Rawana Ella Cave

Ramayana Trail

Sri Lanka's Ramayana Trail links the places where, according to tradition, Rama, Sita, Hanuman and Ravana crossed paths after Sita's abduction, from the Shiva lingam Rama is said to have installed at Manavari to the cave above Ravana Falls where legend holds Sita was kept. This 7-day circuit runs from the west-coast temple town of Chilaw through the tea hills of Nuwara Eliya to Ella and the south coast, visiting Munneswaram Temple, Seetha Amman Temple, Hakgala Botanical Garden (identified in local tradition with Ravana's Ashok Vatika), Divurumpola, Ravana Falls and Cave, and Rumassala hill above Unawatuna, where tradition places a fragment of the herb-mountain Hanuman carried from the Himalayas. A stop at Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara, home to a shrine for Vibhishana, bookends the trip near Colombo. The route is popular with Indian travellers combining pilgrimage with a hill-country and beach holiday, and vegetarian meals are confirmed at every hotel on request. Every site's Ramayana association is presented here as devotional tradition, not verified history, and your guide will frame it the same way. Book hill-country hotels early if you are travelling in the December-to-March high season.

7 Days / 6 Nights