Jaffna
Sri Lanka’s northern capital is the heart of Tamil culture on the island, home to Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil, a masterwork of Dravidian temple architecture whose annual 25-day festival transforms the city each August. The city’s colonial Dutch fort, distinctive cuisine, and palmyra-dotted landscape make it unlike anywhere else in Sri Lanka and one of the […]
Kataragama
One of Sri Lanka’s most powerful active pilgrimage sites, sacred simultaneously to Buddhist, Hindu, and indigenous Vedda traditions in a convergence that is rare anywhere in the world. The Esala festival fire-walking ceremonies in July and August are among the most viscerally moving religious events in Asia
Koneswaram Temple, Trincomalee
One of Sri Lanka’s five ancient Pancha Ishwarams, built on a dramatic headland above Trincomalee’s harbour with the open ocean on one side and the bay on the other. The clifftop setting and the history of the site, including its near-destruction by Portuguese colonisers in 1624, give it a weight that few temples in the […]
Adam’s Peak
Sri Lanka’s most sacred mountain draws pilgrims from every religious tradition on the island, each venerating the same footprint-shaped depression at the summit as their own. Ascending the 5,500 steps through the night by torchlight to reach the famous sunrise shadow phenomenon is one of the island’s most extraordinary physical and spiritual journeys.
Temple of the Tooth, Kandy
The most sacred Buddhist site in Sri Lanka, housing the tooth relic of the Buddha within a complex that has been the ceremonial heart of Sinhalese kingship for centuries. The puja ceremonies at dawn, noon, and dusk fill the air with drums and incense in a way that is deeply atmospheric for visitors of any […]