Skip to Content

Kandy to Anuradhapura

This post may contain affiliate links.

Why go to Sri Lanka’ s second ancient city, Anuradhapura? It’s a long way north and getting to Anuradhapura (for us, from Kandy) can be a challenge. For me, it was all about a sacred tree. 2500 years ago, or thereabouts, Prince Siddhartha Gautama sat under the Bodhi (Bo) tree, and meditated. He cleansed his mind and attained enlightenment, thus earning the title Buddha, the Enlightened One.

This post covers how to get to Anuradhapura, plus some essential tips that should save you cash when you tour the site. It’s not straightforward, you need to read this post.

Anuradhapura train station
Everything you need to know about getting to, and visiting, Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka

The Sacred Bodhi in Anuradhapura (Jaya Siri Maha Bodhi) is probably the oldest surviving historical tree in the world. So how to get to Anuradhapura and how to save a lot of money on the hugely expensive admission fees?

The sapling was brought to Sri Lanka in 249 BC and was planted in the Mahameghavana Park in Anuradhapura by King Devanampiyatissa. A tree has been continuously cultivated in that spot ever since

The sacred Bo tree is said to be the southern branch of the original tree, at Buddha Gaya (Bohdgaya)  in India, under which The Buddha attained bodhi or awakening.

That sounds like a big “Wow” to me.

So we went.

Anuradhapura Sri Lanka

Visiting Anurahadapura, ancient cities of Sri Lanka. The sacred Bo Tree of Buddha.
A tree so sacred its supports are of gold. Outer branches have scaffolding holding them up, pilgrims pray even at the base of the scaffold. Visiting Anuradhapura, Ancient Cities of Sri Lanka.

We shared many more images of our visit to Anuradhapura and our second entire month in Sri Lanka on our Facebook and Instagram pages, this post only contains a few. Bad internet  and travelling hard this month have limited my posts, but I’ll catch up once we get back to Romania.

Getting to Anuradhapura from Kandy

Receiving a blessing at the sacred Bo Tree, Anuradhapura, Si Lanka
Our tuk tuk driver ushered us forwad to receive a blessing at the base of the Sacred Bodhi Tree. Anuradhapura ancient city, Sri Lanka.

Getting to Anuradhapura from Kandy is something of a labour of love, you really have to want to go to take the local bus for around 4 hours.

Anuradhapura isn’t just about the Bo tree, there is a whole UNESCO listed ancient city to explore and most tourists will get there by air con tourist van with private drivers or by organised tours. It’s a well-known tourist destination, but with low visitor density.

Buses to Anuradhapura depart regularly from Kandy’s main bus station. They pass through Dambulla on the way, so you could break your journey there and take in the ancient cave temples. Cost is minimal, a few pounds for our whole family.

Usually I enjoy a Sri Lankan bus ride, but this one was interminable. I don’t know if it was the broken seat, the lack of leg room or the man who kept shutting our window, but for once, I wasn’t loving buses. I really can’t stress enough how much we normally love travelling in Sri Lanka by bus and train, the people are possibly the nicest and most honest in the world, maybe it was just me having a bad day.

“In Sri Lanka, there grows to this day, a tree, the oldest historical tree in the world which we know certainly to have been planted as a cutting from the Bodhi tree in the year 245 B.C.”

– H.G. Wells

 

Arriving in Anuradhapura and the Scam

Leaf from the Sacred Bo Tree, Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka
Our sacred leaf from the Bo Tree. It’s coming home with us to keep forever. Visiting Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Tumbling from the bus, a sticky bad-smelling mess of adults, children and backpacks, we stood on the pavement grinning happily. This was the first time we’d been somewhere new in a while.

As usual, we hadn’t pre-booked a hotel, we trust in the local tuk tuk drivers to find us somewhere nice, it usually works out better for us.

A driver appeared within the usual half a second, smiling from his green 3 wheeler, and offered to show us a guest house. “Cheap fare, 100Rps”.

When they offer cheap fares there’s always a catch.

There’s a scam in Anuradhapura. Approved admission tickets to the whole site cost a lot, around £15, $30 US each for 1 day admission.

Tuk tuk drivers can get you to most of the places of interest, including the Bo tree, without buying a full admission ticket, the guest houses are in on this and offer low prices on accommodation, 4,500Rps  (£25) seemed standard (including air-con and breakfast) so that you will stay and then pay through the nose for a tuk tuk driver to take you on a tour the next day.

Our driver showed us 3 guest houses before we found one we were sort-of happy with. It wasn’t nice, but it would do.

The guest houses also make money through over-priced food. We ate at our guest house that night, it was good, but expensive, before hearing the hard sell on the next day’s tuk-tuk tour.

I’m polite, I listen and smile, I take in all the information, but if you try the hard sell on me I lose sympathy.

Sorry, I’m not playing that game.

 

Visiting Anuradhapura and the Sacred Bo Tree

Visiting Anurahadapura, ancient cities of Sri Lanka. The sacred Bo Tree of Buddha. Offerrings at the Temple

The next morning we set off to walk into town, I wasn’t happy to pay 6000 Rps (£30) for a tuk tuk tour. We were in half a mind to just skip the whole thing and move on.

Our driver from the day before spotted us walking down the street looking for caffeine (coffee is a problem here, but there is Diet Coke!). He had a nice smile and was incredibly persistent, eventually we agreed to go with him on a half-day tour (to the same places as the full-day 6000Rps tour) for 2000 RPS (£10 $14 US).

I’m glad we did because this guy was the business. That nice smile never left his face as he showed us the sites and shepherded us through temples and ruins. He joked with the kids, protected us from a herd of water buffalo and helped us skirt a very large snake (all pictures on our Facebook page).

He didn’t just drop us at the main sites, he came with us, made sure we got a blessing at the sacred tree and didn’t miss a thing. His English wasn’t the best, but he filled in a few gaps in our knowledge.

We paid just 50Rps in addition to his fee, that was for somebody to guard our shoes at the Bo tree site, there were no other admission charges.

We made this pin for you to bookmark to Pinterest, thanks!

Visiting Anuradhapura and the Ancient Bo Tree, Quote by HG Wells.

Admission Fees and Tickets at Anuradhapura

Offering flowers at Anuradhapura
Mountains of flowers, sweet smelling jasmine, lotus and marigolds, tumble over the alters at the base of the sacred tree. Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Admission charges at Anuradhapura are high, this is something you see all over Sri Lanka, it’s disappointing, but these sites do take a large amount of man-power and upkeep (so they say).

The ticket allows you access to the full site for 1 day. I’ve read that 1 day isn’t enough to see everything and our experience would suggest this is fair.

After half a day we’d seen around 8 sites and we’d had enough, we were ready to stop and get out of the heat.

Anuradhapura tickets cost over 3000 Rps each. Children are, sometimes, half price.

You will also have to pay for a tuk tuk driver or, tour the site by bicycle.

The ticket is for entrance to the roads around the site, there are frequent road blocks and ticket checks. At least 2 of the sites have additional 200Rps entrance charges.

Our driver just drove straight through a couple of road blocks but bikes ridden by westerners were turned around.

Interestingly, Chef ran around the site later in the day and nobody tried to stop him, so maybe you could get around some of the complex on foot.

The sacred tree, its associated temples, the palace ruins, the alms hall and the huge, white stupa surrounded by 100 elephants are all basically one site, they’re easy to walk around.

Is it Worth Going to Anuradhapura?

 Getting to Anuradhapura and the Ancient Bo Tree
Monks dress the tree that has existed here in Sri Lanka for 2000 years.

Absolutely yes!

We were surprised how much we enjoyed it after so much negativity in the travel blogs we’d read.

So far, this tour has been the highlight of our time in Sri Lanka, possibly because it was a completely new destination for us.

Anuradhapura town is nothing to write home about, just a busy little street, a couple of bus and train stations and small guest houses sprawling off into the countryside. We didn’t like the hard sell very much, it spoils the experience of visiting Anuradhapurna slightly, it’s disappointingly un-Sri Lanka.

There are places to buy food on the main street, there is even a Pizza Hut, but no touristy restaurant/bars as you see in the beach towns.

We’re surprised that Anuradhapura isn’t more of a backpacker trail must-do, for us it was up there with Hampi or Angkor Wat. We’ll post further about some of the amazing places to visit in Anuradhapura just as soon as we can, we have much more to share.

If you'd like to hire a car during your stay, use this car rental comparison tool to find the best deal!

We also suggest you take a look at this company to get a quote for all kinds of the more tricky adventure or extended travel insurance.

Try Stayz / VRBO for an alternative way to find rentals on homes/apartments/condos in any country!

Emma

Monday 16th of September 2019

Hello, I think you have a wonderful blog. However, should you really be offering ways to avoid paying ticket costs for a prime tourist sight? Tickets pay for the sight's upkeep and even though they may be expensive, surely it is your responsibility to still advise visitors to do things the proper way? I feel this sort of info is more a TripAdvisor type tip than one from a respected travel blog.

Alyson Long

Tuesday 17th of September 2019

My feeling Emma is that admission prices in Sri Lanka are some of the highest in the world and are a total rip off. We've been to Sri Lanka many times and have seen just about everything there is to see now, other than the parts of this site where you had to pay the extortionate fee. There is nothing dubious about avoiding this fee, there are simply parts you have to pay for and parts you don't. We've sometimes gone to Sri Lanka and not visited any of these sites, instead just passed our time hanging out, because admission prices are so huge and - variable.

Marry Anderson

Monday 17th of June 2019

I love the information I get from this post. Very useful and can be very helpful.

Nomadi

Friday 15th of February 2019

I'm sorry, I am a little confused by what you mean by a scam - are you saying that the high admission fee of the sites is a scam? Or is the scam the fact that the tuk tuk drivers take tourists in without paying the admission fee, but the tourists have to pay a lot for the tuk tuk tour in any case? I could not quite catch if you were recommending to take the tuk tuk without paying the admission or not, sorry - just wanted to clarify that :) Thank you for the information though, as I am planning my upcoming trip to Sri Lanka!

Alyson Long

Saturday 16th of February 2019

The whole cheap tuk tuk / cheap room / expensive food / expensive tour package really. It's common, you see it all over the world.

Beverly

Wednesday 26th of September 2018

How do we find a reliable Tuk tuk driver for a day trip from Kandy to Anuradhapura? It seems impossible to get a decent price and an honest guide. Is it just hit and miss? We have only 2 1/2 days to tour the cultural triangle. Thanks Beverly

Alyson Long

Wednesday 26th of September 2018

That's a big drive in a tuk tuk. Just find a guy on the street that you like and who will meet you on price.I doubt the Kandy tuk tuk guys will be able to do what the local tuk tuk guy did for us above. Anuradhapura alone was a very big day.

Wiji

Saturday 12th of May 2018

Anuradapura is a great city but last decade srilankan economy seek money due to various attitudes. If you can gomwith a local friend it is much easy. Avoid some guides who will suck you dry. Be brave police is good and people are good. Enjoy!

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please check and double-check all the information we give you locally as times, places, dates, and services do, as we found, change often. Restrictions and closures may apply.