Hambantota

Sri Lanka

Hambantota is a port town on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. Once a small salt-producing town, it became a major new deep-water port in the 2010s. Visitors use it as a gateway to Yala National Park — home to the world's densest leopard population — the Udawalawe elephant herds, the sacred city of Kataragama, Bundala's flamingo lagoons, and the beaches and blowholes of the southern coast.