Ancient Cities & Heritage
Sigiriya
Central Province
A 200-metre granite monolith with a fifth-century royal citadel on its summit, reached by a staircase through the paws of a carved lion.
- How long
- 1 day is usually enough
- Best months
- January, February, March, July, August, September
Sigiriya is the image most people carry away from Sri Lanka. King Kasyapa built his palace on the flat top of this granite plug in the fifth century, and what survives is extraordinary: water gardens that still fill in the monsoon, a mirror wall once polished enough to reflect, and frescoes of court women painted into a sheltered overhang halfway up.
The climb is around 1,200 steps and takes most people an hour. Start at six when the gate opens — by nine the stairs are crowded and the rock is hot enough to burn a hand.
From the summit the plain stretches out in every direction, with Pidurangala rock opposite. If the queue on the main rock looks impossible, Pidurangala is a rougher scramble with arguably the better view: it looks back at Sigiriya itself.
