Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka delivers extraordinary variety in a country you can drive across. Surf coast in the south, tea hills in the centre, ruined cities in the cultural triangle, and wildlife (elephants, leopards) in the national parks. The food is underrated — best curries on the subcontinent for many.

Most trips run a loop: Colombo arrival, north to Sigiriya and the cultural triangle, then Kandy and the slow train through tea country to Ella, finishing on the south coast at Mirissa or Hiriketiya. The train is the point, not the transport. Days are cheap — rice-and-curry lunches, tuk-tuk hops, family guesthouses — with the money going on safari jeeps and the boutique hotels that have multiplied along the coast.

The catch is pace. Roads are slow, and a distance that looks like two hours on the map takes four. Two monsoons mean the east and west coasts peak at opposite times of year, so check the season before you book a beach. Yala's leopards come with a conga line of jeeps, and tuk-tuk drivers quote tourist prices by default. If you need things to run on schedule, go elsewhere. For variety per mile, almost nowhere matches it.