The Northern Province is in Sri Lanka.

Cities

• 1 Jaffna — former beach resort and Tamil Tiger capital, gutted by decades of civil war
• 2 Mannar
• 3 Kilinochchi
• 4 Vavuniya
• 5 Mullaitivu

Understand

The Northern Province is Sri Lanka's Tamil country and, for several decades, was mostly under the control of the Tamil Tigers. The North's major cities are gutted, its beaches and jungles strewn with unexploded ordinance, and most of the population lives in squalid refugee camps.

Get in

There is daily train service from Colombo to Jaffna, including air-conditioned first class cars (although reserved seats in second class may be more enjoyable, with open windows and snack vendors). The journey north takes approximately eight hours.

Jaffna International Airport (JAF ^IATA)