Kataragama Travel Guide

This restaurant was downstairs in the Bank of Ceylon hotel, they offered a set menu of local food at a very reasonable price, and I think that we had to tell them a few hours in advance that we wanted to eat that night. We ate around 9pm when we came back from the puja, this is quite usual, as most visitors are here to attend the puja.


Favorite Dish:
The food was really fabulous. It was a set menu of a typical Sri Lankan meal, rice, curry, vegetables and bread.
The food was delicious, hot and served with a smile!

If you are heading north towards the Hill Country the road which runs from Kataragama to Buttala is shorter than the A2 (to Wellawaya via Tissa) but is quite heavy just now due to the security situation around Yala and your driver may want to go the long way round (see warnings and dangers tips).

The bush is cut back on either side of the road to prevent vehicles being ambushed, we went this way to give a lift to a solider friend who was going back on duty and had no problems. People are friendly and buses still run but I wouldn’t recommend it at night.

Numerous army posts (and the occasional elephant) are spread right along the route either side of the road, the endless check points were a bit of a nuisance but the road is in good condition and we made good time.

In early 2009 Kataragama is in an area whick the UK Foreign Office regards as a problem so why not check with your insurer – mine told me I was still insured here (but not against terrorist action). I regard it as at least as safe as anywhere else and there is much less hassle than at more tourist-orientated places.

Kataragama is important to both Hindus and Buddhist (there’s also Mosque in the complex) and my Sinhalese friends suggest that because of this the LTTE is unlikely to target Kataragama (and because they would probably kill as many Tamil people as Sinhalese).