Combine two of Sri Lanka’s greatest UNESCO World Heritage Sites in one remarkable day – beginning with the ancient cave temples of Dambulla and culminating in the dramatic ascent of the iconic Sigiriya Rock Fortress. The morning opens at the Dambulla Cave Temple, where five vast rock-carved sanctuaries shelter 153 Buddhist statues and a gallery of ancient ceiling paintings that have preserved their vivid colours for centuries, surrounded by the quiet devotion of monks and pilgrims who have maintained this site as a living place of worship. The afternoon brings you face to face with Sigiriya, the lion rock, a 200-metre natural rock column topped by the ruins of a 5th-century royal palace, reached by climbing ancient stairways past the famous Sigiriya Frescoes and through the Lion’s Paw entrance gateway that once marked the threshold of the summit citadel.
