Best National Parks in Sri Lanka

Yala spans the Southern and Uva provinces and is the most visited park in Sri Lanka, though not the largest; Wilpattu holds that title. Block I, the section most visitors see, carries one of the highest leopard densities recorded anywhere, though a sighting still takes patience and an early start. The cost of that popularity is traffic: at peak times a leopard draws a queue of vehicles. How to Reach: The Palatupana entrance is 30 minutes from Tissamaharama. Best Time to Visit: February to July

Best Time: February - July

Udawalawe was created in 1972 around a reservoir built for irrigation, and its open scrub and grassland make it the most reliable elephant viewing in Sri Lanka. Herds stand in the open rather than being glimpsed through forest, and sightings are close to certain year round. Water birds work the reservoir edges, though leopards are rarely seen. Choose it over Yala if elephants matter more than a leopard gamble. How to Reach: About 4 hours by road from Colombo, or an hour from Ella. Best Time to Visit: Year round, driest May to September

Best Time: December to March

Minneriya lies in North Central Province and is known for one thing above all: the Gathering. As the dry season advances and surrounding water disappears, elephants converge on grassland exposed by the receding reservoir, and herds of a few hundred can be in view at once. Outside those months the herds disperse, often to neighbouring Kaudulla, so check where they actually are before booking. How to Reach: About an hour by road from Sigiriya or Dambulla. Best Time to Visit: July to October, for the Gathering

Best Time: December - March

The largest national park in Sri Lanka, on the northwest coast about an hour from Anuradhapura, named for its villus, the natural sand-rimmed lakes that fill after rain and pull animals into the open. It was closed for years during the civil conflict and reopened in 2010, so it still sees far fewer vehicles than Yala. Leopard density is high, but the forest is thicker and sightings need more luck. How to Reach: About 3.5 hours by road north of Colombo. Best Time to Visit: February to October

Best Time: February to October

Known For : World’s End (Horton Plains) Gommolli Kanda Ohiya

A plateau above 2,000 metres, part of the Central Highlands World Heritage Site, and unlike anywhere else on the island: montane grassland and cloud forest, cold at dawn and frosted in the coolest months. The circuit walk runs about 9 km and takes in World's End, where the escarpment drops away for close to 900 metres, along with Baker's Falls. There are no jeep safaris here; you walk it. How to Reach: About 90 minutes by road from Nuwara Eliya, or by train to Ohiya. Best Time to Visit: January to March, at dawn

Best Time: January to March

6 Horton Plains Attractions

Sinharaja is lowland rainforest and a World Heritage Site rather than a national park: the last substantial stretch of primary rainforest on the island, running roughly 21 km along a ridge. There is no safari. You walk forest trails with a compulsory guide, and the reward is endemism, with mixed-species bird flocks the thing serious birders travel for. Leeches are a certainty in the wet. How to Reach: The Kudawa entrance is about 4.5 hours from Colombo via Ratnapura. Best Time to Visit: January to March and August to September

Best Time: January to March; August to September

Kaudulla is an ancient irrigation tank restored and declared a national park in 2002, and it works as the companion to neighbouring Minneriya. When the herds move off the Minneriya grassland they often shift here, so guides switch between the two depending on where the elephants are that week. Deer, buffalo and a strong bird list fill out a drive. How to Reach: About 45 minutes by road from Habarana. Best Time to Visit: August to December

Best Time: July to December

Bundala is a coastal wetland near Hambantota, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a Ramsar site, and the most important wintering ground for migratory shorebirds in the south. Its lagoons and salt pans hold flamingos from around September to April alongside a long list of waders. There are elephants and crocodiles too, but this is a birding park: it rewards a slow drive with binoculars far more than a fast safari. How to Reach: About 20 minutes by road from Hambantota. Best Time to Visit: September to March

Best Time: October to March

Wasgamuwa sits between the Mahaweli and Amban rivers in the centre of the island and takes a fraction of the traffic the southern parks do, which is much of its appeal: a morning here can pass without meeting another jeep. Elephant herds are large, and it is one of the better places in the country for sloth bear, though dense scrub makes every sighting harder won. How to Reach: About 225 km from Colombo, roughly 5 hours, and 2 hours from Dambulla. Best Time to Visit: November to May

Best Time: November to May

Gal Oya was founded in 1954 to protect the catchment of the Senanayake Samudra reservoir, and it offers the one thing no other Sri Lankan park does: a boat safari. You watch from the water as elephants swim between islands, which is a genuinely different experience from a jeep and far less crowded, since few visitors travel this far east. How to Reach: Near Ampara, about 6 hours by road from Colombo and 2 hours from Arugam Bay. Best Time to Visit: March to July

Best Time: March-July

Kumana lies on the southeast coast next to Yala and is the island's best known bird park, built around a 200-hectare mangrove swamp where herons, painted storks, spoonbills, pelicans and ibis nest in numbers from April onwards. Elephants and leopards are present, but the birds are the reason to come. It is far quieter than Yala. How to Reach: About an hour from Arugam Bay. Best Time to Visit: April to July, through the nesting season

Best Time: February to July

One of only two marine national parks in Sri Lanka, declared in 2003, lying about a kilometre off Nilaveli on the east coast. The draw is the fringing reef: shallow coral in clear water with blacktip reef sharks, turtles and a heavy fish population, all reachable by snorkel from the island. The reef was damaged by the 2004 tsunami and by bleaching since, and has recovered unevenly. How to Reach: A ten-minute boat ride from Nilaveli. Best Time to Visit: May to September

Maduru Oya was created in 1983 alongside the Mahaweli irrigation scheme, and it pairs wildlife with archaeology: Buddhist ruins and an ancient sluice gate stand inside the boundary, and communities of the indigenous Vedda people live nearby. Elephants number well over a hundred, and the reservoirs pull in water birds. It is little visited, so facilities are basic. How to Reach: About 4.5 hours by road from Colombo, near Aralaganwila. Best Time to Visit: November to April

Angammedilla was carved out of the Minneriya-Giritale sanctuary in 2006 to protect the catchment feeding the Parakrama Samudra, the great reservoir at Polonnaruwa. It is small, wooded and quiet, with elephants, deer and a good range of birds, and it takes a fraction of the traffic Minneriya does half an hour away. How to Reach: About 30 minutes by road from Polonnaruwa. Best Time to Visit: May to September, the drier months

Lunugamvehera was declared in 1995 to protect the reservoir of the same name and, more importantly, to keep open the corridor elephants use between Yala and Udawalawe. That is its real function: a working link in the landscape rather than a destination park, and it takes very few visitors. Elephants pass through in numbers, with crocodiles and deer alongside. How to Reach: On the road between Tissamaharama and Wellawaya. Best Time to Visit: November to March

Best Time: May to September

One of the smallest national parks in Sri Lanka, near Pottuvil in the southeast, and its size is deceptive. The three tanks inside it are ringed by the beru grass elephants favour, so large herds concentrate here in the dry months on ground open enough to see across. It is a short detour from Arugam Bay and can be covered in a couple of hours. How to Reach: On the Pottuvil to Monaragala road, 30 minutes inland from Arugam Bay. Best Time to Visit: July to September

The second of Sri Lanka's two marine national parks, protecting a shallow fringing reef directly off Hikkaduwa town on the southwest coast. It is a short wade or a glass-bottomed boat ride from the beach, which makes it the most accessible reef on the island and also the most pressured: the coral has suffered from bleaching, boat traffic and the 2004 tsunami. How to Reach: Directly offshore at Hikkaduwa, about 2 hours south of Colombo. Best Time to Visit: November to April

Ussangoda is a coastal plateau of deep red serpentine soil on the south coast, geologically unlike anything around it and almost bare of tall vegetation as a result. Local tradition ties the scorched-looking ground to the Ramayana, and there are archaeological remains on the site. The cliffs drop to a beach used by nesting sea turtles. How to Reach: On the coast road near Ambalantota, about 30 minutes from Hambantota. Best Time to Visit: November to April

Horagolla is the smallest national park in Sri Lanka and the closest to Colombo, a remnant patch of lowland wet-zone forest at Nittambuwa named for the hora trees that dominate it. There is no safari and no big game: it is a short walk through mature forest with birds, butterflies and monkeys, useful as an hour's stop on the way inland. How to Reach: At Nittambuwa on the Colombo to Kandy road, about 40 km from Colombo. Best Time to Visit: December to April, in the morning

Delft, or Neduntheevu, is a flat coral and limestone island off the Jaffna peninsula, and its protected status covers a landscape unlike anywhere else in Sri Lanka: coral walls dividing the fields, baobab trees, colonial-era ruins, and free-roaming wild ponies descended from horses left behind during the colonial period. There is little shade and few facilities. How to Reach: By ferry from Kurikadduwan jetty, 90 minutes by road from Jaffna plus an hour on the water. Best Time to Visit: December to March

Madhu Road covers dry-zone forest in Mannar district in the northwest, upgraded from a sanctuary in 2015 when neighbouring state forest was absorbed into it. It is among the least visited parks in the country, with almost no tourist infrastructure, and its interest is chiefly ornithological: Mannar is a major arrival point for migratory birds. How to Reach: About 25 km from Mannar town on the road towards Vavuniya. Best Time to Visit: December to March, during the migration

Chundikkulam protects a lagoon and the mangrove, sea-grass and scrub around it on the northern coast between Jaffna and Elephant Pass. It became a national park in 2015, after decades in which the area was inaccessible during the conflict. It is a birding site above all, with waterbirds and shorebirds in numbers and flamingos among the winter arrivals. How to Reach: About 12 km from Kilinochchi on the A32 towards Jaffna. Best Time to Visit: December to March

Flood Plains was declared in 1984 as one of a chain of parks along the Mahaweli river, and its job is to keep the elephant corridor between them open. The habitat is what the name suggests: seasonally flooded grassland and marsh, with villus that fill and empty through the year, which makes it hard going for vehicles and largely inaccessible in the wet. How to Reach: North of Polonnaruwa off the Manampitiya road. Best Time to Visit: June to September, when the ground is driest