6 NIGHTS / 7 DAYS PROGRAMME
DAY 1 → AIRPORT / BERUWELA
Arrival, welcome by a representative of our team, who may also be your driver, and leave for the beach at Bentota, a two/three-hour drive.
Checked in to your hotel if you so wished you would have been given a choice of hotels beforehand, ranging from 5-star hotels to simple guest houses or jungle lodges.
Relax in the afternoon, although optional visits can be arranged to a turtle farm and hatchery or for a boat ride along the mangrove forests of the Madu River at Balapitiya. Dinner and overnight stay.DAY 2 → BERUWELA / RATNAPURA / UDA WALAWE
Checked in to your hotel if you so wished you would have been given a choice of hotels beforehand, ranging from 5-star hotels to simple guest houses or jungle lodges. After breakfast leave for Uda Walawe and about four hours’ driving.On the way see gem mining and visit the Gem Museum at Ratnapura to see how the valuable gems that you see in a jeweller’s shop are turned out from raw stones. The very ancient history of valuable gem production in Sri Lanka will be discovered here.
In the afternoon undertake a jeep safari in the Uda Walawe National Park mainly to see wild elephants which are often seen in sizeable numbers here, along with many bird species.
Proceed to the hotel close to the park for dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 3 → UDA WALAWE / ELLA / NUWARA ELIYA
Checked in to your hotel if you so wished you would have been given a choice of hotels beforehand, ranging from 5-star hotels to simple guest houses or jungle lodges. After breakfast drive for about three hours through the Ella Pass to Nuwara Eliya – sometimes called ‘Little England’ – with its temperate climate and breathtakingly beautiful landscapes of rolling hills covered with the ‘green carpets’ of tea gardens and cascading waterfalls.On the way, visit a plantation and tea factory to witness the manufacturing process of the world famous ‘Ceylon Tea’ and to enjoy a cup of the pure unblended factory-fresh tea before it is sent to auction in Colombo and onwards for export.
The evening is free for walks or a tour around the town, the important places being Victoria Park, Gregory Lake, the golf course, the market, and many buildings that will remind you of Sri Lanka’s colonial past.
Dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 4 → NUWARA ELIYA / KANDY
Checked in to your hotel if you so wished you would have been given a choice of hotels beforehand, ranging from 5-star hotels to simple guest houses or jungle lodges. After breakfast leave for Kandy (about three hours).In the afternoon, undertake a city tour that includes the Upper Lake Drive, from where you can enjoy a bird's eye view of the city below. Then on to the Gem Museum to see how the valuable gems that you see in a jeweller’s shop are turned out from a raw stone and learn some of their background history.
In the evening watch an enthralling performance by traditional Kandyan dancers and drummers that includes devotional ‘Fire Walking’. Then walk across at dusk to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha, one of the world’s most important places of worship for Buddhists, in time for the remarkable evening ceremonies.
Maybe under a starlit sky, return to the hotel for dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 5 → KANDY / MATALE / DAMBULLA
Checked in to your hotel if you so wished you would have been given a choice of hotels beforehand, ranging from 5-star hotels to simple guest houses or jungle lodges. After breakfast leave on the three-hour drive to Dambulla and nearby Sigiriya.On the way go on a conducted tour of a spice garden to get some knowledge about the growth and uses of spices in day to day life. The trade in spices was a very early source of Sri Lankan wealth.
In the afternoon, visit the nearby Dambulla cave temples, considered to be the most extensive painted caves in the world, with more than 22,000 square feet of painted surfaces. You will see many paintings and sculptures of Lord Buddha and his disciples, and of many kings and gods.
Dinner and overnight stay at Sigiriya.
DAY 6 → DAMBULLA / SIGIRIYA / NEGOMBO
Checked in to your hotel if you so wished you would have been given a choice of hotels beforehand, ranging from 5-star hotels to simple guest houses or jungle lodges. After breakfast, set off on a one-hour climb of the sensational rock fortress of Sigiriya, built by King Kasyapa in the 5th century AD and a royal citadel for only 20 years. Highlights of the climb are the frescoes, contemporary with the paintings in the Ajantha caves in India, as well as the ‘Mirror Wall’ and the ‘Lion's Paw’.Descend and leave for Negombo, a four-hour drive.
Check in to the hotel for dinner and overnight stay.