Sri Lanka fits beaches, tea country, ancient capitals and national parks into an island you can cross in a day. The cultural triangle around Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya holds the oldest sites, the hill country around Kandy and Ella grows the tea, and the coasts alternate seasons.
The guides on this page cover Sri Lanka as a whole. Two monsoons split the year by coast: the southwest is wetter from May to September, the northeast from October to January, so there is almost always a side of the island in season. Train journeys through the hill country are slow and popular enough that reserved seats sell out well ahead.