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Tripping Sri Lanka

A heritage travel publication exploring the colonial-era places, stories and landscapes that still shape the island today.

Old Ceylon · Heritage · Slow Travel
Themes
  • Colonial Cities
  • Forts & Harbour Towns
  • Tea Country & Hill Stations
  • Railways of Old Ceylon
  • Historic Hotels & Rest Houses
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  • Plantation Country
  • The Northern & Eastern Forts
  • The Hill Country
  • The Southern Forts
  • Colombo & the Western Coast
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Six routes through Old Ceylon

Explore Colonial Sri Lanka by Theme

Cities, forts, tea country, railways, hotels and civic buildings — pick the route through Old Ceylon that catches you.

Cargills Building, Fort District, Colombo
Theme51 stories

Colonial Cities

Colombo, Kandy and the trading towns whose streets still carry the names of merchants, governors and forgotten clubs.

Open route
Dutch ramparts of Galle Fort at sunset
Theme11 stories

Forts & Harbour Towns

Portuguese, Dutch and British walls that once defended the cinnamon trade — Galle, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa.

Open route
Tea estates rolling across the hills near Nuwara Eliya
Theme46 stories

Tea Country & Hill Stations

Nuwara Eliya, Hatton, Haputale — bungalows, planter clubs and the cool air the British called a second Scotland.

Open route
Nine Arch Bridge, Demodara — colonial-era stone railway viaduct
Theme14 stories

Railways of Old Ceylon

The line from Colombo to Badulla was an act of empire, an act of engineering, and one of the most beautiful train rides on earth.

Open route
Galle Face Hotel, Colombo — sea-facing colonial grand hotel
Theme10 stories

Historic Hotels & Rest Houses

Queen's, Galle Face, Mount Lavinia, the Hill Club — the hotels where Old Ceylon stopped to write a postcard.

Open route
Nuwara Eliya Post Office — red-brick mock-Tudor civic building
Theme16 stories

Churches, Post Offices & Civic Buildings

Dutch Reformed churches, Anglican spires, the General Post Office — the quiet civic furniture of a colonial century.

Open route