Kitulgala with a private driver

Kitulgala sits in a cleft of dense wet-zone rainforest at around 450 metres altitude, where the broad Kelani Ganga rushes through a series of rapids that provide some of the most accessible white-water rafting in South Asia. The Grade 3 and 4 rapids attract groups from Colombo on weekends, but the area's deeper appeal is ecological: Kitulgala is within the Sinharaja-adjacent wet-zone forest belt and holds a remarkable bird list that includes six of Sri Lanka's endemics, easily seen from the forest trails that start near the bridge — Sri Lanka junglefowl, serendib scops owl, brown-capped babbler and green-billed coucal among them. The film location where David Lean shot 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' in 1957 is in these same forest gorges and is marked by a small memorial. Kitulgala is a natural overnight stop between Colombo and Nuwara Eliya for travellers who want to break the hill-country ascent with something active.