8 NIGHTS / 9 DAYS PROGRAMME
DAY 1 → AIRPORT / SIGIRIYA
Arrival, welcome by a representative of our team, who may also be your driver, and leave for Sigiriya, a four-hour drive.
Check in to your hotel for two nights 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.
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.
Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 2 → SIGIRIYA / POLONNARUWA / SIGIRIYA
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 Polonnaruwa, the 11th century medieval capital of Sri Lanka, a 90-minute drive. The Sacred City of Polonnaruwa contains many sites of archaeological and historical interest, including, among many, the Great Statue and other monolithic sculptures, the Quadrangle, the Royal Palace, the Kumara and Lotus Ponds, and the Thiwanka Image House. The excellent museum displays a lot of very fine sculpture and very good depictions of the city’s history and the influence that Hinduism had on the island’s Buddhist civilization during that period of history.You may also visit a wood carving workshop to marvel at the remarkable skills of Sri Lankan craftsmen.
Return to the hotel at Sigiriya for dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 3 → SIGIRIYA / MATALE / 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, 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’..In the afternoon leave for Kandy – the hill capital – a three-hour drive. 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 a Batik-making factory, see how wonderfully the village girls turn out beautiful coloured cloths with colourful designs for different purposes.
Check in to the hotel for dinner and two overnight stays.
DAY 4 → 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 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.One of Sri Lanka’s real ‘gems’ is the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya just outside Kandy, one of the very best gardens in Asia, with more than 5000 species of plants. The garden was, incidentally, the headquarters of Lord Louis Mountbatten - the Supreme Commander of South-East Asia Command of Allied Forces during the Second World War.
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 / 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 Ramboda 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 6 → NUWARA ELIYA / YALA
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 Yala, a spectacular drive of four hours, at first over the hills and then down into the ‘dry zone’ of the South-East of the island.In the afternoon go on an open-top jeep safari in the Yala National Park. This park is famous for its rich diversity of animal life. You may see elephant, buffalo, gazelle, wild boar, crocodile, and many species of birds. Yala is said to be the area in the world where you are most likely to spot the elusive leopard, and if you are extremely lucky you may see sloth bear.
Check in to the hotel near the park for dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 7 → YALA / GALLE / BERUWELA
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, you will take the road along the coast, with occasional views of the lovely white beaches of the South, pausing in Galle on the way to the well-known beach resort of Bentota. The driving time is altogether about four hours.Galle has been an important port for two thousand years. Although the Portuguese built a fort here in the 16th century, what is seen today is the 17th century Dutch replacement. It is the finest European fort remaining in Asia and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Wandering its well-planned streets with its many Dutch, and some British, colonial buildings, is fascinating. Popular among tourists, Galle Fort hosts many shops and restaurants.
Continue to Bentota and check in to the hotel for dinner and two overnight stays.
DAY 8 → BERUWELA
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. A relaxing day on the beach or by the pool, 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.