Habarana - The Gateway to Central Sri Lanka’s Biggest Attractions
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Habarana in Sri Lanka’s central region is a popular rest stop or overnight stay for tourists for visiting the nation parks, ancient cities and the ruins of Sigiriya rock. But what is there other than the hotels and resorts? How do you get to this convenient little town, what is there to eat there? We spent a few days getting to know Habarana and finding out its many hidden charms!
Getting to Habarana
After finally tearing ourselves away from Uppuveli’s beach (and Fernando’s Bar) we jumped on a bus from Trincomalee bus station to Habarana junction.
Say what you like, you can never accuse Sri Lanka’s buses of being boring. On this journey, we had the honour of inducting two other travellers to the delights of bus riding in this country. Hopping onto one of the brightly painted blue buses, we settled in for our short two and a bit hour journey. Our two companions were worried as our bags were stored at the front (next to the driver) but their bags had been removed. This is very common, and we reassured them that their bags were still on the bus, albeit probably next to the engine! The bus was, roughly speaking, about nine million degrees centigrade as it had been sitting for hours at Trincomalee bus stop soaking in the morning sun. The large public and private buses have no air conditioning, the temperature control is done exclusively by having all their windows and doors open. This is not a problem when the bus is moving, indeed it's actually nicer than the more expensive air conditioned buses. However, when stationary, waiting in the baking sun, the bus becomes a giant oven. Marinating in our own sweat we eventually set off. As the engine roared to life, so did the entertainment for our journey. I turned to our friends and said: “I didn’t mention the music did I?” Sri Lankan buses blast loud music for the entire duration of the journey, this combined with the disco balls, multi-coloured flashing lights and smoking incense have truly earned them the term party buses! This all came as a little bit of a shock to our new travel friends.
After our loud, bumpy, and very fast bus journey we arrived into Habarana. A quick exit from the bus and a farewell to our travel companions, we hoisted up our backpacks and set off to check into our accommodation.
Getting to Habarana by bus
Habarana is accessible from by bus from all major towns and cities in Sri Lanka. Just ask at the bus station and you will be pointed in the right direction. The bus will drop you off at the crossroads in the centre of Habarana.
Getting to Habarana by train
Habarana has a small train station that sits on the Colombo to Trincomalee and the Maho to Batticaloa lines There are not many trains per day and they frequently arrive very late in the night / early in the morning. Check out the schedule here.
There is also another station nearby - Gal Oya which is half an hours drive away but increases the number of trains available to you.
Booking transport to Habarana online
You can book trains and private taxi’s online in advance via 12GO here. Buses cannot be booked online in advance, just go to the bus station and jump on one!
Hotels, hostels and accommodation in Habarana
Habarana is conveniently located near all of Sri Lanka’s Central regions most popular attractions, as such it is well provided for in terms of places to stay. Whatever your budget, from basic backpacker to boujie boutique, Habarana will have somewhere for you to rest your head. If you are wanting to go out in town, just be aware that some of the accommodation is set quite a way out from the main town.
Dudley’s Nature Resort
After ten days in a lovely but very cheap and basic accommodation of Wanderers Hostel in Uppuveli, we decided to splash the cash a little, and treat ourselves to a nice room with a pool. Dudley’s Nature Resort is a short, fifteen minute walk from the main Habarana strip. Set in lush jungle, with flowering orchids, an abundance of birds and the occasional langur monkey, Dudley’s was a calm little oasis. We say we splashed the cash, but honestly the accommodation, regardless of bougieness level, was still so cheap at only £22 a night ($24.85) including breakfast.
The hotel gardens were beautiful, with winding paths, snaking past hammocks, seating areas and small ponds before opening out to the pool. The pool itself was lovely, not heated, but in the central Sri Lankan sunshine there was no need for it to be. The pool was a welcome respite after a day out in the sun. Down another path was our nicely secluded room. The room was large, with two double beds (one for us and one for our pampered bags), a decent bathroom and air conditioning. Breakfast was served in the garden in a reed thatched building open on all sides. Dudley himself is a retired chef, and the breakfasts served were incredible. Every morning we were treated to a different lavish feast; from the usual eggs and toast to string hoppers, roti, dahls and sugary Sri Lankan treats.
Dudleys was brilliant and after our frugal (but still lovely) beachside accommodation in Uppuveli, it felt like we were staying in the lap of luxury. To book a stay click here or to check out the other available accommodation have a look at the map below:
Habarana Town
Habarana is unkindly (but not entirely inaccurately) written off in tour guides as somewhere you stay, not somewhere you go. There are many, many resorts, guest houses and hotels, but not a lot of restaurants, bars or local attractions within the town itself. Habarana is well located and seems to be generally used as a base for expeditions to the surrounding area. You can get to the Lion’s Rock of Sigiriya, the cave temples of Dambulla or enjoy any number of safaris away from the town in the three nearby national parks. It did seem however, that most travellers stay in their resorts and do not venture out to the town much.
With the above being said, we did have a couple of nice meals out in the town. Here are some recommendations for places to eat:
Inspire Restaurant
Shortly after jumping off our bus from Trincomalee, we stopped in Inspire Restaurant en route to our guest house. Our rumbling tummies permitting no further exertion until after they were satisfied. We ordered two vegetable rice and curries and two large bottles of water. We were swiftly presented with our plates and ushered towards the curry buffet. As with so many of our rice and curry meals, it was spicy, rich and hearty. All this for the price of 1600 LKR (£3.89 or $4.40), plus second helpings were free!
Magic Kitchen
Recommended by our hotel owner, Magic Kitchen is one of the larger restaurants on the Habarana strip. This has the advantage of it having its own generator (essential as the power cuts were hitting at dinner time, and at this point in our trip could last up to two hours), but it also has the disadvantage of feeling very empty when it was just us dining. Despite this we ended up eating here twice. The first time we ordered devilled chicken and a chicken kottu. The chicken kottu was generously portioned, very filling and came out crowned with a fried egg. The devilled chicken was very much like a Sri Lankan sweet and sour chicken. We’re not sure where the “devil” was meant to be as it certainly wasn’t spicy, but the chicken was tender and tasty. The second time we visited, it was the anniversary of the opening of the restaurant and to celebrate we were treated to a massive buffet of nine clay pots of delicious curries. The curries on offer included vegetables (there was a great potato dish), fish and meat offerings as well as crispy poppadoms and steaming rice. The meal was finished off by a Sri Lankan take on a creme caramel; instead of sugar, it was doused in sweet coconut syrup. Of the limited dinner options available in Habarana, Magic is definitely a reliable choice!
Local Eats in Habarana:
Enticed off the street by a smiling elderly gentleman, we stepped into a darkened local restaurant (there is no Google listing for this one - it is on the street opposite Cargills supermarket). The elderly owner who seemed overjoyed at successfully bringing us in, immediately set about laying a table. Washing his finest crockery and even unboxing a new set of glasses he then served up some very delicious hoppers (both egg and plain) accompanied with a spicy chilli sambal.
My teeny tiny bouquet!
This place really won our hearts and we wish we had found it earlier in our Habarana trip as we would have definitely eaten here more than once. The people were so friendly and the food was absolutely not watered down in any attempt to accommodate “Western” tastes - in other words the sambal was deliciously spicy! Before leaving, the wife of the owner suddenly appeared with a tiny bouquet of flowers from her garden and proudly gave them to Ellie. This was all after we had paid the bill (the heady sum of 800 LKR / £1.97 / $2.18) and was such a lovely surprise!
Throughout all of our Sri Lankan adventures, the very best of our food discoveries have always been in the local restaurants. Don’t ever be put off by the darkened interior, the basic furniture or open kitchens, these are always the best places to eat. At the time of writing, in the nearly three months we’ve been in Sri Lanka, we have eaten at scores of these restaurants and (touch wood) have never had even the slightest hint of a dodgy belly.
Recommendations for snacking in Habarana
Opposite Magic restaurant is Prasanna Hotel. Popular with passing Sri Lankan tour groups, we popped in here to pick up some snacks. We brought samosas, egg rolls and vegetable roti’s. The owner checked that we were okay with them being very spicy, we of course said yes, although this may have been slightly over confident on our part. The egg rolls were delicious and at some point in the next hour we began to regain feelings other than fire in our mouths. Okay that was a slight exaggeration, but the food was delicious, very spicy and filled to the brim with potato and vegetable curry. Inexpensive and filling, this was a definite win.
In the evenings, there are several food carts that open up along the strip. Calling these carts may be a little misleading; imagine somebody built a shed that was exactly big enough for one man to stand up in, and you’ve got the idea. These stalls sold delicious crispy treats, usually variations on the theme of deep fried chick pea flower with chilli, salt and assorted vegetables. These were super cheap and really moreish! Surprisingly the dried deep fried chillies weren’t too spicy, but were smoky and crunchy. We could imagine these deep fried snacks would make excellent drinking food.
What to do around Habarana and Central Sri Lanka
As we have said, Habarana is perfectly positioned for seeing all of the highlights of Central Sri Lanka. From a base in Habarana you can:
Take a day trip to the stunning fortress of the Lions Rock at Sigiriya
Check out the incredible ancient paintings and Buddha’s of the Royal Cave Temples of Dambulla
Go on a safari at any of the 3 massive National Parks surrounding Habarana. We highly recommended Kaudulla National Park
Explore the vast ruins of the ancient capitals of Anuradhapura or Polonnaruwa.
There is so much to do in Sri Lanka’s Central Region. If you want a curated experience or just want to simplify things and have them booked in advance check out Get Your Guide for some tour Ideas:
Conclusion
Habarana is an excellent staging post for the surrounding attractions, we were using it to explore a nearby national park and a venture to the Ritigala Monastic ruins (see future blog posts to hear all about these day trips). It's unfair to write off the town itself, but there isn’t a huge amount to do once you return from your day's activities. Due to this it really was a godsend that we had such a nice place to retreat too in our accommodation.
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
A beautiful Buddhist temple on the route to our accommodation!
