If you dream of exploring Asia and are afraid of going on a long backpack trip, Sri Lanka is a good idea to start with. The weather in this small island country is conducive to recreation and travel, and the country is safe and affordable. What more do you want? Especially since the place is very charming. Extremely lush exotic nature, the possibility of watching the elephants living in the wild, a beautiful ocean with dream conditions for swimming and water sports - all this offers tourists Sri Lanka. A trip to this country is also an opportunity to see many attractions. What's worth visiting when you're in Sri Lanka?

The country abounds in great traces of ancient culture. The ruins of ancient sacral buildings are extremely valuable monuments. One of the most valuable is certainly the city of Anuradhapura, for which sightseeing is worth booking even a whole day.

One of the biggest attractions of Sri Lanka is Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. It's nothing but a shelter for... elephants. Many animals are treated well and have the best possible living conditions, according to the owner of this place. Unfortunately, there are also reports of irregularities in such centres. But this is certainly the best opportunity to get a closer look at these majestic animals. In Sri Lanka, they also occur in natural conditions, but the chance of meeting an elephant when walking through the jungle is small. Which of course does not mean that such a trip in itself is not a huge attraction. Sri Lanka's exotic wildlife is really close up and trekking in the jungle is one of the best ways to get to know it. Especially that apart from elephants and leopards, which rather hide from our sight, we will see other exotic animals, especially fabulously colourful birds.

If you dream of seeing wild animals at close range, you can visit Safari in Yala National Park. The car leaves at pale dawn, because at this time we have the greatest chance to meet beautiful elephants or leopards - a real rarity, because wild cats do not always want to appear. An attraction of the safari are also excellent guides, who spin colorful stories about nature.

Tea plantations are also a huge attraction. In Sri Lanka, the leaves are still harvested by hand as traditionally. It is not without reason that tea from this country is considered one of the best in the world and is an important export commodity for Sri Lanka. In many plantations, tours are organized, so you can enter and see up close how the work looks like. It is worth noting that some plantations are beautifully located and climbing to them is rewarded with breathtaking views.

Being in Sri Lanka, it is also worth taking the opportunity to visit the sapphire mine - these are the stones very popular here. The sapphire mine in Ratnapur allows you to see what the difficult and dangerous work of miners, who manually extract beautiful stones, looks like. It is worth remembering that we visit the place of actual work, not a dummy prepared for tourists, so it is not a safe walk and should behave carefully, listening carefully to the instructions of the guide. But surely the impressions are worth the effort and it may be one of the most interesting memories from your stay in Sri Lanka.