Dambulla Cave Temple

From the Golden Temple car park the line follows service lanes south to the Golden Temple (රංගිරි දඹුලු විහාරය on OpenStreetMap) and takes the footway that climbs west round the foot of the rock, then a short flight of steps and a last stretch of footway to the Dambulla Cave Temple, 0.8 km from the start. UNESCO calls the Rangiri Dambulla Cave Temple a sacred pilgrimage site of 22 centuries, a cave monastery of five sanctuaries and the largest, best-preserved cave-temple complex in Sri Lanka, with 157 statues and mural paintings covering 2,100 square metres. The way down is the way up.

It is 1.6 km there and back with 77 m of ascent by the router's heights, from 178 m at the car park to 266 m at the caves; allow about an hour, longer for time inside the shrines. The grade is Easy: three quarters of the line is on footways and steps, and the rest on service lanes at the car park end. OpenStreetMap maps only 36 m of it as steps, so the climb is mostly a steep footway.

The caves are a living Buddhist site, in daily use for ritual according to UNESCO. The FCDO advises covering legs and shoulders and taking off shoes and hats in a Buddhist temple, and not posing for photographs in front of a statue of Buddha. It also warns of heavy rain, flooding and landslides across Sri Lanka.

UNESCO says the property belongs to the Asgiriya Chapter of Buddhist monks and that part of the gate collection from foreign tourists is used by the monks; no page we read gives the charge for the cave temple. The Central Cultural Fund's tickets page lists the Dambulla Cave Temple among its UNESCO sites, open 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and its price list of 10 October 2026 gives only a Dambulla (Museum) ticket, at 3.00 US dollars full and 1.50 half, so ask at the ticket office for the cave temple. OpenStreetMap maps the named Golden Temple Car Park 170 m north of the Golden Temple, with no fee tag.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.