Sigiriya in 3 days

The magma plug of an extinct volcano, where Kasyapa, who seized his father's throne in 477, built his capital before his brother defeated him.

In a sheltered hollow on the west face, around twenty 5th-century painted women, bejewelled and carrying flowers, survive from a set of perhaps five hundred.

Among the oldest surviving landscaped gardens in the world: pools, islands, channels and fountains fed by gravity that still spout after heavy rain.

A second rock a kilometre north, with a Buddhist monastery, a brick reclining Buddha in a cave and a boulder scramble to the top.

Around 9,000 hectares around a 3rd-century reservoir; in the dry season up to 300 elephants gather on its shores, known as The Gathering.

The island's capital from the 11th to 13th centuries, with a royal palace, a council chamber and Gal Vihara's four colossal rock-cut Buddhas.

Five caves used as temples since the 1st century BC, with around 150 Buddha statues, a 14-metre reclining Buddha and painted ceilings.

Ruins of a forest monastery on the highest hill of the northern plain, where ascetic monks built bare platforms linked by stone bridges.