"This new sixth edition of Bradt's Sri Lanka is the longest and most comprehensive guide available to this alluring island nation. Freshly researched and completely rewritten by Philip Briggs, one of the world's most successful and experienced guidebook writers, it offers detailed coverage of all major and many minor towns, beach resorts and archaeological and historic sites, some of which are not covered in any other international guidebook. It is also particularly strong on national parks. Thorough background information ranges from comprehensive coverage of natural history and birding to detailed sections on history and religion. Hotel and restaurant listings have been compiled from scratch, rather than updated from historical information; in many towns the author inspected a shortlist of 40-50 hotels and guesthouses in order to choose the 10-20 to include in his recommendations. This new edition also includes around 70 new maps and site plans, including maps of national parks and their surrounds, plus detailed town plans and plans of major or more sprawling archaeological sites." --Publisher's description.