Jaffna

Jaffna is the name of both a city and a peninsula. The city of Jaffna is the capital of Sri Lanka‘s Northern Province and of its northernmost district, which is also callled Jaffna. Jaffna District covers most of the Peninsula and the nearby islands to the west, many of which are connected with Jaffna city by causeways. In a way, the entire Jaffna peninsula is an island, as there is no natural land connection to Sri Lanka mainland. The Elephant Pass causeway is man-made.

After the end of the civil war, Jaffna city has developed into a new travel destination. The main attractions of Jaffna are the amphibic landscape of the peninsula and islands and the Tamil culture, which differ from both, mainland Sri Lanka and mainland Tamil Nadu (South India. For travelers there are two places of interest in Jaffna city that deserve to be called must-sees, viz. the Dutch Fort in the town center and the Kandaswamy Kovil, the largest Hindu temple of Sri Lanka, which is situated in the northwestern suburb of Nallur. Actually, what is called Nallur is the historical town of Jaffna, which was the capital of an almost independent Tamil kingdom in the late Middle Ages and early modern period. Till today, Nallur is a kind of spiritual centre of the Hindu community.

On our website, you can find detailed descriptions of Jaffna city and the temple town Nallur and Jaffna Peninsula and their attractions.