Polonnaruwa is Sri Lanka’s second most ancient kingdom and the Ancient City is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The former capital city was established in the 10th century and you can walk through what remains of the various ruins. If you’re already in the area to climb Sigiriya or Pidurangala Rock, or to see the Dambulla Caves, it’s worth a quick detour to come to Polonnaruwa for a half day of sightseeing.

What you should know before visiting

Plan to go in the morning as it gets very hot in the afternoon and be sure to bring plenty of water with you. To go through everything should take you around half a day.

Remember that some of the ruins are ancient temples and in order to go into them, you must be fully covered – shoulders and knees. I brought a loose fitting pair of pants and scarf so that I could quickly put them on before entering. Another thing to note is that in order to enter certain temple areas, you must take off your shoes. That being said, I would definitely recommend wearing flip flops (I made the mistake of wearing running shoes as it was rainy and my socks were muddy and gross by the end of the day).

When you arrive at Polonnaruwa, there will be locals outside asking if you want to pay for a tour guide. I believe they were charging around US$25 for a ‘full day’ tour around the Ancient City. We didn’t have a private tour guide, but did see some families with one as we were walking throughout. I’d recommend one if you are really into ancient history. However, we didn’t pay for one and just read the signs outside the various ruins.

The entrance fee for foreigners is US$25.

Polonnaruwa in pictures

I won’t go through and explain what each photo shows, as there are dozens of blogs out there that have already done it. If you’re curious to find out more information about the ruins before you go, I’d recommend this blog.