Introduce yourself to the absolute best things to do in Srilanka along with some pretty awesome tips. Yes, you may thank us later.

SIGIRIYA ROCK

One of the greatest natural sights the world has to offer.

Will there be a room in our memories for anything beyond the massive rock standing among lush, green jungle? Too big of an inspiring impact.

*Secret tip? Climb his so-called little brother Pidurangala Rock instead – much more affordable place to visit (3 eur instead of 30), plus you will be rewarded with the best view of Sigiriya you can get. Not only you will almost level its summit but you will also feel kinda like you are in a balloon! Note: The climb up is roughly 20 minutes but you need to be pretty fit for the last few steps.

MASSIVE BUDDHA STATUES

While in Sri Lanka you just can not skip visiting at least one of the enormous buddha statues. Our choice was to see the huge concrete Bahiravokanda Vihara Buddha Statue that is looming over Kandy but there is so many dotted over the country we are sure you will stumble upon one even just like that – if nothing else you will be able to see it from afar – and we mean reeeeeeally far!

RAMBODA FALLS & NUWARA ELIYA

Impressive green tea hills of Nuwara Eliya, otherwise known as Little England of Sri Lanka, is a sight we will surely never forget. We spent driving around the area for 2 hours but were stopping our car in awe every five minutes.

Note: On route Kandy – Nuwara Eliya stop to visit the Ramboda falls. You will be amazed.

*Secret tip? Stop at famous Mackwood plantation for a free (!) tea with a chocolate cake for 50 cents while enjoying the view. Happy days!

HAPUTALE-ELLA TRAIN RIDE

Surely there is no need for an extra introduction to one of the world’s most beautiful train rides.

Note: Get on a train during daylight – you wouldn’t want to ride in the dark and miss out on all the beautiful views of endless tea plantations.

*Secret tip? Buy a 2nd class ticket if you’d like to have an experience hanging out the train’s door appreciating the breeze.

TRIPS TO THE UNKNOWN

Sri Lanka has so much to offer, try to go off-road and you might be surprised. Discovering small villages and some of the friendliest locals who are passing days with their quiet and honest living, praying for keeping what they have, rather than pleading for what they have not, might give you a whole new perspective on life.

DEMODARA 9 ARCHES BRIDGE

For one, this is Sri Lankan largest bridge (25 meters or 80 feet high) but very quiet and undiscovered, and secondly, we like adrenaline and sitting on the top of tall bridges, this is kinda why we visited, haha. Big bonus if you go there: the view is just incredible!

UDAWALAVE NATIONAL PARK

We are not even going to try hiding our enthusiasm: WE SAW AN ELEPHANT. A hord of 20 of them!

Since forever we were dreaming about going on safari. Coming to Udawalave was everything like we expected and even more! As soon as we crossed the park’s lake we saw our first wild elephant! My heart stopped for a second, Uroš’s heart did too. Not only his heart stopped, but he also stopped the car into a pavement and scratched a part of it too, haha. We quickly forgot about our car though. All we could think about was how we wanted to cuddle that beautiful Ellie who was just casually munching on the watermelons that were thrown at him from the locals passing by with their cars.

The following day we woke up really early to start our 4 hours safari tour. When we met our driver first thing in the morning we were not too excited about him. He was almost yelling at us to hurry up when our brains were still asleep. He turned out to be one of the best drivers ever! So eager to bring us to the park first to be there before all the other tourists arrive and to be able to experience the sunrise in the park itself! Once the sun came up it lit up the whole sky and we saw our first buffalo right there – it was a magical moment. The driver than proved to be the exact opposite person inside the park – really patient and with plenty of respect towards the animals. We spotted many crocodiles and lizards, colorful birds of all kinds, hundreds of buffalos and most importantly – many wild elephants! The scenery was different than in other parts of Sri Lanka and we felt like we are in Africa. The experience as a whole was definitely one for the books!

BEACHES ON THE SOUTH

Beaches in Sri Lanka are rather wild with numerous palm trees and here are some of our favorites: Tangalle beach, Mirissa beach, Mihiripenna beach and Dalawella beach with a famous rope swing that hangs from one of the luscious palm trees.

SRILANKAN SUNSETS

Nothing blew us away half as much as some of the Srilanka sunsets. Uroš and myself, we are just two suckers for colorful sunset skies. We need red, purples, oranges.. in our lives. And in Lanka Land – we got them everywhere.

RELEASE OF THE TURTLES

There is a shelter for turtles down south near KK Beach and they release the turtles to the ocean when they are 3 days old, giving them a higher chance to survive. They are treating a couple of large ones also because they were either harmed by the fishermen, boats or got sick – they are letting them go once they are good enough to be back in the water on themselves.

Gotta say, releasing the baby sea turtles into the ocean was a magical experience of its own. But let’s not forget: may we all do our part and free them of pollution, too! Long live the turtles!

Note: Make sure you do not confuse the hatcheries – do not visit the Habaraduwa Sea Turtle Hatchery, visit the one 5 minutes walk down the road to the east.

GALLE

A very different place in Srilanka than all the others and super charming, too. Go there for the fruit market, cute handicraft shops and a big choice of great restaurants. We can recommend Poonies kitchen.

OFF-SEASON

Not only we were the only guests in the resorts and got all the viewpoints, whole beaches and pools all to ourselves, but also got spoiled with so much heartwarming attention.

We loved having Sri Lanka all to ourselves, though we could never see it coming. “Where’s all the crowds?” was one thing we could not have said more times.

*Final and biggest secret tip? The OFF season is actually THE SEASON!

Have we missed out on any of your fav places in Sri Lanka? Let us know in the comments below.