We were here May 21 - 26, 2024. We found on Airbnb a sprawling three bedroom country house on 4 hectares (1 acre) on the outskirts of Dambulla. We booked it for five nights. It was close to the famous Dambulla caves and also Sigiriya, the popular tourist spot big rock you can climb, with incredible views and remnants of an intriguing civilization from long ago. On our first trip to Sri Lanka in 2018 we visited both places. On this return trip, we skipped the rock, opting to climb the adjacent less-traveled rock, Pidurangala Royal Cave Temple, instead. But we definitely revisited the Dambulla caves. It’s a place we’d dreamt about since our first visit. It’s that kind of place.

The first carousel of pics below are from the Old Coach House. What fun that was because we invited a young German couple we met in Colombo to join us to visit the caves, have a traditional meal prepared by our certified tour guide (the youngest in the country!) and spend the night in our extra bedroom. That’s what you do when you have a country house, right? We had the good fortune to be there exactly at the two-day annual celebration of the birth of Buddha, adding to the festivity! The country dogs on the lane stopped by frequently and consumed all the crackers we had along with a some leftover rice and chicken. Bless their hearts.

The second carousel of pics are from the Dambulla Cave Temples and Pidurangala Royal Cave Temple. Both are sacred places and we felt deeply grateful to be back and bask in the history and beauty.