Where to stay in Yala

The main gateway town for Yala, set around an ancient reservoir some fifteen to twenty kilometres from the park's Block 1 entrance, with the widest range of guesthouses, hotels and safari operators and the best value in the area. It's the practical, sociable base for early-morning game drives, close to the birdlife of Tissa Wewa and the ancient dagobas, though it's a working town rather than a wilderness, and you'll drive out to the park gate before dawn.

Ranged along the scrub and coast on the park's edge, Yala's tented camps and lodges offer glamping to genuine luxury, canvas suites, plunge pools and full-board dining, with guided game drives and the sounds of the bush at night. The choice for an immersive, all-inclusive safari where the wilderness starts at your door, at a price to match, though they are remote and isolated, so you're reliant on the camp for meals and drives.

The small fishing hamlet on the coast south of Tissa, where a rocky headland crowned by a temple looks out over a wild, windswept beach and, offshore, the Great Basses reef. A peaceful, scenic base for combining a Yala safari with sea air and sunsets, with a scatter of eco-lodges and villas, though the ocean here has strong currents and is often not for swimming, and services are limited, so you'll drive for the park and most meals.

One of Sri Lanka's most important pilgrimage towns, sacred to Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alike, set inland north-east of Tissa near Yala's quieter Block 5 entrance. Its evening pujas at the temple complex give a very different, deeply local atmosphere, and simple guesthouses make it a budget-friendly base, though it's further from the main Block 1 safaris and geared to pilgrims rather than tourists, so choice and dining are limited.