Private Polonnaruwa Day Tour from Kandy with a Minneriya Jeep Safari

Polonnaruwa was the island's capital in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, after Anuradhapura fell and before the court moved south. It is the best-preserved of the ancient cities and by some distance the easiest to understand: compact, well laid out, and reachable on foot or by bicycle in a single visit.

The quadrangle at the centre holds the Vatadage, a circular relic house with four Buddhas facing the compass points, and the Lankatilaka, a brick image house whose walls still stand seventeen metres high with the headless Buddha inside. The Royal Palace was seven storeys when Parakramabahu I built it; three remain.

The Gal Vihara is the reason to come. Four colossal Buddhas cut from a single granite face — seated, standing, and a seven-metre reclining figure — carved in the twelfth century and, unusually for stone this old, essentially undamaged. It is the finest sculpture in Sri Lanka.

The afternoon is a jeep safari at Minneriya or Hurulu Eco Park, both within half an hour, where the elephant herds come down to the reservoirs late in the day.