Coconut Cultural Park

Just behind the resorts, this attraction is dedicated to the coconut, surely the world's most remarkable plant, and inexorably linked with Sri Lanka (its cultivation is mentioned in the Mahavamsa). You can wander under coconut groves and learn about the coconut palm's many uses – timber for housing and shelter, coir rugs and rope, cooking oil and toddy. The coconut ice cream is a treat. And it's not just coconuts: other useful plants such as the papaya get their due, too.