Kalutara is something of a southern Sri Lankan port town come good; a place that’s undergone many a change and facelift since it was first bulwarked by the British and Dutch and Portuguese in the colonial years. Today, this town knows how to make the most of its fortuitous position on the gorgeous, sun-splashed south-western coastline of the island, and many visitors head in solely for the sands that line the way north and south out of town, from the spit of Kalapuwa to the palm-shaded hotels of Waskaduwa. But the rollers of the Indian Ocean aside, Kalutara tour guides also point out the unmissable dome of the Kalutara Bodhiya, which marks the placing of a holy sapling thought to be from the Mahabodhi Tree of Bodh Gaya, where Lord Buddha attained Nirvana. Then there are the famous Fa Hien Caves, found nestled between the jungle boughs and roaring waterfalls of the Kalutara district, and home to some of the most startling archaeological finds in the country.