What Makes Sri Lanka Special: Heritage, Nature and Culture of the Island

Sri Lanka is a small island with an extraordinary amount to be proud of: eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, ancient cities more than two thousand years old, tea famous around the world, two living languages with their own beautiful scripts, and landscapes that run from rainforest and misty highlands to golden coastline. Here is what makes the island special, for anyone who has never been and for every Sri Lankan who carries it with them.

Eight World Heritage Sites on one island

Few countries of Sri Lanka's size hold so much recognised heritage. UNESCO lists eight World Heritage properties on the island:

• Sacred City of Anuradhapura, one of the great ancient capitals of South Asia
• Ancient City of Sigiriya, the palace-fortress on top of a towering rock
• Ancient City of Polonnaruwa, a medieval royal capital of temples and carved stone
• Sacred City of Kandy, the last royal capital and home of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
• Old Town of Galle and its Fortifications, a fortified port town on the south coast
• Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple, a cave temple complex filled with paintings and statues
• Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a protected tropical rainforest
• Central Highlands of Sri Lanka, a mountain landscape of exceptional biodiversity

Six are cultural and two are natural, which says a great deal about the island: it is remarkable for both what people built and what nature made.

The island the world knows as Ceylon

For centuries the world knew the island as Ceylon, and the name is still familiar everywhere through Ceylon tea. The country adopted the name Sri Lanka in 1972, but the old name remains a mark of quality and origin, and it is where Ceylon Trends takes its name.

Tea from the hills

Tea is one of the island's great gifts to the world. It grows across the highlands and is sold worldwide as Ceylon tea, with different growing regions giving their teas different characters. For many people abroad, a cup of Ceylon tea is the first taste of Sri Lanka they ever have. A good tin of loose-leaf Ceylon tea is one of the ideas in our guide to Sri Lankan gifts for diaspora friends and family.

Two languages, two scripts

Sinhala and Tamil are Sri Lanka's official languages, and each has its own flowing, rounded script that is instantly recognisable. Words written in these scripts carry deep meaning for the people who read them, which is why lettering in either language deserves to be written correctly and with care.

Rainforest, highlands and coast

In a short journey you can move from tropical rainforest to cool, misty tea country to palm-lined beaches. National parks are home to elephants and a rich variety of birds and wildlife, and the coastline circles the whole island. That variety in such a small space is one of Sri Lanka's most striking qualities.

Sacred mountains and living traditions

Sri Lanka's culture is shaped by several faiths and communities, and its festivals, temples and pilgrimages are part of everyday life. Sri Pada, often called Adam's Peak, is a mountain held sacred by followers of several religions, and pilgrims climb it through the night to see the sunrise from the summit.

A nation of cricket lovers

Cricket is followed with passion across the island, and Sri Lanka's victory in the 1996 Cricket World Cup remains a moment of enormous national pride.

Food with its own character

Sri Lankan food has its own identity: rice and curry with many small dishes, hoppers and string hoppers, sambols made with coconut, and spices that the island has traded for centuries.

Carrying the pride with you

Ancient cities, sacred mountains, world-famous tea and two beautiful scripts: Sri Lanka gives its people a great deal to be proud of, wherever they live. That pride is what our Sri Lanka designs are made to celebrate, and if you are looking for a way to share it, our guide on choosing a gift based on someone's home town is a good place to start.