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Royal Pleasure Gardens
Known as the Park of the Goldfish, these extensive royal pleasure gardens cover 14 hectares and contain two ponds skilfully designed to fit around the huge boulders in the park. The ponds have fine reliefs of elephants on their sides. It was here that Prince Saliya, the son of Dutu
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Galways Land National Park
One of Sri Lankas newest (2006) and smallest (29 sq hectares) national parks, Galways Land is a dense patch of montane forest a few kilometres east of town. It is renowned for its birdlife, including 10 Sri Lankan endemics, as well as wild boar, barking deer and other mammals. Park
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Weherahena Temple
On the east side of Matara, turn inland 1km off the main road for this gaudy temple that features an artificial cave decorated with about 200 cartoon-like scenes from the Buddha’s life. There’s also a huge Buddha statue.During the late-November or early December poya, a perahera (p
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Sinha Pokuna
Just below the monks’ refectory on the second landing, and near the entrance if you are coming via Old Rd, is a small pool surmounted by a 2m-high rampant lion, reckoned to be one of the best pieces of animal carving in the country. Anyone placing one hand on each paw would be righ
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Dunhinda Falls
Five kilometres north of Badulla are the 63m-high Dunhinda Falls. The best time to see them is June and July, but they’re worth a visit at any time. From the entrance gate the falls are about 1.5km along a clearly defined, but muddy, path. There are many snack places along the trai
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Kataluwa Purwarama Temple
Rarely crowded, this feels like the temple time forgot. Dating from the 13th century, it has some recently restored murals, including some large ones depicting foreigners in flowing robes. A friendly monk will open the building and explain the murals. Some of the Jataka tales (stor
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Naga Pooshani Amman Kovil
This complex is an airy Hindu temple set amid mature neem trees. The main temple deity is the naga goddess Meenakshi, a consort of Shiva. (The term naga refers variously to serpent deity figures and to the ancient inhabitants of the island.) Women wishing to conceive come here seek
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Batticaloa Lighthouse
At the end of a sandbar, surrounded by lagoons and mangroves, this lighthouse dates from 1913. The coastline around here is a popular family excursion (avoid weekends) and theres a play area for kids. Swimming in the calm water, surrounded by islands and inlets, is the main draw, t
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Yatagala Raja Maha Viharaya
Just 4km inland from Unawatuna, the Yatagala Raja Maha Viharaya is a quiet rock temple with a 9m reclining Buddha. The mural-covered walls are painted in the typical style of the Kandyan period. Monks have been living here for at least 1500 years. Youll seldom find crowds here, whi
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Kalkudah Bay Beach
Kalkudah Bay Beach, just over the headland to the south, is the kind of fantasy beach that makes you want to chuck away your return air ticket and lounge forever under the palms. The easiest approach to this beach is now blocked by an army camp at the end of the Valaichchenai–Kalku
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Nilaveli Beach
For years Nilaveli has been considered one of Sri Lanka’s most perfect beaches. It certainly has that feeling of paradise-island remoteness, with plenty of bending palms swaying over the golden sand. Good it may be, but in reality things aren’t quite as heavenly as they seem here.
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Dehiwala Zoo
By Western standards the conditions for the inhabitants of this are pretty dismal. Having said that, the place has steadily improved over the years. Still, most of the cages are too small and it’s pretty depressing to see all the elephants chained up at the foot. The monkeys seem t
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Latha
The busy Nissanka Malla was responsible for the Latha-Mandapaya. This unique structure consists of a latticed stone fence – a curious imitation of a wooden fence with posts and railings – surrounding a very small dagoba. The dagoba is encircled by stone pillars shaped like lotus st
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Pettah Hindu Temples
Known as kovils, Hindu temples are numerous in Colombo, with a particularly high concentration in Pettah. On Sea St, the goldsmiths’ street, Old Kathiresan Kovil and New Kathiresan Kovil are both dedicated to the war god Murugan (Skanda), and are the starting point for the annual H
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Naga Pokuna
Halfway back down the steep flight of steps from the Ambasthale Dagoba, a path leads to the left, around the hill topped by the Mahaseya Dagoba. Here you’ll find the Naga Pokuna (Snake Pool), so called because of a five-headed cobra carved in low relief on the rock face of the pool
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Ravanna Ella Temple
This little temple and cave are associated with the Ramayana story. The cave, located in a cleft in the mountain that rises to Ella Rock, is reputed to be where the king of Lanka lived before capturing Sita. To get here, approach Ella from the direction of Wellawaya, then veer off
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Naguleswaram Shiva Kovil
Just before Keerimalai spring is the 6th-century-BC Naguleswaram Shiva Kovil, one the pancha ishwaram , five temples dedicated to Lord Shiva in Sri Lanka. Before the civil war, this was a thriving Hindu pilgrimage site with several temples and six madham (rest homes for pilgrims) a
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University of Colombo
The 50-acre University of Colombo campus, which originally opened as the Ceylon Medical School in 1870, is surrounded by long tree-lined avenues lined with colonial-era mansions. Of note is Cumaratunga Munidasa Mawatha along the southwest side of the sporting green. Ponder the grac
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Taprobane
Close to the shore – so close that you can walk out to it at low tide – is this tiny island. It looks like an ideal artist’s or writer’s retreat, which indeed it once was: novelist Paul Bowles wrote The Spider’s House here in the 1950s. The island was developed in the 1920s by the
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Potgul Vihara
Also known as the library dagoba, the Potgul Vihara is an unusual structure. A thick-walled, hollow, dagoba-like building, it is thought to have been used to store sacred books. It’s effectively a circular gedige , and four smaller solid dagobas arranged around this central dome fo
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