Sri Lanka's south serves the best-value feast in the Indian Ocean: rice and curry spreads with a dozen dishes, hoppers crisped at street stalls after dark, and crab curries in Galle Fort that justify the flight alone. Kottu roti — chopped flatbread clattering on a griddle — is the national soundtrack. Order rice and curry at lunchtime, when it's freshest, and visit December to March for dry-season weather.
Featured in Ten tropical escapes where the food is half the point · Tropical