Three ancient capitals, a cave temple and a rock fortress, sequenced so that you are never at a site in the middle of the day.
The Cultural Triangle is the area bounded by Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kandy, and it contains five of the eight UNESCO World Heritage sites in Sri Lanka. Four days is enough to see them properly if the sequence is right, and badly insufficient if it is not.
Day one: Anuradhapura, late
Arrive in the afternoon and take a first, unhurried pass at the sacred city with a guide as the light drops. The dagobas are best in the last two hours of the day, and the crowds have gone by four.
Day two: Anuradhapura by bicycle, then east
Start at seven. The site covers more than forty square kilometres and the roads between the ruins run through forest, so a bicycle is genuinely the right tool. Sri Maha Bodhi, Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavanaramaya and the Abhayagiri complex fill a morning comfortably.
Drive east after lunch to base yourself near Sigiriya for the next two nights.
Day three: Sigiriya at seven, Pidurangala at five
Be at the Sigiriya gate when it opens. The climb takes about ninety minutes return and is genuinely unpleasant after nine in the morning.
Rest through the middle of the day, then climb Pidurangala in the late afternoon for the view back at the rock itself, which is the photograph that makes people book the trip.
Day four: Polonnaruwa, then Dambulla
Polonnaruwa is compact, flat and best done on a bicycle in a single morning, finishing at the Gal Vihara.
Take in the Dambulla cave temples on the drive south towards Kandy in the afternoon, when the light comes into the cave mouths at an angle.
Two things people get wrong
The first is trying to do Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa on the same day. They are ninety minutes apart and each deserves a morning.
The second is dressing for the heat rather than the sites. Shoulders and knees must be covered at every sacred location, and shoes come off, which means the stone will be extremely hot underfoot. Bring socks.
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