Sri Lanka is BIG! May need several trips to cover all😬 the east (Trincomalee) and south (Galle and Bentota) coasts and quite popular spots with tourists along with the central  region (Nuwara Eliya, Kandy and Kegalla).

I chose to explore the top tip of the west coast spilling over into the north western coast.

We started with Colombo and Negombo in the west.. Moving upwards, north west to Puttalam and Kalpitiya. Then we came back down again to do Bentota.

Some highlights:

Negombo: found an awesome restaurant called Amra Leaf, Muslim owners and food quality was ace! It was our go to place in Negombo. They have monkey island tour in Negombo too. Many Muslims in Negombo. We did the elephant sanctuary in Pinnawala too from Negombo. Drive through rural and mountainous roads was the highlight.

Puttalam: majority Muslims there. Halal food was no issue there Alhamdulillah. Not much to see here but we used Puttalam as a base to visit the Wipattu National Park. Puttalam has an Islamic college for girls and boys and an Islamic scholarship institute for boys.

Kalpitiya: many lovely resorts, some Muslim owned too. Food is supplied by Muslims in many of them, so I was told. Kalpitiya is accessible through Puttalam.

Bentota: beautiful lakes and islands region. On the way back from Bentota we visited a Muslim majority area which was attacked heavily and torched by Buddhist mobs during the 2019 anti-Muslim riots. Saw some signs of the damage caused. They had another Muslim institute there and a masjid complex located on the edges of a sea cliff. Stunning views. We also visited a turtle orphanage there.

We didn’t explore any of the central or southern/eastern regions, maybe next time😀

Overall, a beautiful country, lots of mosquitos with Halal food widely available - just got to keep asking that there is no cross contamination with non-Halal items. King coconuts are a must at every stop!

 It’s a big country so it’s hard to do it without moving constantly. I also prefer less moving and day trips but see how long things take on google maps.

Kandy is beautiful. Depends on how keen you are to see temples or nature. The Buddha’s tooth temple is suitably gaudy but worth a look. The train journey from Kandy to Ella is stunning. The tea plantations of Nuwara Eliya are gorgeous. Sigiriya is unmissable. The Sri Lankan Macchi Picchu. Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, and Dambulla in the cultural triangle are all very interesting. And do an elephant safari. Leopard safaris are less interesting because the leopards don’t want to be seen. There are a few parks but we did Yala park for both. I don’t think you’ll have time to go to the beaches on the east coast but they’re supposed to be stunning. We were there at the wrong time of year for the east coast. The weather is very different on each coast. Just figure out the best time for the sights above.