Yapahuwa Rock Fortress

A 90-metre rock that served briefly as capital in the 13th century, and which holds the single most beautiful staircase in Sri Lanka — a steep ceremonial flight flanked by lions, dancers and musicians carved in a style that owes as much to Cambodia as to India. The Tooth Relic was kept at the top. It is a smaller, emptier, arguably more elegant Sigiriya, and it costs a quarter as much.