Nine days of food and markets

A large Catholic church known for the painted ceiling inside, at the centre of the town.

A flat 3.4 km loop around the lake in the centre of town, best early in the morning or before the evening service.

A 13th-century citadel built around a granite rock rising about a hundred metres from the plain. A steep stone staircase climbs to the ruins of the temple built for the Sacred Tooth Relic.

An hour of traditional Kandyan drumming and dance, usually staged in the early evening at halls near the lake.

The shrine of the Buddha's tooth relic, with drumming during the daily services and several museums included in the ticket.

The island's largest museum, opened in 1877, with royal regalia of the Kandyan kings and fine bronze and stone sculpture.

A busy Buddhist temple with an eclectic museum, and the Geoffrey Bawa-designed Seema Malaka pavilion floating on Beira Lake nearby.

Colombo's crowded bazaar district, organised street by street by trade, with the red-and-white Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque (1909) at its heart.

A long sea-front lawn and promenade, busy with families, kite flyers and street-food stalls from late afternoon.

The traditional stilt fishing poles in the shallows at Koggala. Real fishing happens at dawn and dusk; at other times the fishermen often pose for a fee.

A white stupa built by Japanese monks on the top of Rumassala, with views over Galle harbour and the fort.

The grid of streets inside the walls, with the Dutch Reformed Church (Groote Kerk), old warehouses and small museums.

Finds from shipwrecks in Galle harbour, from anchors and cannon to trade ceramics, displayed in a long 17th-century Dutch warehouse near the Old Gate.

A walk along the 17th-century ramparts and bastions, from the clock tower past the lighthouse to Flag Rock.