Mihintale is an isolated mountain top that wears on its head several Buddhist buildings and statues hidden in the lushly forests around. The Buddhist monks community there is still active and performs a few specific ceremonies several times a day. Mihintale mountain it’s a quiet and charming hermits stronghold.
Quick info
Location: 20km East of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
Entrance fee: 500 LKR (~2.5$).
Clothing restrictions: clothes that cover your knees and shoulders. You might be asked to remove you shoes before entering in holy areas.
Taking pictures: allowed for free.
Climbing facilities: rock stairs.
Photo gallery
What's there?
Mihintale is believed to be the place where Buddha’s teachings were preached for the first time and initiate the presence of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. This presumed event gave Mihintale a holy importance and as a result, over the centuries, many Buddhist monks chose to live, pray and build temples and statues there. Some of the old buildings survived until today (at least in form of ruins) and others leaved room for new ones.
Holy places are frequently visited by pilgrims and Mihintale is not an exception. But they are far from being disturbing, either by their number or behavior. They are polite and always smiling when you look at them. Who knows, maybe it’s their belief or the awesome scenery around but they have something like a heavenly mood. I call it simply- the Mihintale mood.
What we can see?
Even if you are a religious person or not, the first thing that impresses you when you start climbing Mihintale is the scenery. To get on the top you need to climb a few hundred rock stairs through a green a wild forest hallway.
At the end of the stair you’ll find a small plateau covered with red earth where the main and biggest building resides protected by huge rocks. Climbing on them might feel a bit difficult but the view you’ll get it’s worth all the effort.
No visit to Mihintale can be completed without attending to one of their Buddhist ceremonies. Even if you will not understand what they are singing you can admire their colorful traditional outfits, listen to their drums and funny little trumpets. If you like to watch people doing things in which they truly believe, you’ll like it.
Mihintale usually is underestimated by tourists maybe because is not a very big place as the main Sri Lanka attractions. But I highly recommend it, especially because I heard nobody getting there and having any regrets.
Best time to visit
Temperatures in Mihintale are rising each day above 30°C so the best way to avoid them is to go there during morning or evening.
If you can choose, be there 1 hour before sunset. In this way you’ll be able to catch the sunset scenery and the evening Buddhist ceremony (don’t worry about where the ceremony takes place, just follow the drum noise and you’ll find it). Soon after sunset the temple lights will be turned on and you’ll get another great scenery, especially if you enjoy it from the surrounding rocks.
How to get there?
Mihintale complex is easily from accesible from Anuradhapura:
– by bus. It takes ~20min and ~ 30LKR (0.2$) per way. Once you reached Mihintale town you can reach Mohintale complex by following the specific signs or your smartphone maps app (click here for the exact Gmaps location);
– by tuk-tuk. It takes ~1000LKR (5.5$) there and back;
– by taxi. It takes ~1500LKR (8.3$) there and back.
Usefull advices
In preparation for visiting Mihntale complex remember to:
– be reasonably rested. You’ll have to climb almost 2000 steps;
– bring something like 1 litter of bottled water;
– bring a small flashlight with you in case you plan to wait for the after sunset scenery;
– make sure to have on smartphone an offline map app with the right maps already loaded.
Sometimes, during the climbing, some people calling themselves “guides” might insist on you to hire them. The general opinion is that you will not need them so you better keep your money for something else
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