Dambulla

Understand

Dambulla is the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. Major attractions are spread over five caves, which contain statues and paintings. These paintings and statues are related to Gautama Buddha and his life. There are a total of 153 Buddha statues, three statues of Sri Lankan kings and four statues of gods and goddesses.

Get in

Buses from Colombo (148 km west), Kandy (72 km south, 2-3 hours), Anuradhapura (2-3 hours), Sigiriya and other places arrive regularly at the Dambulla bus station on Kandy road. From Sigiriya, you can continue by direct bus to Dambulla. Buses run on this route at intervals of 30 minutes and cost Rs 100. The last bus for Dambulla leaves at 18:00. Alternatively, you can take a tuk tuk to go back to Inamaluwa junction (10 km), from where you can take the bus to Dambulla as well, or you can go to Dambulla from Sigiriya (18 km) by tuk tuk which will cost about Rs 1,000.

Luxury buses also run from various points in Colombo, taking 4 hours and costing Rs. 1500-2800, bookable here.

From Kandy: take A/C Bus 43 from here, departs irregularly when seats are filled, ticket Rs. 470, takes 2 hours to reach Dambulla.

Do

Cricket: First class matches and internationals are played at Rangiri Dambulla Stadium, by the lake 2 km southwest of city centre.

Sleep

There are both simple guest houses and more up-scale resorts available, some close to the temple complex, about 1 km south from the town centre.

Go next

Colombo There are several buses to Colombo from the bus station, it costs about 140 LKR in non A/C buses. Anuradhapura Sigiriya Just 30mn north-east of Dambulla, you can easily visit Lion Rock as a day trip from Dambulla (buses at the Main Bus Station) Matale Kandy Polonnaruwa located 67 km east of Dambulla