The Most Beautiful Sacred Places in Sri Lanka
5 places · updated 13 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful sacred places in Sri Lanka are Temple of the Tooth, Dambulla cave temple and Ruwanwelisaya. The list covers 5 sacred places. Last updated 13 October 2026.
Buddhism reached Sri Lanka in the 3rd century BC, and the island has remained one of the main centres of Theravada Buddhism ever since. Its early kings built stupas on a scale rivalling the pyramids, carved shrines into caves and guarded relics of the Buddha himself. The ancient capitals of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa and the hill city of Kandy hold the most revered of them.
The Temple of the Tooth in Kandy houses the relic of the Buddha's tooth, honoured each year in the Esala Perahera procession. The Dambulla cave temple, set into a great rock, is a series of caves filled with Buddha statues and painted ceilings. Ruwanwelisaya in Anuradhapura, a white hemispherical stupa built by King Dutugamunu in the 2nd century BC, stands on a base lined with sculpted elephants. The Polonnaruwa Vatadage is a circular relic house with four seated Buddhas facing its four entrances. Jetavanaramaya, built by King Mahasena in the 3rd century AD, was the tallest stupa ever raised and remains one of the largest brick structures in the world.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Temple of the Tooth | Temple | |
| 2 | Dambulla cave temple | Temple | ✓ |
| 3 | Ruwanwelisaya | Stupa | |
| 4 | Polonnaruwa Vatadage | Stupa | |
| 5 | Jetavanaramaya | Stupa |
01 Temple of the Tooth
Sri Lanka · 3.5 km from Kandy7.294° N 80.641° E
Image by musthaqsms from Pixabay According to legend, the relic was carried to the island in the 4th century from the Indian kingdom of Kalinga by Princess Hemamali, who hid it in her hair, and her brother Prince Dantha. From then on its guardianship was bound up with the right to rule, so each royal capital — Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Dambadeniya, Kotte — built a tooth temple near the palace.
Did you know? The innermost chamber where the relic is kept is called the Handun Kunama, and the caskets are shaped like a miniature stupa.
02 Dambulla cave temple
Sri Lanka7.857° N 80.649° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by SuzyT from Pixabay Monks were living in the caves of this area by the third and second centuries BC, and tradition credits King Valagamba (Vattagamani Abhaya) with turning them into a temple in the first century BC, in gratitude for the refuge they gave him during fifteen years of exile from Anuradhapura. A Brahmi inscription of that era over the entrance of the first cave records the foundation.
Did you know? Murals from the eighteenth-century Kandyan revival make up roughly 80 percent of the paintings that survive in the caves.
03 Ruwanwelisaya
Sri Lanka · 1.4 km from Anuradhapura8.350° N 80.396° E
KennyOMG · CC BY-SA 4.0 That enclosure is the detail to look for. The raised, stone-paved platform on which the dome stands is ringed by a wall of sculpted elephants, standing shoulder to shoulder as if bearing the monument on their backs, an image of strength and steadiness that has become one of the emblems of Sri Lankan Buddhist architecture.
Did you know? The Kaunghmudaw Pagoda at Sagaing in Myanmar was modelled on the Ruwanwelisaya.
04 Polonnaruwa Vatadage
Sri Lanka7.947° N 81.001° E
Image by Peographic from Pixabay The building rises in two steps. A lower circular platform about 120 feet across has a single entrance on the north; from it four stairways, one at each cardinal point, climb to an upper terrace some 80 feet wide, enclosed by a brick wall. Each stair ends facing a seated Buddha in meditation, about five feet high; two of the four are still fairly complete.
Did you know? The central dagoba is of the bubble-shaped type and was given only two basal rings, or pesavas, instead of the customary three.
05 Jetavanaramaya
Sri Lanka · 2.2 km from Anuradhapura8.352° N 80.404° E
Hasitha Senadheera · CC BY-SA 4.0 The stupa was begun by King Mahasena, who ruled from 273 to 301, and completed by his son Sirimeghavanna. Its origins lie in a bitter dispute within Sri Lankan Buddhism.
Did you know? According to some accounts, copper sheets were laid over the foundation and arsenic dissolved in sesame oil was used to keep insects out of the masonry.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful sacred places in Sri Lanka?
- On our list, Temple of the Tooth ranks first, followed by Dambulla cave temple and Ruwanwelisaya.
- Is the Buddha's tooth really kept in Kandy?
- The Temple of the Tooth enshrines a relic venerated as the left canine tooth of the Buddha, brought to Sri Lanka in the 4th century. It is kept in a series of nested caskets and not displayed to the public.
- How tall was Jetavanaramaya?
- When completed it is believed to have stood about 120 metres high, making it the tallest stupa ever built and one of the tallest structures of the ancient world.
- What is a vatadage?
- A vatadage is a circular building raised around a small stupa to protect it and the relics inside. The one at Polonnaruwa is considered the finest example.
- How many sacred places are on this list in Sri Lanka?
- The list covers 5 sacred places.