Trincomalee on the East Coast of the island of Sri Lanka boasts the finest deep water natural harbour in Asia

Attracting great sea farers like Marco Polo Trinco has been a trading port for over 2500 years. After the Portuguese invaded, Trincomalee was next held by the Dutch and the French alternately, till the capture of Ceylon by the British in 1795.During WWII Trinco was the base of the British fleet and the HQ of the Allied Southeast Asia commander.

The Sri Lanka Airforce Helitour Service operates twice weekly flights to Trinco from Ratmalana Airport in the Southern suburbs of Colombo. Flights depart at 08.00 Mondays and Fridays and return from Trinco at 14.00. Costing $200 return, this saves a long road journey from the West Coast to the East. The third route is by the overnight Sri Lanka Railways train from Colombo Fort.

Trinco and the East Coast boast some of the best beaches in the island of Sri Lanka at Nilaveli beach (with the natural bird sanctuary of Pigeon island offshore) where you can wade knee deep into the sea for hundreds of metres and at Uppuveli north of the city. The Nilaveli Beach Hotel, damaged in the Tsunami of 2004, has been reconstructed. The Keells owned Club Oceanic which we last visited in 2003 is currently being renovated.

Near the town of Trinco is Fort Frederick and higher up the volcanic Swami Rock is the Koneswaram temple. Inscriptions found in Trinco area speak of Indian Chola kings making contributions to the upkeep of the this major religious shrine indicating an origin over 2500 years ago.

After 1505 A.D, the temple was destroyed by Portuguese colonialists (along with countless Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim places of worship around the island. The Portuguese fortified the heights with the materials derived from its destruction. The huge building block ruins of the destroyed temples, throw over the cliff by the Portuguese, can be see just under the water surface. The site is often visited by scuba divers

Fascinating to see is Lovers Leap , a sheer drop down to the sea from the face of Swami Rock at the temple.

The hill face up Swamee rock is rugged. As Trinco is full of seismic and volcanic activity as seen in Kanniya Hot Springs area, this rugged face of rock is a reminder of the movement of Earth's crust in this area. There are many other ancient ruins in the Trincomalee area including a 1000 year old Buddhist Vihara.