Galle Fort with a private driver

Galle Fort is a 36-hectare walled colonial city on a rocky promontory at the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Portuguese built the first fortifications in 1589; the Dutch captured and massively expanded the fort from 1640, constructing the characteristic triangular ramparts, grid street plan, Dutch Reformed Church, VOC warehouses and officers' houses that still define the interior. The British took the fort in 1796 and added their own administrative layer. Today the fort is a living town — about 400 families live within the walls — whose narrow streets hold boutique hotels in Dutch mansions, galleries, jewellers, bookshops and some of the best restaurants on the south coast. The circuit walk along the ramparts, with the Indian Ocean breaking on three sides and the lighthouse at the seaward corner, takes about 45 minutes and is best timed for the late afternoon when the stone turns orange in the light.