All the beauty in the country is enriched with the warm hospitality of its people. From ancient times, true smiles and the charm of its inhabitants have always welcomed all its visitors.

Breath-taking landscapes; unexplored, golden beaches; rich flora / sea and land fauna, combined with historical temples, gigantic monuments, its unique culture and the magnificence of its history turn Sri Lanka into an incomparable tourist destination in south-east Asia.

One of the advantages of visiting Sri Lanka is that one needn’t travel a long distance to enjoy the beauties on the island. Just a five-hour drive will take you from the brightest beaches to the highest hills or from tropical natural parks to the cool mountains up the tea trails.


Sri Lanka represents what Southeast Asia offered to the world and received from Christianity: the concept of society, the birth of the major religions, the origin of trade and political links and the refinement of the arts, from architecture to music. Here myth and legend merge: one of the cores of Traditional Buddhism still preserving the characteristics of the 3rd Century, and Hinduism, the other religious doctrine in the island, is expressed through the colours of the dozens of thousand of statues scattered through the entire island.

Sri Lanka, known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean because if its pearl shape, located in the south of India, is 433km long and 244km wide, a size comparable to Ireland or Tasmania. Its flat coastline is made up of manifold beautiful tropical beaches. The seaside is hotter and more humid. The most famous beaches are in the south of the Island. The temperature in Colombo and along the coastal area remains unchanged throughout the year and humidity reaches between 70 and 80%.

The centre of the Island is mountainous and higher including mountains as high as Adam's Peak (2243m) and Pidurutalagala (2524 m).

The weather in the mountainous region is milder and less humid and it is where the best tea in the world is grown.

The towns of Kandy and Nuwara Eliya located in this area can reach temperatures of 20-16ºC, low humidity and rather cool nights.

Sri Lanka has 20 million inhabitants of whom 80% are Sinhalese, 10-12 % Tamil, and 5-8 % Muslim.

70-80% of the population are Buddhist, followed by Hindus, Christians and Muslims.

In Sri Lanka, people speak Sinhala and Tamil even though English, as result of British colonialism, is widely spoken.

Colombo, the capital, is a modern city with 1.2 million inhabitants, chaotic traffic, many shops, restaurants and people from all over the world.

It is believed that the first Sinhalese came from northern India around the 5th Century B.C., when the Island was inhabited by aboriginals, the Veddha.

The Anuradhapura Sinhalese Kingdom started in the 5th Century B.C. lasting 1500 years and followed by the Polonnaruwa Kingdom. As of the 6th Century B.C. the Kings built tanks (reservoirs) and advanced irrigation systems very much ahead of their times, many of which still being used today.

In the 8th Century A.C. Sri Lanka was attacked by China, Malaysia and Southern India. By then, Tamils migrated from the South of India and settled in the north of the island, in the Jaffna Province.

In the 15th Century, Kandy was the last Kingdom city in Sri Lanka until the Portuguese rule in 1505 and its monopoly over spice and cinnamon trade.

Kandy encouraged the arrival of the Dutch in order to expel the Portuguese but this only led to 150 years of Dutch rule.
In 1802 Sri Lanka became part of the British Empire when the British arrived on the Island in 1802. The British exploited coffee and then tea, rubber and coconut estates.

The importance of Tea production for the British Empire and European countries resulted in the creation of modern railway, administration, education and social development systems and thus the introduction of English as the official language. The British especially settled in the country’s highlands where the weather is cooler.

In 1948 Sri Lanka, until then known as Ceylon, gained independence, becoming part of the Commonwealth as an independent country, and in 1972 officially changed its name to Sri Lanka.