Sri Lanka - Temples, Safari and Beach

Set off on your flight, departing from your chosen airport to Sri Lanka.

Today, you’ll arrive at the airport in Katunayake, meet your tour manager, and be transferred to Colombo, where you’ll check into your hotel, overlooking Beira Lake. You can spend the evening settling in and maybe having a drink in the lobby lounge before dinner.

Following breakfast, you’ll set off on a tour of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s largest city and commercial capital. The tour will travel into the heart of this diverse hub, passing by Buddhist and Hindu temples, interspersed with modern buildings. You’ll then return to your hotel, maybe opting to meander along the Galle Face green – an ocean-side urban park. Perhaps visit the Galle Face Hotel, with dramatic views of the Indian Ocean, for afternoon tea or a sundowner (payable locally).

The tour will then continue to Dambulla, which is home to the largest, best-preserved cave temple complex in the country. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, this expansive complex is also one of the most important Buddhist monasteries. The rock ceiling is coated with paintings, and the interior is lined with the highest number of Buddha statues found in one place. Your guide will lead you around the cave, which encompasses a monastery and five sanctuaries.

After your day of adventuring, you’ll travel to your next hotel, ringed by forested landscape, and embrace a relaxed evening and dinner.

After a leisurely breakfast, you’ll board the coach and travel to the town of Polonnaruwa, littered with ancient sites and archaeological monuments. Here, you’ll also see a sprawling man-made reservoir named Parakrama Samudra, which translates to ‘the sea of Parakrama’. Another striking point of interest is the towering rock temple, Gal Viharaya, featuring four Buddha statues that have been cut into the stone. The more energetic can choose to explore the area on bike – this can be arranged by your guide for an additional fee.

In the afternoon, you’ll travel to Sigiriya Rock Fortress and can choose to climb to the top if you’d like. This fortress, built into a rock boulder, towers above the jungle and dates to the fifth century. As you slowly ascend, you’ll learn about how this structure served as the royal citadel for over 18 years and pass by rock paintings lining the walls. Once you’ve reached the top, you’ll be able to admire the ruins and the incredible vista of the surrounding scenery.

You’ll then be transferred to your hotel to freshen up and unwind before it’s time for dinner.

Rise and tuck into breakfast before checking out of your hotel and travelling to Matale for a visit to a spice garden. Here, surrounded by fresh herbs and produce, you’ll sit down to watch a cookery demonstration.

Your next stop of the day is Kandy, a centrally located city, enclosed by mountains, tea plantations and rainforests. The highlight of this excursion is the 16^th-century Temple of the Tooth – an important Buddhist temple, which houses the Sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha. You’ll be able to view this relic in the two-story inner sanctum and watch the holy ceremony of the ‘Thevava’ or auspicious offering that takes place three times a day. When the ceremony has ended, you’ll conclude this action-packed day by boarding a tuk-tuk for a ride through the streets of Kandy.

The tour will then continue onto your next hotel, set on the banks of the Mahaweli River. Spend the evening settling in, perhaps have a dip in the outdoor swimming pool and enjoy dinner.

After breakfasting this morning, you’ll join experienced botanist, Bandara Palipana on a guided two-hour walk through Peradeniya’s beautiful Royal Botanical Gardens. Palipana has worked in the gardens for over 30 years and will lead you along the flower bed-fringed paths, retelling stories of the garden’s history and pointing out the various collections, specifically the priceless 300 varieties of orchids. These gardens, which include more than 4000 species of plants, can also be explored in a buggie.

Those intrigued by Sri Lanka’s fabled gem industry can take advantage of an opportunity to visit a local producer in the city. During this visit, you’ll learn about how gems are mined and cut for sale in the marketplace while watching the various processes and chatting to a veteran artisan.

Later in the day, the tour will travel back to the hotel, and you have the evening to take things at your own pace before dinner. You can also opt to watch a cultural show of traditional dance and drumming this evening.

You’ll check-out once you’ve had breakfast today and venture on a scenic three-hour drive to Nuwara Eliya. This journey promises plenty of photogenic sights, ranging from sloping tea terraces and factories to thundering waterfalls and stretches of vegetable fields. On route, you’ll stop over at a tea factory and learn the process of Ceylon tea making.

Upon arrival, you’ll feel the temperature drop slightly as you enter this highland community. With its Tudor-style houses, manicured gardens, and Victorian-like bungalows, Nuwara Eliya has become known as ‘Little England’.

You’ll meander around the charming Haggala Botanical Gardens, Gregory’s Lake, or the Seetha Amman Hindu Temple. The tour will then continue through to the fruit and vegetable markets. There’ll also time for a break for a cup of freshly brewed Ceylon tea paired with some homemade strawberry jam on toast. If you’re into golf, you can tee off at the Nuwara Elya Golf Club (payable locally).

The tour will then continue to your next hotel, housed in a colonial-style property, where you can relax and have dinner.

After breakfast, the tour will be taking to the rails of the countryside. You’ll start by boarding the train from the Nuwara Eliya railway station and traversing for around three and a half hours past tea plantations, tumbling streams, and plunging waterfalls. You’ll then arrive at the hill station of Ella. You’ll be met at the station and driven to a viewpoint of Ella Gap where you can gaze at the spectacular Rawana waterfalls.

Following your train trip, you’ll board the coach again and the tour will move onto Yala, so you can check into your next hotel, situated outside the Yala National Park, and have dinner.

Awake early and join your local ranger for a morning game drive into Yala National Park’s protected scrubland and forest. One of the oldest and largest national parks, this expansive area is home to sloth bears, leopards, and elephants.  

In the late afternoon or evening, you have the option to set off on another safari in search of wild boar, mugger crocodiles, and wild buffaloes, as well as the 200 species of birds that inhabit the park.

For the rest of your day, you can spend your time dabbling in the hotel’s facilities and lounging on the sundeck before dinner.

Have breakfast, check-out of your hotel and then travel to an elephant transit home in Udawalawe. Here, you’ll be able to partake in a morning feeding session at this home that cares for orphaned elephants, rehabilitating them with the aim of re-introducing them back into wild.

The tour will then travel to the city of a Galle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is famous for its fortress. You’ll discover more of this structure, which dates back to1588 in a tuk-tuk. At dusk, you can also climb the ramparts, and after you’ve reached the top, sip on a cup of Ceylon tea, or maybe a stronger tipple (payable locally) while watching the sun set.

You’ll then travel to Beruwala and check into your final hotel on the shores of the Indian Ocean before dinner.  

Take it easy during your last few days by embracing the shoreside splendours of this resort or exploring the surrounding areas. Nab a spot on the pristine beach or beside the pool or indulge in a treatment at the Ayurvedic spa.

Bid farewell to Beruwela today and transfer to the airport to catch your overnight flight home. 

You'll arrive back in the UK at the end of an enlightening Sri Lankan adventure.