The East Coast

Sri Lanka's surf capital - a laid-back east-coast bay with world-class waves.

One of the world's finest natural harbours with pristine beaches and diving sites.

A long ribbon of white sand north of Trincomalee, with calm turquoise water and Pigeon Island offshore.

Sri Lanka's bird paradise - lagoons and mangroves alive with nesting waterbirds, plus uncrowded leopard country.

Trincomalee's laid-back village beach - golden sand, calm seas, and beach-shack dinners under the stars.

Arugam Bay's wild backyard - dawn canoe safaris among mangroves, elephants, and crocodiles.

A laid-back lagoon city of Dutch forts, singing fish, and untouched east-coast beaches.

Sri Lanka's only boat safari park, where elephants swim between islands on a vast jungle-ringed reservoir.

A pristine, sheltered bay near Trincomalee whose glittering sand gave it its name - run by the Air Force and spotlessly kept.

A calm, shallow lagoon beach favored by families - rarely crowded.

One of Sri Lanka's two marine national parks - snorkel with blacktip reef sharks and sea turtles.

Claimed as the first Buddhist stupa in the world - built by seafaring merchants on a hill above the north-east coast.

Seven warm wells with a Ravana legend - Trincomalee's ancient bathing ritual, bucket by bucket.

A vast ancient tank with birdlife, crocodiles, and water buffalo herds.

The cliff-top abode of Shiva above Trincomalee harbour - one of the island's five ancient Ishwarams.

A cliff-top forest hermitage above the Kumana wilds, crowned by a rare cylindrical dagoba and vast jungle views.

A tiny park with a big spectacle - elephant herds feeding on tank grass beside the Arugam Bay road.

A remote park of reservoirs, rock outcrops, and elephants - the wild heartland of the Vedda people.

The 'rice-sand' beach of the north-east - a remote cove near Pulmoddai where the sand grains look like polished rice.

A 2,000-year-old temple in the dunes of Pottuvil - where east-coast tradition says a queen came ashore.

The last beach before the wilderness - dunes, lagoons, and empty surf where the east-coast road ends.

A jungle mountain of a thousand ruins near Ampara - believed to hold the ashes of Mahinda, who brought Buddhism to the island.

The 'Buddhist kovil' of Trincomalee - a rare ancient temple venerated by Sinhala and Tamil devotees alike.

The Dutch conquest's first prize in Ceylon - a lagoon-moated fort where cannons still watch the singing waters.

The east's forgotten Solosmasthana - a vast brick stupa marking the Buddha's meditation on his final visit.

Pasikuda's wilder twin - a vast, near-empty arc of east-coast sand backed by palm groves.

Sri Lanka's longest bridge - 396 metres over Koddiyar Bay's mouth, with lagoon views and hot wells beyond.

The hottest springs on the island - steaming wells in the elephant country between Kandy and Ampara.

The easternmost tip of Sri Lanka - an empty cape of surf and light where the island's day begins.

A 2,300-year-old stupa enshrining the Buddha's forehead relic, deep in the paddy country south of Trincomalee.

A beautifully kept Commonwealth cemetery near Uppuveli - resting place of the fallen of the 1942 Indian Ocean raid.