Location: Anuradhapura
Top Things to do in Anuradhapura
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What to do and see in Anuradhapura, North Central Province: The Best Ancient Ruins
Anuradhapura (Sinhalese: අනුරාධපුරය; Tamil: அனுராதபுரம்) is a major city in Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central Province, Sri Lanka and the capital of Anuradhapura District. Anuradhapura is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of an ancient Sri Lankan civilization. It was the third capital of the Kingdom of Rajarata, following the kingdoms of Tambapanni and Upatissa Nuwara.
Restaurants in Anuradhapura
1. Vessagiri
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 3 reviews
Reviewed By sandarangae - Colombo, Sri Lanka
If you are a foreigner or a local traveler this is a must visit location in Anuradhapura. The history goes to over 5000 years of proud history of marvel’s of ancient people of Sri Lanka it is believed that this is a herbal garden which was used by King Rawana and later on King Dewanampiyatissa donated this herbal garden to “Mihindu maharahathan wahanse” and this is the place where 500 men was became Buddhist monks and started Buddhism in Sri Lanka. However if you visited this place you can witness how the massive rocks was cut in to pieces and make use of them in an architectural way and it is unbelievable because in that era there were no machines as such and the ancient people in Sri Lanka has used their wisdom and their power to create such an masterpiece of work by using rocks. However What I heard was from a gentleman who was there, for some reason this place is not highlighted to show the proud history of Sri Lanka and they just want this to be just a historical place only. Therefore whoever is interested about the history please visit this location and start discovering the hidden history and the wonders of Srilanka ancient people
2. Padanagara I of Ancient Anuradhapura
3. Gedige Ruins
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 3 reviews
Reviewed By 307kamalp - Byron Bay, Australia
Even though in ruin and moss grown this building known as "Gedige" - an image house is a structure worth seeing. Constructed strongly with thousands of bricks, the building has stone doorways and window frames intact. With the remains of the brickwork it can be assumed that the building had a vaulted roof. There is a staircase inside to indicate that there was an upper floor. The building has had an inner chamber with a passage outside of it. An interesting piece of architecture belonged to the ancient Sri Lanka!
4. Burrows pavilion
5. Main Refectory Of Abayagiri Monastery
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 3 reviews
Reviewed By 307kamalp - Byron Bay, Australia
Amazing place with a history from first century BC! The gigantic, many meters long, almost monolithic boat like container (Stone canoe), to hold cooked rice for serving few thousand monks referred to as “Bath Oruwa”, perfectly smooth granite seating to accommodate hundreds, the sundial through which the time of the day was determined by the shadow created by a rod or pin at its centre in order to partake in mid-day meal by the monks before the time passes noon are some of the fascinating items at this site. The effort that would have gone in to make them with ancient tools and maintain them is unbelievable.
6. Wessagiriya
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 2 reviews
Reviewed By anuruddhaHK - Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
Wessagiriya is a place which had been used by Buddhist monks for meditation in the times of ancient kings. Best to visit in morning or evening where the rocks are not heated. Nice place to visit with kids.
7. Ranmasu Uyana
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 58 reviews
Reviewed By isurupremaratne - Gampaha, Sri Lanka
This place is found as the only royal garden in the history of Anuradhapura era. The garden was full of water pools and rock garden huts. The technology used to bring water from Tissa wewa (the tank just few 100-200 m away) to the pools is still undiscovered. There was mechanism to decrease the water pressure and distribute water all over the garden. It is a must visit place to have a look on how the Sri Lankan royals spent their leisure time 1500-2000 year ago. According to legends a famous love story (between Saliya - son of Kind Dutugemnunu - and Asokamala - a low cast girl) took place here. Since the place is not a religious place, you can wear any type of clothing. No need to remove shoes or caps. Reaching Ranmasu Uyana can be done by two ways. One is from the Isurumuniya temple side. Just a 5 minutes walk. Other was is from the Tissa wewa bund road.
8. Sakwala Chakraya (Star Gate)
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 7 reviews
9. Short Handed Statue
10. Moonstone or Sandakada pahana
Overall Ratings
4.0 based on 111 reviews
Reviewed By AleksZagar - Ljubljana, Slovenia
the moonstone, is a unique stone structure that can be observed in Sri Lanka’s ancient Buddhist architecture. This is a semi-circular stone slab with elaborate carvings, usually built at the foot of a staircase or at an entrance to a building. The sadakada pahana located in the ancient city of Anuradhapura is one of the finest and most well-preserved moonstones in the island.
