Galle

The Portuguese fortified the headland in the sixteenth century; the Dutch took it and rebuilt it properly in 1663, and it is their walls, street grid and warehouses that survive. The British added the lighthouse and left the rest largely alone. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, unusually for a monument of its kind, a working neighbourhood — people live inside the walls, children walk to school there.

The fort survived the 2004 tsunami almost intact while the town outside it was devastated. The Dutch ramparts held.

The single best thing to do is walk the ramparts, ideally in the last hour before sunset when the heat drops and the whole town comes out to do the same. The circuit takes an hour at a stroll and takes in the lighthouse, the old bastions and a long view back over the cricket ground.

Inside the walls, the grid of streets holds the Dutch Reformed Church with its gravestones set into the floor, the old Dutch Hospital now given over to restaurants, and a dense run of jewellers, booksellers and boutiques in converted merchants' houses. It is small enough that getting lost is a pleasure rather than a problem.

The coast either side is what most people pair with Galle. Unawatuna and Jungle Beach are a short drive east for swimming; Hikkaduwa is north, with reef and a turtle hatchery. Inland, the Madu River estuary is a couple of hours of mangrove islands and birdlife by boat.