Polonnaruwa was the medieval Capital of Sri Lanka. In AD 993 the Cholas looted the burnt Anuradhapura and used Polonnaruwa as their military base for 77 years, resulting in an interesting blend of South Indian Hindu culture and Sinhalese Buddhist art and architecture. King...

Yala National Park is 309 km south of Colombo on the southeast of the island. This is Sri Lanka's most popular wild life safari destination. This park cover 100,000 hectares is divided into 5 blocks of which only block 1 is open to the public. The landscape of block 1 runs over a...

Anuradhapura was one of the greatest monastic cities of the ancient world. It was a royal capital of a succession of 113 kings who oversaw a flowering of the arts that produced magnificent places, intricate and exquisite sculptures, ornate pleasure gardens and huge dagobas, the domed...

Dambulla is a popular center of Buddhist pilgrimage, archeological and historical interests. It is one of the largest rock temples in Sri Lanka, sited on a gigantic rock which towers more than 160m above the surrounding land. It has a history dating back to prehistoric times down to the...

Horton Plains National Park, "Maha-Eliya" in Sinhala, is a national park in the highlands of Sri Lanka . In the winter months it is cold at night, and there can even be frosts, although it rapidly warms up as the tropical sun climbs higher in the sky. Other than the sounds of wind and...

One of the most outstanding tourist attractions in Sri Lanka is the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage. Close to Kegalle about 50 miles (85km) from Colombo on the road to Kandy, a herd of about 75 elephants roam free in the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawela.   Pinnawela...

The "modern" history of Galle starts in 1505, when the first Portuguese ship, under Lourenço de Almeida was driven there by a storm. However, the people of the city refused to let the Portuguese enter it, so the Portuguese took it by force. In 1640, the Portuguese had to surrender to...

  The Kandyan Kingdom is the last independent state in Sri Lanka. Kandy was originally known as Senkadagala pura after a hermit named Senkada who lived there. Sinhalese people call it “Mahanuwara” meaning the "Great City”. But the name Kandy was derived from the Word Kanda, which...