Anuradhapura

Anuradhapura was the seat of Sinhalese kings for well over a millennium, and the scale of what survives is hard to take in on one visit. Its great brick stupas, Jetavanaramaya and Abhayagiri among them, were built to heights that put them among the tallest structures in the ancient world, and they still dominate the plain. The Sri Maha Bodhi is a sacred fig grown from a cutting of the tree under which the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment, brought here in the third century BC and tended continuously since, which makes it one of the oldest documented planted trees anywhere. Around them lie monastery complexes, moonstones carved at the foot of stairways, bathing tanks and the vast reservoirs that made the whole civilisation possible.

What you actually see

• Sri Maha Bodhi - the sacred fig, tended without interruption for over two thousand years.
• Jetavanaramaya and Ruwanwelisaya - colossal brick stupas, one restored to brilliant white.
• Abhayagiri monastery - a huge monastic complex with the finest carved moonstone.
• Isurumuniya - a rock temple with the celebrated Lovers relief.

When to go

May to September, when the north and centre are dry. Poya full-moon days bring huge numbers of white-clad pilgrims, which is atmospheric but crowded. Start at dawn; the site is enormous and shadeless by ten.

Honest expectations

The site is spread over many square kilometres, so a bicycle or a tuk-tuk for the day is essential rather than optional. This is an active place of worship: shoes and hats come off at every sacred precinct, and the ground gets painfully hot underfoot, so socks are a genuinely useful tip. Ticketing can be inconsistent about which sites are included.

Nearby

Mihintale's monastery hill is nearby; Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya lie southeast.