Why this ride
From Anuradhapura it runs 581 km to Anuradhapura; allow about 12 h 47 of riding. The stops in between: Ancient City of Sigiriya, Ancient City of Polonnaruwa, Central Highlands of Sri Lanka and back through Ancient City of Polonnaruwa.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Sacred City of Anuradhapura and Central Highlands of Sri Lanka · 581 km from Anuradhapura
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 581 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 12 h 47
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Sacred City of Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura was the capital of Sri Lanka for well over a thousand years, and it still feels like a capital of a certain kind, one made of brick, water and devotion. Standing in the dry zone, in the flat north-central plains, it grew from a settlement of the fourth century BC into the heart of a Buddhist kingdom that built huge dome-shaped dagobas, monasteries and reservoirs. The great tanks, or artificial lakes, were the engineering marvel that made rice farming possible in an area with scarce rainfall, and you can see several of them from the road, wide mirrors of water ringed with palms.
Read the complete Sacred City of Anuradhapura write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sacred City of Anuradhapura is where the day begins. Next is Ancient City of Sigiriya.
2. Ancient City of Sigiriya
Sigiriya is a rock that looks like a fortress built by giants: a column of red granite rising some two hundred metres above the jungle of central Sri Lanka. In the late fifth century, King Kashyapa, who had seized the throne after killing his father, built a palace on its summit, with gardens, pools and fortifications around its base. The entrance was through the paws of a giant lion carved in the rock, of which only the paws remain. After Kashyapa's death, the palace was abandoned and became a Buddhist monastery. The Ancient City of Sigiriya was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1982.
Read the complete Ancient City of Sigiriya write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ancient City of Sigiriya comes up about 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ancient City of Polonnaruwa.
3. Ancient City of Polonnaruwa
Polonnaruwa was the capital of Sri Lanka from the late tenth to the early thirteenth century, after the older capital at Anuradhapura was sacked, and its ruins are spread across a wide area of parkland beside a vast artificial lake. That lake, the Parakrama Samudra, was built by King Parakramabahu I in the twelfth century, and it is a testament to the ambition of the man who famously declared that not a single drop of rain should flow to the sea without serving people first. It still irrigates the paddy fields around the town today.
Read the complete Ancient City of Polonnaruwa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach Ancient City of Polonnaruwa. Next is Central Highlands of Sri Lanka.
4. Central Highlands of Sri Lanka
North of Kandy the hills rise into a jagged massif that British surveyors thought looked like the knuckles of a clenched fist, and the name stuck: the Knuckles Range. It is one of the three parts of the Central Highlands World Heritage site, together with the Peak Wilderness and Horton Plains, and it is the wildest and least visited. The mountains are covered with montane forest, cloud forest at the highest points, grasslands and steep valleys with rivers and waterfalls. The weather changes fast; mist can sweep in over a ridge in minutes, and the air is noticeably cooler than in the plains. Many plants, frogs and lizards here exist nowhere else on Earth.
Read the complete Central Highlands of Sri Lanka write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Central Highlands of Sri Lanka, about halfway. Next is back through Ancient City of Polonnaruwa.
5. back through Ancient City of Polonnaruwa
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient City of Polonnaruwa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ancient City of Polonnaruwa sits at 257 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ancient City of Sigiriya.
6. back through Ancient City of Sigiriya
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient City of Sigiriya write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ancient City of Sigiriya comes up about 502 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sacred City of Anuradhapura.
7. Sacred City of Anuradhapura
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sacred City of Anuradhapura write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sacred City of Anuradhapura closes the day.
Leg by leg
Sacred City of Anuradhapura to Ancient City of Sigiriya
Sacred City of Anuradhapura → Ancient City of Sigiriya is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Ancient City of Sigiriya to Ancient City of Polonnaruwa
Ancient City of Sigiriya → Ancient City of Polonnaruwa is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ancient City of Polonnaruwa to Central Highlands of Sri Lanka
Ancient City of Polonnaruwa → Central Highlands of Sri Lanka is 154 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Central Highlands of Sri Lanka to back through Ancient City of Polonnaruwa
Central Highlands of Sri Lanka → back through Ancient City of Polonnaruwa is 154 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Ancient City of Polonnaruwa to back through Ancient City of Sigiriya
back through Ancient City of Polonnaruwa → back through Ancient City of Sigiriya is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ancient City of Sigiriya to Sacred City of Anuradhapura
back through Ancient City of Sigiriya → Sacred City of Anuradhapura is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.