29+ Sri Lanka travel photos that will make your heart skip a beat

The seed of my desire to visit Sri Lanka was planted in 2010 when then-relevant singer M.I.A. tweeted her displeasure with The New York Times including the island on its annual list of places to visit. Two years later, I was about to embark on my first trip to Sri Lanka when my ophidiophobic ex-boyfriend learned about the snakes that apparently live in Sri Lanka and forced me to cancel at the last minute.

I finally visited Sri Lanka last summer, and I’m happy to report that I saw none of the carnage M.I.A. warned about in her tweet, nor did I see a single snake slithering across the ground.

What I did discover in Sri Lanka was an enchanting, diverse array of landscapes that belied the island’s small size, a plethora of untouched cultural wonders, and pacifying hospitality that proved the perfect counterweight to the stress that the country’s lack of infrastructure frequently caused me.

Today’s post, which includes photos of Sri Lanka ranging from its modern capital Colombo to its 2,500-year-old capital Anuradhapura, from its idyllic beaches to its towering tea plantations, from ancient Buddhist relics to the timeless beauty of elephants roaming its backwaters, will ensure you don’t wait as long as I did to visit this magical island.