In Sri Lanka, locals measure distance not in kilometres but in the time it takes to get from one place to the next.
You can cross Sri Lanka from one coast to the other in half a day, along roads that are upgraded year after year. Small as the island is, it holds two separate climates. The central mountains, climbing to 2,000 metres, catch the monsoon rains on the west and east in turn, so fine weather can always be found somewhere on the island. And because it lies only a few degrees north of the equator, winter never arrives.
Sri Lanka is encircled by golden sandy beaches, many of them still free of human settlement. World-class resorts stand beside snorkelling and dive sites, next to lagoons fringed with tall coconut palms and miles of clear shallow water. Along the western and southern coasts, old Portuguese and Dutch churches and forts remain lasting reminders of centuries of colonial Christian rule. The fortified city of Galle in the southwest, with its massive walls and bastions and long believed to be the ancient seaport of Tarshish, is a world heritage site and the largest surviving fortress in Asia built by European occupiers. The island is rich in wildlife sanctuaries, tropical rain forests and nature reserves. The mist-filled valleys of the central highlands and the magnificent coral reefs around the coast make it a nature-lover’s paradise.
A small island of ever-changing beauty
When the heat becomes too much, a few hours will take you upcountry to cool rural hill country, where tea plantations roll into the distance and tea pluckers in brightly coloured saris chatter as they pick the youngest shoots from the bushes. British hill stations with colonial cottages are scattered across the region, and estate bungalows with white-liveried houseboys still lend a colonial opulence to those fortunate enough to visit them.
Set right on the edge of the hill country, Horton Plains National Park covers a stark expanse of high-altitude grassland. At its southern rim, an escarpment called World End drops dramatically to the lowlands below. A world apart from the rest of the island, it is a misty, rain-swept landscape dotted with patches of cloud forest, where umbrella-shaped keena trees shift from red to orange as the seasons turn.