Dambulla – Cave Temple, Sri Lanka

After an amazing stay in Sigiriya, I woke up in the morning to catch the bus which was supposed to stop in the road in front of the hostel. After waiting a few minutes with a couple of scholar boys, the bus finally stopped. The duration of the ride was about 30 minutes, which always go by very fast making new friends with the locals. They are so friendly in Sri Lanka! 🙂

From Sigiriya to Dambulla

As the distance from Sigiriya to Dambulla is very short (25km), you have different transport options. You can choose to go to Dambulla by bus or by tuk-tuk, depending on your budget and your willingness to make new friends.

TIP: If you are in Sigiriya, I recommend to get the bus from the main road, numbers: 41 or 48.
Buses run between 6h30 to 18h. Don’t miss the last one if you are heading directly from Sigiriya Rock.
Bus ticket costs 40LKR, while a tuk-tuk maybe 500/1000LKR (& miss the chance of meeting the friendly sinhalese).

Where to stay in Dambulla

The hostel area is located on the main road, close to the restaurants. You should find a place in this area so that you can go walking to Dambulla Golden cave temple.

TIP: When traveling Sri Lanka, most of the offers I found online were through Agoda platform where you can find special offers and discounts.

In Dambulla I booked a beautiful hostel near the main road: Family Nest Dambulla. Best location, super friendly, peaceful and charming place. I would repeat when I come back (one day).

Dambulla

Among the major attractions of the area include the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex of Sri Lanka. I personally think that this is one of the most beautiful places I found in all Sri Lanka. The temple and the caves are simply breath-taking! Even better than some temples you can find in Thailand.

Cave Temple / Golden Temple

Once you enter the complex from the main street entrance, the temple can be reached at the top of a mountain, and this is a middle difficult path. Statues and paintings in these caves date back to the 1st century BC, but those were repaired and repainted in the 11th, 12th, and 18th century AD. The Buddhist monks meditating in the caves of Dambulla provided refuge to King Valagamba who at that time provided the exiled king protection from his enemies. When King Valagamba returned to the throne at Anuradhapura kingdom in the 1st century BC, he had a magnificent rock temple built at Dambulla in gratitude to the monks in Dambulla.

Be careful that the ticket office is down in the entry. If you are asked to show your ticket you will need to go down again.

TIP: If you want to avoid paying 1500Rp to visit Dambulla Cave Temple, you can try going there in the evening, at the end of the day. If you are lucky, there is no ticket control sometimes at that time of the day, and there are not many tourists.

Click in the next link if you want to know what to do in Kandy.

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