Sri Lanka: The Fantabulous Emerald Island

With its sunkissed beaches, tropical forests, rolling mist-capped hills, magnificent monuments and tantalising cuisine, Sri Lanka has everything to woo visitors

- R L Morris

An enticing pear-shaped emerald isle sitting pretty close to India on the majestic Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is on the wish list of most travellers who wish to explore South Asia. With its sugary, sunkissed beaches, tropical forests, rolling mist-capped hills, magnificent monuments and temples, tantalising cuisine and warm hospitable people, this nation has everything to woo visitors.

Known as Taprobana or Serendip to the Greeks and Romans of yore, this land rich in a variety of gemstones and spices, especially cinnamon, seduced European powers like the Portuguese, Dutch and the English over the centuries. The crippling civil war that lasted decades, which scarred the nation, and the recent political turmoil and devastating economic meltdown have not affected the morale of this beautiful country. Yet again, this ancient nation is welcoming visitors with open arms and a soothing ‘Ayubowan’, which means ‘long life’ in Sinhala.

Let the journey begin!

Sri Lanka, which sees a large influx of Western tourists, also counts a sizeable chunk of Indian visitors. The island is well connected with major cities of India, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi and daily flights are aplenty to Colombo, the picturesque capital on the shores of the Indian Ocean. You can begin your Lankan odyssey by first visiting Ella, the nation’s most appealing destination in the highlands. The train journey to this hill station is one of the most spectacular in Asia with pastel shade stations decked with flowers, quaint bridges, valleys and tea plantations along the way.