| Time difference / local time |
GMT +6 hours
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| Language |
Sinhalese. Tamil and English are also widely spoken, and newspapers are printed in all three languages.
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| Currency |
Sri Lankan Rupee
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| Safety |
Ethnic disturbances rarely occur in tourist areas. We always follow Foreign Office advice on matters of security for British visitors, but crime against foreign visitors is virtually non-existent.
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| Highlights |
Negombo
Head to the lagoon at dawn as prawn fishermen set out in traditional outrigger canoes and Indian-style catamarans to trawl where the waters, or at 10am as they return.
At the lellama (auction site),watch the fish being sold.
Kechimalai Mosque
Set on a headland, this landmark sits where the first Muslim settlers landed in the 11th century.
Galle Fort
This fort is home to Dutch colonial buildings including the apparently-haunted 17th-century Government House and the Dutch Reformed Church, where you can see the tombstones of Dutch and British colonial officers.
Unawatuna
Visit between October and March, when sea turtles lay their eggs on the beach. A local hatchery looks after them until the baby turtles are ready to set off on their maiden voyage.
Matara
Take a bullock-drawn carriage through narrow streets and see two old Dutch forts and the lively local market. Nearby is Dondra, the island's southernmost point.
Tangalla
Dotted with sandy little bays, this region produces a perfume based on citronella, and its rest house was once a hangout of Dutch colonial officials.
Hambantota
Malay Muslims here earn their living from fishing and gathering salt in shallow pans from seawater evaporated by the sun.
Yala National Park
This elephant reserve is also known as Ruhuna National Park. Spot buffalo, deer, wild boar, even leopard; and birdlife including peacocks, pelicans, storks and spoonbills.
Kandy
Spread around an artificial lake, Kandy is home to the Temple of the Tooth, where the famous Buddha’s tooth is kept.
Peradeniya Botanical Garden
This 150-acre garden boasts tamarind, magnolia, jasmine and orchid trees, as well as an orchid house and spice groves.
Nuwara Eliya
This hill station is home to a British colonial church, post office, houses, gardens and country club – plus an 18-hole golf course. It’s surrounded by tea plantations.
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| Shopping |
• Bargain for the best price on anything you buy.
• Kandy is known for its antiques, but anything made earlier than this century cannot be legally exported.
• Sri Lanka mines sapphires, rubies, garnets, aquamarines, zircons and alexandrites, but has no diamonds or emeralds. Ratnapura is the country's gem centre, with several museums where you can watch polishing and buy unset stones. Be careful when buying gems. The State Gem Corporation will examine gems purchased elsewher free free of charge, but if they're fake it can't help you get your money back.
• Buy masks in Ambalangoda on the southwest coast.
• Basketware made from coir (coconut fibre) is good for carrying home all your other buys like lacquerware, dolls, casual clothing and beautiful saris.
• Tea from the highlands is a refreshing reminder of your stay.
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| Flying time to destination |
10¾ hours
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| Eating/Drinking |
Food
• As well as restaurants and cafés serving traditional Sri Lankan curries, and in some areas you’ll find familiar fast food outlets like Nandos and Domino’s.
• After a spicy curry, try curd (from buffalo milk) with treacle, an indigenous sweetener, or wattallapam, baked custard.
• Pani pol is a small coconut and honey cake.
• Jaggery, a chewy sweet, is made with crystallized palm sap.
• Fresh fruit includes passion fruit, guava, mango, papaya, pineapple, custard apple and rambutan. The delicious, purple-skinned mangosteen is at its best in June.
Water
• Don’t drink the tap water. Most hotels offer boiled and bottled water, so stick to this instead.
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| Good to know |
Dialling code
+94
Religion
Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Christianity.
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| History |
Early times
The island is settled by colonists from India around 500 BC. The Indian emperor Ashoka (269-232 BC) sends his son Mahinda as a Buddhist missionary. King Tissa is converted.
2nd century AD
King Mahasena refines and expands the vital irrigation system.
12th century
The kingdom experiences its greatest prosperity under Parakramabahu, who makes Polonnaruwa his capital.
16th century
The Portuguese fleet is blown into Colombo harbour in 1505 and courteously received. The Portuguese move in on the island's three kingdoms: Jaffna, Kandy and Kotte (near Colombo). Portugal takes formal control of the island in 1597. Kandy continues to hold out and turns to the Dutch for help.
19th century
The British make the island a Crown Colony in 1802 and call it Ceylon. Despite the British promise to honour Kandy's independence, Kandy falls (1815) and the king is exiled to India. In 1876, entrepreneur Henry Wickham smuggles rubber seeds from the Amazon to London's Kew Gardens to cultivate trees for transplanting in Ceylon. Tamil labourers are brought in from India to help work the coffee and tea plantations.
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