Experience the best of Ingiriya

Ingiriya lies in the green, hilly wet zone of Sri Lanka's Western Province, in the Kalutara district near the border with Sabaragamuwa. Rubber has long been the main crop around the town, and neat rows of trees cover the slopes, with the tappers working early in the morning to collect latex. The nearest larger town is Horana, and Colombo lies to the north-west.

The roads around Ingiriya wind through plantations, small villages with temples and paddy fields at the bottom of the valleys, and tea and rubber estates continue towards the hill country. The beaches of the west coast, near Kalutara and Bentota, lie to the south-west, while Ratnapura, a centre of sapphire mining, and the Sinharaja rainforest lie to the east and south-east.

A meal here follows the usual Sri Lankan pattern of rice and several curries, with jackfruit, coconut sambol and fresh fruit, and a sweet milk rice, kiribath, is eaten at celebrations. The south-west monsoon brings heavy rain from May to September, and a second wet spell comes in October and November. The drier months from December to March are easiest for travelling.