Sri Lanka

Vagabonds guide till Sri Lanka. Här tipsar vi bra hotell, om hur du bäst reser runt, när det är bäst tid att åka och vad du inte får missa i matväg.

Nilaveli, the furthest north of the Trinco region's two beach resort areas, is more intimate than Uppuveli. Hotels are scattered up and down little lanes off the coast highway (B424) – it's around six kilometres from one end of the village to the other. If you're looking for some serious beach time, then Nilaveli could be just the ticket, for the sands are golden and the ocean inviting. Offshore, Pigeon Island offers fabled diving and snorkelling.

Crumbling temples, lost cities and sacred Buddhist sites are the reason to head up country to the cultural heartland of Sri Lanka. It was here on the central plains that ancient Sinhalese dynasties set up their first capitals and supported massive artistic and architectural endeavors. Eventually these kingdoms fell, slowly to be reclaimed by the forest and jungles.

Much less visited than nearby Yala National Park, Bundala National Park is an excellent choice for birders, and you've a good chance of spotting crocs, wild boar, mongooses, monitor lizards, monkeys and elephants. Most people visit on jeep tours from Tissamaharama. Bundala is open year-round, allowing wildlife junkies to get a wet-season fix.

The ruins of Anuradhapura are one of South Asia’s most evocative sights. The sprawling complex contains a rich collection of archaeological and architectural wonders: enormous dagobas (brick stupas), ancient pools and crumbling temples, built during Anuradhapura’s thousand years of rule over Sri Lanka. Today, several of the sites remain in use as holy places and temples; frequent ceremonies give Anuradhapura a vibrancy that’s a sharp contrast to the museum-like ambience at Polonnaruwa.

Escaping the frenetic and sticky capital for the road south is a giant sigh of relief. Out go the congested streets and dark clouds of exhaust fumes and in come the sultry beaches of the Sri Lankan dream.

Often referred to as ‘Little England’, this genteel highland community does have a rose-tinted, vaguely British-country-village feel to it, with its colonial-era bungalows, Tudor-style hotels, well-tended hedgerows and pretty gardens. Indeed, Nuwara Eliya was once was the favored cool-climate escape for the hard-working and hard-drinking English and Scottish pioneers of Sri Lanka’s tea industry.

Matara is a busy, booming and sprawling commercial town that owes almost nothing to tourism – which can make it a fascinating window on modern Sri Lankan life. Matara’s main attractions are its ramparts, Dutch architecture, a well-preserved fort and its street life.

Protected from noisy Galle Rd by the sluggish sweep of the Bentota Ganga, the ribbon of golden sand that makes up Bentota Beach is a glorious holiday sun-and-fun playground. There's a good mix of uberluxe resorts and smaller boutique places catering to independent travellers. There are more such places bordering Aluthgama, a small town on the mouth of an inlet and straddling the main road between Beruwela and Bentota. The town of Aluthgama has a raucous fish market, local shops and the main train station in the area. Induruwa doesn’t really have a centre – it’s spread out along the coast.

Sri Lanka har underbara stränder, men efter ett tag tröttnar man på solsvedda axlar och sand mellan tårna. Då är det dags att åka tåg, vandra uppför klippor, bo på kolonialhotell, meditera, leva hälsosamt och spana i det tropiska djurlivet.