Sri Lanka - Temples, Safari and Beach

Tour Itinerary

• Day 1 • Fly to Sri Lanka

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

• Day 2 • Land in 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.

• Day 3 • Colombo City Tour & Dambulla Cave Temple

  After breakfast, enjoy a tour of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s commercial capital, passing Buddhist and Hindu temples alongside modern landmarks, with time afterward to stroll along the Galle Face Green or enjoy afternoon tea or a sundowner at the historic Galle Face Hotel (payable locally). Continue on to Dambulla to explore its UNESCO-listed cave temple complex, renowned for its painted rock ceilings and remarkable collection of Buddha statues across five sanctuaries, before heading to your forest-surrounded hotel for a relaxed evening and dinner.

• Day 4 • Excursion to Polonnaruwa

  After breakfast, travel to Polonnaruwa to explore its ancient archaeological sites, including the vast Parakrama Samudra reservoir and the rock temple of Gal Viharaya with its impressive stone-carved Buddha statues, with the option to discover the area by bike for an additional fee. In the afternoon, continue to Sigiriya Rock Fortress for an optional climb to the fifth-century citadel, passing historic rock paintings and learning about its royal past before taking in sweeping jungle views from the summit, then return to your hotel to relax before dinner.

• Day 5 • Matale, Kandy & Tuk-Tuk ride

  After breakfast, check out and travel to Matale to visit a spice garden, where you’ll enjoy a cookery demonstration surrounded by fresh herbs and produce. Continue on to Kandy to visit the 16th-century Temple of the Tooth, one of Buddhism’s most sacred sites, where you can view the Sacred Tooth Relic and witness the Thevava ceremony, before exploring the city by tuk-tuk. The day concludes at your riverside hotel on the banks of the Mahaweli River, with time to relax, enjoy the pool, and have dinner.

• Day 6 • Royal Botanical Gardens, Gem Lapidary & Optional Culture Show

  After breakfast, join experienced botanist Bandara Palipana for a guided two-hour walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya, where he shares stories from his 30 years of experience and highlights the garden’s vast plant collections, including 300 orchid varieties among more than 4,000 species. You may also choose to visit a local gem producer to learn about Sri Lanka’s gem mining and cutting traditions, before returning to the hotel for a relaxed evening at leisure, with the option to attend a cultural show of traditional dance and drumming before dinner.

• Day 7 • Nuwara Eliya

  After breakfast, check out and enjoy a scenic three-hour drive to Nuwara Eliya, passing tea plantations, factories, waterfalls, and vegetable fields, with a stop at a tea factory to learn about Ceylon tea production. On arrival in this cool-climate hill town known as “Little England,” explore highlights such as Haggala Botanical Gardens, Gregory’s Lake, Seetha Amman Hindu Temple, and the local fruit and vegetable markets, with time for a cup of freshly brewed tea or an optional round of golf (payable locally). The day ends at your next hotel, a colonial-style property where you can relax and enjoy dinner.

• Day 8 • Nuwara Eliya to Ella & Drive to Yala

  After breakfast, board a scenic train from Nuwara Eliya for a three-and-a-half-hour journey through tea plantations, streams, and waterfalls to the hill station of Ella, where you’ll be met and driven to a viewpoint overlooking Ella Gap and the Rawana Falls. You’ll then continue by coach to Yala to check into your hotel near the national park and enjoy dinner. *Please note that on rare occasions the train journey may be replaced with road transport due to local government controls, with any changes often made at short notice.

• Day 9 • Yala National Park

  Awake early for a morning game drive with a local ranger through Yala National Park’s scrubland and forest, home to elephants, leopards, and sloth bears. Later, you may choose to head out on an optional afternoon or evening safari to spot wild boar, mugger crocodiles, wild buffalo, and some of the park’s 200 bird species, with the rest of the day free to relax at your hotel and enjoy its facilities before dinner.

• Day 10 • Elephant Transit Home, Journey to Galle & Tuk-Tuk ride

  After breakfast, check out of your hotel and travel to the Udawalawe Elephant Transit Home to watch a morning feeding session at this rehabilitation centre for orphaned elephants. Continue on to Galle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where you’ll explore the historic 1588 fortress by tuk-tuk and climb the ramparts at dusk to enjoy a cup of Ceylon tea or a stronger drink (payable locally) while watching the sunset. Finally, travel to Beruwala and check into your final hotel on the shores of the Indian Ocean before dinner.

• Day 11-15 • Day at leisure in Beruwala

  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.

• Day 16 • Fly back to the UK

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

• Day 17 • Arrive back in the UK

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