Besides tropical beaches, stunning natural wonders and thousands of years old cultural heritage, action-packed popular sports and traditional festivals are also to be found on the island. Amazingly, this unique range of holiday possibilities are all to be found on manageable terrain: the island covers only an area of around 65,000 sq km (almost the size of Bavaria) and visitors don’t have to cover huge distances to find variety. Here are 10 good reasons to visit Sri Lanka:

Diversity : With many sites and scenes bottled up in to a small island, a traveller could be riding the waves in the dawn and admiring the green carpeted mountains by dusk.

People: Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural society – a reflection of the island’s encounter with successive foreign immigrants. A fascinating mixture of cultures and whatever their situation in society – the smiles and the hospitality of Sri Lankans are legendary and worth an experience.

Cultural Heritage: The small island is proud of eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, which can be visited within one week.

Festivals: Nearly all the world’s major religious denominations are represented in Sri Lanka. Add to this a plethora of ethnicities and social groupings, and the result is a crowded festival calendar.

Spiritual Experiences: Buddhism has become extremely popular in Western countries and in Sri Lanka visitors can experience the pure teachings of Buddha, mix with the local Buddhists at places of pilgrimage.

Ayurveda & Spas: Well-being for all senses is part of Sri Lanka’s tradition: Ayurveda, the 2000 year old Indian medicine, is still very popular in Sri Lanka and visitors coming to the island for ayurvedic treatments are very often repeaters.

Nature & Wildlife: Sri Lanka is a haven for nature lovers; from whale watching on the southernmost point Dondra Head to an elephant encounter in the Minneriya National Park or an expedition through the rainforest of Sinharaja – the biodiversity of the island is stunning and 13% of Sri Lanka are conserved as national parks, reserves, sanctuaries and jungle corridors.

Sports & Adventure: With over 1,600 km of coast, Sri Lanka is an ideal location for wind-surfing, water-skiing, surfing, sailing, scuba-diving (including wreck-diving), snorkeling and more. Sri Lanka possesses over 100 hundred rivers, together with lagoons and ‘tanks’ (irrigation lakes), so there are plentiful opportunities for year-round white-water rafting, kayaking and canoeing. Varied landscapes, wildlife, and archaeological sites offer excellent opportunities for hiking and trekking.

Beaches: Brilliant white sand and palm-lined: the choice of beaches with the azure-blue Indian Ocean is inexhaustible. Whether well connected trend coasts or lonely bays – Sri Lanka bathes in diversity.