Trincomalee is the east coast beach and whale base, and it is at its best from May to September, exactly when the south is wet. Give it three days: one for Koneswaram and Fort Frederick above the harbour, one for the reef at Pigeon Island off Nilaveli, one for a dawn whale boat. Stay at Uppuveli if you want to walk to dinner, Nilaveli if you do not.
Trincomalee runs on a season the rest of Sri Lanka does not. While the southwest monsoon closes Galle and Mirissa, the east coast dries out, the sea flattens and the whales arrive. Around that sit a Shiva temple on a cliff, a Portuguese fort the army still occupies, and one of the great natural harbours.
A Shiva kovil painted in blocks of red and gold, standing on the rock above the harbour mouth. The Portuguese pushed the original into the sea in 1622; pieces of it were recovered by divers in the 1950s and returned to the shrine. It is one of the five great Shiva sites on the island and it is busy from first light.
Two granite islands a short boat ride off Nilaveli, ringed by the healthiest hard coral in Sri Lanka. Snorkellers see blacktip reef sharks in the shallows and turtles over the reef flat, in three to fifteen metres of water. Take one of the first boats: by mid-morning the reef flat is crowded.
The wide, quiet half of the coast: white sand behind a screen of casuarina, and the launch point for Pigeon Island. The sea is flat from May to September and unswimmable under the northeast monsoon. Currents build in the afternoon even when the surface looks calm, so swim in the morning.
The Portuguese finished it in 1624 with stone from the temple they had just destroyed. The Dutch dismantled and rebuilt it in 1665 and gave it the name; the British took it in 1795 and garrisoned it until independence. The army still holds it, spotted deer graze the lawns, and the road through climbs to Koneswaram.
Blue whales and sperm whale pods sit six to eight nautical miles offshore, about half an hour out, and sperm whales are seen more reliably here than anywhere else in Sri Lanka. Spinner dolphins come in numbers. The season runs May to October; outside it the sea is too rough and the boats stop.
The near strip, and the one to pick if you would rather walk to dinner than drive. Guesthouses, dive shops and beach kitchens sit in a row behind the sand, and the whale boats and Pigeon Island transfers pick up here. Narrower than Nilaveli, and busier at sunset.
A sheltered cove inside the air force land at China Bay, run by the Sri Lanka Air Force and the clearest water on this coast. The bay stays calm when the open beaches are churning, which makes it the safe swim of the three. Signposted off the airport road.
Seven square wells of warm mineral water inside a walled courtyard, each a slightly different temperature, drawn with a bucket rather than bathed in. It has been a pilgrimage stop for centuries and it is a twenty-minute visit, not a spa afternoon. Pair it with the war cemetery on the way back.
Over 600 Commonwealth graves from the years when this harbour was the Eastern Fleet's base and Japanese carrier aircraft raided it on 9 April 1942. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission keeps the lawns and the headstone rows immaculate. Late afternoon light runs straight down them.
The Kali kovil at the edge of the town centre, its gopuram stacked with painted figures and its interior far busier than the postcard temple on the rock. Drums start in the evening and the shrine fills with people who live here. This is the working counterpart to Koneswaram.
Tamil vegetarian by the Kali kovil, and a locals' room at lunch.
The Tamil harvest festival. Rice boiled over in the courtyard, kolam drawn at the door.
The night vigil for Shiva. Koneswaram stays open late and fills with pilgrims.
Koneswaram's 22-day chariot festival, ending around the Tamil New Year.
The island stops for two days in mid-April. Buses fill and room rates rise.
The Buddhist full moon. Lanterns, free food stalls, and no alcohol sold.
The June full moon marking Buddhism's arrival on the island. A national holiday.
The end of Ramadan matters here: Trincomalee District is about 40 percent Muslim.
The Tamil festival of lights, and the kovils are where to see it.
The city's own airstrip, 7 km southwest and shared with an air force base. Cinnamon Air runs the domestic hop from Colombo. No international flights.
The country's international gateway, about 250 km southwest. Roughly six hours by car through Habarana, and the usual way in for a first trip.
The town has its own terminus on a branch off the northern line. Through trains from Colombo Fort take about six and a half hours, twice a day.
Sri Lankan Muslim biryani: ghee rice baked down with mutton or chicken.
Lagoon crab in a dark, roasted Jaffna-style gravy. Order pittu with it.
Cuttlefish cut into rings and simmered in roasted curry powder.
Godamba roti chopped on a hot plate with egg, vegetables and gravy.
Bowl-shaped rice-flour pancakes, crisp at the rim, an egg in the middle.
Steamed rice noodles under a thin coconut and turmeric gravy.
Lentil fritters with a whole prawn pressed on top, sold on the sand.
Jaggery and coconut custard set with cardamom, the Moor community's dessert.
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