One of Sri Lanka’s great undersold destinations – a city of sweeping natural harbours and remarkable east coast beaches that sits at the centre of some of the finest snorkelling, diving, and whale-watching territory in the Indian Ocean. Nilaveli and Uppuveli, just north of the city, are wide, white-sand beaches of the kind that genuinely surprise travellers who arrive expecting second-rate alternatives to the more famous southern spots. The ancient Koneswaram Temple on Swami Rock – a cliffside Hindu shrine with views across Trincomalee’s extraordinary bay – is one of Sri Lanka’s most dramatically positioned cultural sites. Best between May and September.