Ambuluwawa Tower

The Ambuluwawa tower stands on a hilltop at around a thousand metres near Gampola, part of a multi-religious centre built in the 1990s that has Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian structures on the same summit. The tower itself is what draws people: a white spiral rising about fifty metres, climbed on an external staircase that gets narrower and steeper towards the top until the last section is a scramble with a handrail and a long drop.

Highlights

• The spiral tower - a white structure climbed on a narrowing external stair.
• The multi-religious site - Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian structures together.
• The summit view - the Kandy hills and the Mahaweli valley from the top.
• The biodiversity garden - planted grounds on the hilltop around the tower.

When to go

January to April is the driest and clearest. Mornings are best before cloud builds. Weekends and holidays bring long queues on the stair.

What to expect

The upper stair is genuinely frightening: narrow, steep and exposed, with a single handrail, and people have panicked partway. It is one-way and turning back is difficult in a queue. The access road is very steep and narrow.

Nearby

Gampola is below, and Kandy is northeast.