Fun For the Family - Sri Lanka - Colombo, Sigirya, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Dikwella & Bentota

Day

Activity

Recommended Hotels

Depart from London for Colombo

Overnight Flight

You will be met on arrival and transferred to your hotel.

You will be met and transferred up to the Cultural Triangle in the interior of the island. This is an interesting journey, travelling thorough rural areas and small villages. Each one specialises in a different local industry, such as cashew nuts, pineapples and reed weaving.

Explore the Cultural Triangle at your own pace.  

 Explore the Cultural Triangle at your own pace.

You will be transferred into the central wet zone of the island. On the way, you will have the chance to visit spice gardens growing a variety of spices, such as cinnamon, pepper and nutmeg. These are the places to invest in top quality Ayurvedic remedies and oils, although they do not come cheap. It was for these spices that Sri Lanka was initially colonised by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. You will also go via the Dambulla Cave Temples.

You will have the opportunity to visit the Elephant Orphanage.

The Elephant Orphanage is about an hours drive from Kandy and is a good chance for people to get up close and personal with a pachyderm. It is a good idea to go and have lunch by the river as after feeding, they are all brought down to bathe and to watch them from a vantage point with a cold drink is a pleasant experience.

In the evening, you will be taken to the Temple of the Tooth to see the blessing ceremony with all the fanfare, drums, trumpets and brightly coloured Monks performing their rituals.

You will also have the chance to visit the Botanical Gardens and to see a cultural show whilst in Kandy.

Villa Rosa, Earls Regency

You will be met at the hotel and transferred to the station in time to catch the narrow gauge train to Nuwara Eliya. This is not the quickest route, but is by far the best way of doing this leg of your journey as the views are spectacular and the railway follows a different route to the often busy road. The driver will take your luggage and will meet you at the other end.

In the afternoon, you can visit a local tea factory to see how the world’s most popular hot beverage is grown, plucked and processed before being bagged and packaged.

St Andrews, Tea Factory, Tea Trails, Ella Lodge

Claughton Villa, Amanwella, Lansiya

Claughton Villa, Amanwella, Lansiya

You will be met at the villa and transferred along the coastal road to Bentota. There are plenty of interesting shops along the way and if you look carefully, you can see them tapping the coconut trees that grow alongside the road for toddy – a highly intoxicating drink made from the fermented sap.

Club Villa, Bentota Beach Hotel, Saman Villas, Taj Exotica

Club Villa, Bentota Beach Hotel, Saman Villas, Taj Exotica