Situated in the country's highland area, Kandy is a destination popularly hailed as Sri Lanka's cultural and spiritual capital.

This sacred city was established around a cutting from the 'tree of enlightenment', the Buddha's fig tree, brought there in the 3rd century B.C.

Polonnaruwa was the second capital of Sri Lanka after the destruction of Anuradhapura in 993.

Founded in the 16th century by the Portuguese, Galle reached the height of its development in the 18th century, before the arrival of the British.