cute as watch­ing baby ele­phants bathe in a riv­er? You can real­ize your dream in this beau­ti­ful place in Sri Lan­ka — the ele­phant orphan­age in Pin­nawala! You will not want to leave this par­adise. The Ele­phant Orphan­age is locat­ed 13 km from the city of Kegalle and is acces­si­ble by any pub­lic trans­port. This is a very pop­u­lar tourist des­ti­na­tion that gives vis­i­tors a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent expe­ri­ence. Watch­ing lit­tle ele­phants frol­ic can be a lot of fun, because this can not be seen any­where else.

Polonnaruwa

The next place on the list of attrac­tions in Sri Lan­ka is the pop­u­lar city of tem­ples. You can eas­i­ly spend your day explor­ing the ancient city life at the ruins of Polon­naruwa. Well-pre­served and full of archae­o­log­i­cal trea­sures, the ruins with hun­dreds of ancient struc­tures such as tombs and tem­ples, stat­ues and stu­pas are all in abun­dance here. Every­one knows that Sri Lan­ka is a land of tem­ples and also has many mon­u­ments and her­itage sites that reflect its his­to­ry and cul­ture. Polon­naruwa is one such place that is very pop­u­lar with tourists. Here you can get acquaint­ed with the real life of the coun­try. If you are a spir­i­tu­al per­son and inter­est­ed in know­ing the his­to­ry, cul­ture and tra­di­tions of dif­fer­ent coun­tries, then you should def­i­nite­ly vis­it this place.

Dambulla cave temple

It’s hard not to mar­vel at the beau­ti­ful fres­coes and stat­ues in this beau­ti­ful­ly pre­served cave with over 150 Bud­dha stat­ues. Immerse your­self in peace and qui­et at an ancient cave tem­ple that bears wit­ness to the extra­or­di­nary cul­tur­al arti­facts of ancient Sri Lan­ka.

Peak Adams

The next des­ti­na­tion on this list is Adam’s Peak, one of the most beau­ti­ful places in Sri Lan­ka. Climb the slopes at night to watch the spec­tac­u­lar sun­rise at dawn. The bio­di­ver­si­ty hotspot and UNESCO World Her­itage site offers some of the best views in all of Sri Lan­ka. The very name of this place is unique, as is its nature. Adams Peak is locat­ed in the mid­dle part of Sri Lan­ka, and is famous for the so-called Sri Pada, or foot­prints of the Bud­dha. In addi­tion to spir­i­tu­al and reli­gious sig­nif­i­cance, this land­mark of Sri Lan­ka is known for its veg­e­ta­tion, with many rare rep­re­sen­ta­tives of flo­ra and fau­na.

Old Dutch fort in Galle

Spend a relax­ing day look­ing out over the end­less sea from the charm­ing Old Dutch Fort Galle, the finest pre­served sea fort in South Asia. This is a place of inter­est for those who are deeply inter­est­ed in his­to­ry. It is said that the cre­ation of this fort dates back to the 16th cen­tu­ry. The main­te­nance of the fort is far from per­fect, but the con­di­tion is quite suit­able for guid­ed tours. Due to its loca­tion next to the sea, you will have a beau­ti­ful view from the top of the fort. After the tour, you can also take a walk along the shore.

Stone fortress of Sigiriya

Sigiriya is one of the most beau­ti­ful places in Sri Lan­ka. This is one of the most dra­mat­ic sights in Sri Lan­ka, lost among ancient ruins, won­der­ful murals and water gar­dens. Don’t miss the mag­nif­i­cent view from above, with jun­gle and hills in every direc­tion. Sigiriya is a UNESCO World Her­itage Site. You can end­less­ly enu­mer­ate the rea­sons that will make you fall in love with this place. First­ly, it is beau­ty, which is espe­cial­ly good due to the bewitch­ing veg­e­ta­tion around. Those who have been here say that if you do not vis­it Sigiriya, the trip to Sri Lan­ka will remain incom­plete. If you climb to the top, you will get a 360-degree view of the sur­round­ing area with a breath­tak­ing­ly beau­ti­ful view. Climb­ing to the top is not so dif­fi­cult — basic phys­i­cal train­ing is enough for this.

Mirissa

Spend the day enjoy­ing the sun in a ham­mock and whale watch­ing in the small vil­lage of Miris­sa, one of the most attrac­tive beach hide­aways in Sri Lan­ka. The real world will be for­got­ten once you get to this beach par­adise. Miris­sa should def­i­nite­ly be on your list of Sri Lan­ka attrac­tions. Not every­one likes the hype and the crowd of the city. Many of us want to spend our hol­i­days in peace­ful, qui­et places. If you are one of those peo­ple and you are in Sri Lan­ka, then be sure to vis­it the beau­ti­ful vil­lage called Miris­sa.
Most of the inhab­i­tants here are fish­er­men and you can even go fish­ing with them to see whales and oth­er big fish. While trav­el­ing, don’t for­get to try the local cui­sine and then relax on the beach. So, there are enough rea­sons why one can eas­i­ly fall in love with this small but beau­ti­ful vil­lage.

Yala National Park

Be sure to vis­it Yala Nation­al Park, home to one of the world’s tallest leop­ards. This nation­al park is full of grassy plains, forests, lagoons and coast­line. Yala is noth­ing short of a par­adise for big cats. Full of nat­ur­al beau­ty and her­itage, Sri Lanka’s attrac­tions will cap­ture your heart. Vis­it­ing all these mag­nif­i­cent places will make the trip unfor­get­table. The park is includ­ed in the list of the most vis­it­ed places in the coun­try, locat­ed about 200 km from the city of Ben­to­ta.

Yala is one of the most pop­u­lar wildlife sanc­tu­ar­ies not only in this area, but among all the nation­al parks of Sri Lan­ka. It is best to rent a jeep to ride through the jun­gle — such a trip will be full of fun and adven­ture. Dur­ing the tour you will see many ele­phants and leop­ards in their nat­ur­al habi­tat. This is one of those places worth see­ing at any cost.

Colombo

The next place on the list of attrac­tions is the city of Colom­bo. It will be com­plete­ly unfair if you do not vis­it the cap­i­tal of Sri Lan­ka. There are sev­er­al inter­est­ing places in this city that may inter­est you. The city is beau­ti­ful in every way and its beau­ty can­not be described in words. To explore all the inter­est­ing mon­u­ments, you can order a taxi, or tuk-tuk. Colom­bo is includ­ed in the list of the most beau­ti­ful places in Sri Lan­ka accord­ing to Life­Globe.

Lake Beira

Sri Lan­ka is undoubt­ed­ly a beau­ti­ful coun­try, but com­mer­cial­iza­tion has tak­en its toll. It caused the emer­gence of many crowd­ed neigh­bor­hoods and mar­kets. But if you want to have a real­ly relax­ing time in Sri Lan­ka, then Beira Lake is the place for you. After long and tir­ing shop­ping and trav­el­ing, you will want to sit back and relax. Come to Lake Beira, take a boat ride and imme­di­ate­ly feel as if all your fatigue and stress have gone. The lake is very beau­ti­ful as it has green water and many ducks.

Arugam bay

Apart from all oth­er beau­ti­ful nat­ur­al sites, Sri Lan­ka is known for its beach­es. This coun­try has many pop­u­lar beach­es that are con­sid­ered among the most beau­ti­ful in Asia. The most amaz­ing expe­ri­ence can be obtained after vis­it­ing Arugam Bay. It is said that its beach is the most pleas­ant of all.

Arugam offers many water activ­i­ties for its vis­i­tors. These activ­i­ties include div­ing, speed­boat­ing and more. But what makes this beach the most beau­ti­ful of all the beach­es in Sri Lan­ka is its blue water and coconut trees. Thanks to all these fea­tures, Arugam has become one of the most pop­u­lar tourist des­ti­na­tions in Sri Lan­ka.

Temple of the Tooth Relic

The next place is unique and beau­ti­ful in every way. We’re talk­ing about the Tem­ple of the Tooth Rel­ic. This attrac­tion of Sri Lan­ka is very pop­u­lar and most tourists come here first. Like many oth­er pop­u­lar places in Sri Lan­ka, the Tem­ple of the Tooth Rel­ic is includ­ed in the UNESCO World Her­itage List, being a spir­i­tu­al and his­tor­i­cal mon­u­ment. It is said that the tooth rel­ic in the tem­ple belongs to the Bud­dha him­self. There is a say­ing that who­ev­er can touch the tooth will become the ruler of the king­dom. The tem­ple is locat­ed in the city of Kandy.

Jaffna

This place is also called the city of tem­ples in Sri Lan­ka, as some of the most beau­ti­ful tem­ples in Sri Lan­ka are con­cen­trat­ed here. The most vis­it­ed tem­ple in this place is Nal­lur Kovil tem­ple. This tem­ple is always vis­it­ed by the major­i­ty of vis­i­tors, because it is quite crowd­ed. Apart from these tem­ples, anoth­er cen­ter of attrac­tion is the Jaffna Fort as a sym­bol of Sri Lankan his­to­ry.

The city of Jaffna is not only for spir­i­tu­al peo­ple, but also for those who are a lit­tle inter­est­ed in his­to­ry and cul­ture. Anoth­er attrac­tion of Jaffna is the Nagide­pa Vihara Purana Tem­ple. It is also known for its beau­ty and is a must vis­it. One can eas­i­ly reach this tem­ple by water­ways by hir­ing a boat. The sur­round­ing nature pro­vides a peace­ful envi­ron­ment where you can indulge in med­i­ta­tion.

Unawatuna beach

As men­tioned ear­li­er, Sri Lan­ka is known for its beau­ti­ful beach­es not only among neigh­bor­ing coun­tries, but through­out Asia. One such amaz­ing beach is Unawatu­na Beach. It is very pop­u­lar, but slight­ly dif­fer­ent from oth­er beach­es in Sri Lan­ka. Most of them are famous for their bustling life, while Unawatu­na is known for its calm­ness.

If you want to have a good day, you can just come to this place and relax. This beach has the least num­ber of peo­ple, but do not think that you can­not have fun here. You can go snor­kel­ing, or go to near­by restau­rants and cafes.

Sigiriya Museum

Above we men­tioned the Rock Fortress of Sigiriya. The Sigiriya Muse­um is also dis­cussed here. This muse­um will become a favorite for that trav­el­er who is inter­est­ed in his­to­ry. The muse­um has pre­served such things that clear­ly reflect the tra­di­tions and his­to­ry of Sri Lan­ka and Sigiriya. In addi­tion, the muse­um is also beau­ti­ful, which gives you anoth­er rea­son to vis­it.

Ulpota

Famous yoga resort in Sri Lan­ka. Anoth­er thing that is pop­u­lar in Sri Lan­ka is the study of Ayurve­da and Yoga. Ulpota vil­lage has some real­ly good cen­ters where you can prac­tice yoga in the mid­dle of nature. This place is like a piece of par­adise, and spend­ing time here is very pleas­ant. There are entire yoga hotels, as well as Ayurvedic cen­ters. Thus, even if you are the least inter­est­ed in these things, you should come here to broad­en your hori­zons.

Trincomalee

For peo­ple who love water sports and want to enjoy under­wa­ter life, one of the ide­al attrac­tions in Sri Lan­ka would be Trin­co­ma­lee. It has every­thing that the beach should ide­al­ly pro­vide to its vis­i­tors. The best part about Trin­co­ma­lee is the pro­fes­sion­al div­ing instruc­tors. Also, there are sev­er­al inter­est­ing tem­ples here.

If you are not much inter­est­ed in spir­i­tu­al­i­ty and all that, then why go to the tem­ple? The rea­son why it is worth vis­it­ing the tem­ples in Sri Lan­ka is that they are not only the home of God, but also a beau­ti­ful cre­ation of man. The archi­tec­ture of the tem­ples is sim­ply amaz­ing.

Kandalama

Kan­dala­ma is a beau­ti­ful but calm and devout place in Sri Lan­ka. The expe­ri­ence you will get here can­not be achieved any­where else in the world. Kan­dala­ma will help you take a walk in the sky — there is a bal­loon ser­vice here that will take you to the skies. If you want to spend the night in the vil­lage, you can book a room in any of the hotels near­by. There are many 5‑star hotels here, so you don’t have to wor­ry about lux­u­ry and com­fort. Along with lux­u­ry, you will enjoy a peace­ful atmos­phere.

Lighthouse Dondra

Don­dra Light­house was built dur­ing an era when Sri Lan­ka was a colony. This can be under­stood by the way it is con­struct­ed. The build­ing is very tall and offers a good view of the sur­round­ing area. This attrac­tion of Sri Lan­ka is suit­able for a fam­i­ly vis­it. Peo­ple come here to walk with chil­dren and friends. Here you can take beau­ti­ful pho­tos and enjoy the pic­turesque sun­set, which is easy to see from the top of the light­house. The Don­dra light­house is locat­ed almost 165 km from Colom­bo, so it can be eas­i­ly reached by any trans­port from the cap­i­tal.

Tissamaharama

This place is con­sid­ered the best for those who are fond of pho­tog­ra­phy. The pic­turesque sur­round­ings of Tis­sama­hara­ma have become a refuge for the rarest species of birds and ani­mals. If we talk about the beau­ty of this place, then there is an arti­fi­cial, but very beau­ti­ful lake. The name of this lake is Tis­sa Veva. Also in Tis­sama­hara­ma there are sev­er­al his­tor­i­cal beau­ti­ful stu­pas such as the Yata­la Vehera stu­pa and many oth­ers. It is impor­tant to know that peo­ple in Sri Lan­ka are fol­low­ers of Bud­dhism, so stu­pas are very com­mon every­where.

So, these were the most pop­u­lar attrac­tions in Sri Lan­ka that you must vis­it when you come to this coun­try. All the places men­tioned in the arti­cle are of great impor­tance and should not be missed.