Two months on the pilgrim's road

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

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.

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

An ancient shrine to the god Saman, guardian of Sri Pada (Adam's Peak), rebuilt in the Kandyan period, with a Buddhist temple in the same compound.

A visit to a working gem pit outside town, where miners haul up gravel in baskets and wash it in the river to find stones.

A shrine to the god Kataragama built by King Vikramabahu III in the Gampola period (1357 to 1374), known for its carved wooden pillars.

An old Buddhist temple in the Pilimathalawa area west of Kandy, close to Lankatilaka and Embekke.

A Buddhist temple with Hindu shrines built into it, near Pilimathalawa, a few kilometres from Gadaladeniya.

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

The old royal forest on the hill behind the temple, with shaded trails, birdlife and monkeys a few minutes from the centre.

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

Sri Lanka's largest botanic garden, on a bend of the Mahaweli river, known for its avenues of royal palms, orchid house and giant Javan fig tree.

A granite rock rising 316 metres over Kurunegala, shaped like a crouching elephant, with a short climb to a viewpoint over the town.

A temple from the reign of Dutthagamani, near Ridigama, said to mark where the silver ore for the Ruwanwelisaya stupa was found.

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.

The ruins of a capital of Sri Lanka in the mid 13th century, on the Kurunegala to Negombo road.

An ancient capital known as Parakramapura in the 12th century, when it was ruled by Parakramabahu.

A small rock temple beside a pond, known for its carvings of elephants bathing and the famous stone figures of the Isurumuniya Lovers in the museum.

The ruins of two vast monastery complexes, with the huge brick domes of Abhayagiri and Jetavanaramaya, guardstones, moonstones and bathing ponds such as the Twin Ponds.

The sacred fig tree grown from a cutting brought from India in the 3rd century BC, among the oldest documented trees in the world, surrounded by terraces and offerings.

At 122 metres, the world's tallest stupa when it was built and still the tallest in Sri Lanka, standing in the ruins of the Jetavana monastery. One of the eight sacred places of Anuradhapura.

A great white stupa built by King Dutugamunu in the 2nd century BC and ringed by a wall of carved elephants. Beautiful in the late afternoon light.

A large stupa that King Dutugamunu built after defeating King Elara, beside the Tissa Wewa tank. One of the eight sacred places of Anuradhapura.

The earliest documented Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka, dating to the arrival of Mahinda Thera. A small bell-shaped stupa stands among the stone pillars of a later relic house. One of the eight sacred places of Anuradhapura.

An ancient Buddhist temple on the island of Nainativu, counted among the sixteen holiest Buddhist shrines (Solosmasthana). It is reached by a short ferry from Kurikadduwan jetty.

A star-shaped fort, first built by the Portuguese and rebuilt by the Dutch in the 17th century, with a moat and ramparts over the lagoon.

The white library, burned in 1981 with tens of thousands of books and rebuilt in its original style, a powerful symbol for the city.

A boat trip to Nainativu, home to the Nagapooshani Amman temple and the Buddhist shrine of Nagadeepa. The ferry leaves from Kurikadduwan jetty, about an hour's drive from the city.

Freshwater springs by the sea on the north coast, with separate bathing pools, next to the ancient Naguleswaram Shiva temple.

A long, shallow beach shaded by casuarina trees on Karainagar island, reached by causeway. Calm water for wading in the dry season.

A fort first built by the Portuguese in 1623 and later held by the Dutch and British, still in military use; spotted deer graze inside the gates.

A Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva on a cliff above the sea, reached through Fort Frederick.

An ancient Buddhist temple in the Trincomalee district, recognised as the ninth of the sixteen sacred places (Solosmasthana).

Long, quiet beaches north of town with calm water in season.

A circular relic house with carved stone steps and guardstones, in the old Quadrangle. It was built either by Parakramabahu I for the tooth relic, or by Nissanka Malla for the alms bowl.

A well-preserved 12th-century stupa, the "Milk Stupa", in the Alahana Pirivena monastery near the Lankatilaka image house.

A rock temple made in the 12th century by King Parakramabahu I, with a seated, a standing and a reclining Buddha cut from one granite face. The reclining figure is the largest.

The 11th to 13th-century royal capital, best explored by bicycle or car, ending at the rock-cut Buddhas of Gal Vihara.

The palace-fortress on the rock, with water gardens, frescoes, the Mirror Wall and the lion staircase. A UNESCO World Heritage Site.

An afternoon jeep safari to see elephants grazing at the great tanks. Drivers choose Minneriya, Kaudulla or the Hurulu Eco Park on the day, depending on where the herds are.

An 8th-century stone shrine in the style of South Indian temples, with Buddhist and Hindu features, moved stone by stone when a reservoir flooded its old site.

A Hindu temple in Matale dedicated to the goddess Mariamman, often visited with Aluvihare and the spice gardens on the road to Kandy.

A cave temple in the hills 30 km north of Kandy on the Matale to Dambulla road, with painted walls and a long association with the writing down of Buddhist texts.

Five painted caves under one rock overhang, with Buddha statues and ceiling murals spanning many centuries. A UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A village known as the refuge of the indigenous Vedda people and their language, with community eco-tourism projects. Visit with local guides and ask before taking photographs.

A 64 metre waterfall on the Badulu Oya, about 5 km from Badulla, reached on foot from the road. The spray gives it its name.

A working tea factory built by Thomas Lipton in 1890, with short tours of the withering lofts, rolling and sorting floors.

A rock temple of seven Mahayana statues carved in a cliff face near Wellawaya, in the dry lowlands south-east of Ella.

The stone railway viaduct at Demodara, in a valley of tea and forest. Check the timetable if you want to see a train cross.

A Tudor-style stone country house built for Sir Thomas Lester Villiers in the 1930s, now St Benedict's Monastery, with gardens and a shop selling the monks' jams.

A heritage-listed rock temple at Dhowa village on the Bandarawela to Badulla road, about 7.5 km north of Bandarawela.

A half-day jeep safari (about 06:00 to 10:00, or 14:30 to 18:00) from the Palatupana gate, looking for leopards, elephants, sloth bears and birds across scrub, lagoons and rocky outcrops.

A village 15 km south of Monaragala with a free-standing limestone Buddha about 11 metres tall, among several important archaeological remains.

An ancient Buddhist temple in Tissamaharama, one of the four major monasteries founded after Mahinda Thera arrived in Sri Lanka.

An ancient rock monastery 18 km east of Kataragama, believed to have been built in the 2nd century BC by King Kavantissa.

An ancient reservoir with birdlife and a lakeside road, near the restored Tissamaharama dagoba.

A cave temple complex on a steep rock, with reclining Buddhas and painted ceilings on several terraces and views over the countryside from the top.

A small, sheltered cove of golden sand between rocky headlands, one of the safer swimming spots near Tangalle in season.

The horseshoe bay itself, with a beginner-friendly beach break, a reef break for experienced surfers and calm water for swimming on small days.

A temple with one of the island's largest seated Buddha statues, about 50 metres tall, and a tunnel of painted scenes of the afterlife.

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

The childhood home of one of the best-loved Sinhala writers, with a museum of village crafts, tools and customs in the garden.

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 tall standing Buddha statue facing the sea at Peraliya, built in memory of the people lost in the 2004 tsunami, when a train was swept off the line nearby.

A large standing figure carved into a rock at the western edge of Weligama, traditionally said to be a king cured of a skin disease, now thought to be a Bodhisattva.

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.

Snorkel in the shallow, reef-protected lagoon of Hikkaduwa National Park, where green turtles often feed close to shore.

A bodhi tree by the Kalu River just south of Kalutara, said to be one of the 32 saplings of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi at Anuradhapura, next to a hollow stupa.

A hilltop Buddhist temple near Aluthgama with a seated Buddha of about 160 feet, completed in 2007.

Geoffrey Bawa's country estate and garden on a lake, shaped over fifty years. Visits are by guided tour.

A wide stretch of golden sand south of the river mouth, with calm swimming in the dry season and water sports on the river side.