Adam's Peak

Why Visit

One of the island's most striking natural landmarks, with a pre-dawn climb rewarded by a sunrise that casts the mountain's own shadow across the hills below.

A conical peak sacred to four religions, climbed overnight by pilgrims and travellers alike to reach the summit shrine before sunrise.

History

Adam's Peak has drawn pilgrims for well over a thousand years and is sacred across several faiths: Buddhists revere the rock formation at the summit as the Buddha's footprint (Sri Pada), Hindus associate it with Shiva, and in Muslim and some Christian traditions it is linked to Adam, said to have first set foot on Earth here after being cast out of paradise. Its fame reached well beyond the island in the medieval period — the Venetian traveller Marco Polo wrote of it in the 13th century, and the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta climbed it in the 14th century using chains bolted into the rock that pilgrims still use today, both recording local accounts of its sacred footprint. Several pilgrimage routes lead to the summit, the longer and more traditional one starting from Ratnapura and a shorter, now more popular route from Hatton, both lined for centuries with rest stations for pilgrims making the climb. The pilgrimage season traditionally runs from the December poya (full moon) to the Vesak festival in May, and the string of lights marking the route after dark reflects continuous religious use going back centuries rather than a modern tourist addition.