Spend a night (or day) hiking to the soaring summit of Adam’s Peak

 What: There are fewer places in the world more famous for their history of ancient pilgrimages than the Hill Country’s 7,359-feet-high Adam’s Peak (or Sri Pada as it’s known locally). Most who are desperate to climb this iconic, conical, and most sacred of landmarks visit during pilgrimage season (beginning on poya day in December and running until the Vesak festival in May), but it’s still possible to climb the 6,000 crumbling stone steps outside of these months. The quickest way to the summit takes around four hours (less if you’re super-fit) and tends to mostly be tackled after midnight to ensure reaching the peak in time for sunrise. Along the way, you can expect to encounter an interesting mix of folk: pilgrims, tourists, chanting devotees, and spiritual souls looking for inner peace. There’s also a decent amount of wildlife here, most famously a very large amount of butterflies that flock there to die in a rather mysterious migration pattern that has given the mountain yet another nickname of Samanalakande (meaning Butterfly Mountain).

Don’t miss: The mountain’s star attraction is Sacred Footprint - the mysterious footprint-shaped indentation near the summit that measures 1.8-metres-long. Uniquely, it’s a symbol revered by different religions, all with contrasting verdicts on its origin. Buddhists believe the footprint is that of Buddha himself, Hindus think it belongs to Shiva, and Christians and Muslims claim it as the footprint of Adam - the man who first set foot on earth after being cast out of heaven.

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