Private 8-Day Best Sri Lanka Tour

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

Day 1
Colombo Airport Pick-up, Private Transfer to Negombo
1 stop
1
Colombo
Welcome to Sri Lanka! When your flight lands in Colombo, your driver guide will warmly meet you at the airport. Since Negombo is closer to the airport than Colombo, we will drive you to the hotel in Negombo, which takes about half an hour. For the rest of the day, you may take a break in the hotel or explore the city on your own.
1 hour • Admission ticket free
Day 2
Negombo Fish Market & Dutch Canal - Dambulla Cave Temple - Sigiriya
4 stops
2
Negombo Fish Market
In the morning, your guided tour will start at Negombo Fish Market and Lella Fishing Village. You will get close to a different lifestyle of local fishermen and be amazed by the thousands of fresh and dried fish, crabs, shrimps, and other seafood placed neatly in lines.
2 hours • Admission ticket free
3
After exploring the busy fish market, you will visit the Dutch Cannel, which dates back to the 8th century and was once the vital transportation channel connecting Negombo with Colombo. You will enjoy a peaceful scene comprising green water and tropical trees along the roadside.
1 hour • Admission ticket free
4
Golden Temple of Dambulla
Then you will proceed to the Cultural Triangle of the country. Here you will be guided to explore a splendid UNESCO World Heritage site - Dambulla Royal Cave Temple, which is over 2000 years old. The total of 153 Buddha statues and extensive frescos, depicting the Buddhist stories, will lead you to learn about Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Your exploration of five caves here will be an unforgettable experience. After the visit, your driver will take you to your hotel at Sigiriya for the check-in.
2 hours • Admission ticket included
5
Sigiriya
Later, continue to Sigiriya and have a good rest for the following best tour packages in Sri Lanka.
1 hour • Admission ticket free
Day 3
Sigiriya: Visit Lion Rock & Hiriwadunna Village
2 stops
6
Sigiriya The Ancient Rock Fortress
Today's itinerary starts with Sigiriya Rock Fortress, a definitely precious heritage with architectural wonders. Located high on a hilltop, the 1500-year-old rock fortress, which is 200 meters high, was once a royal palace comprising a moat, a large garden, and many halls. You will marvel at exquisite craftsmanship and enjoy a panoramic view of the boundless forest. Later, have an educational stop at a local school, where you may communicate with the lovely children. You can also share something interesting and significant with them if you would like to. At the end of the day, a comfortable massage is particularly arranged for you to relieve the tiredness.
5 hours • Admission ticket included
7
Hiriwadunna
In the afternoon, we will drive 30 minutes to the peaceful Hiriwadunna Village. Follow your guide to explore this rural village. You will find paddy fields and vegetable gardens outside traditional bungalows, and kitchen ware and farm tools hanging on the mud walls. Sri Lanka is a poor country with a per capita GDP of about USD 3,800. With weak industrial base, its national income is heavily dependent on tourism and handicraft industry. Rare modern facilities can be seen in most villages of the country. However, you can always feel the optimism and kindness of Sri Lankans. They will warmly welcome you with their palms together and a big smile on the face. Immerse yourself in the local atmosphere and enjoy an authentic Sri Lankan lunch specially made for you, possibly including delicacies made with curry and coconut. After lunch, you can take a catamaran ride on the nearby lake and watch the birds.
1 hour • Admission ticket free
Day 4
Sigiriya to Kandy: Visit Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic & Watch a Culture Dance Show
3 stops
8
Spice Garden
After breakfast, your private driver guide will pick you up at the hotel and drive you to Kandy - the second largest city in Sri Lanka and once the capital of the Kingdom of Kandy (1469-1815). It takes about 2.5 hours and we will stop at a Spice Garden in the midway. Sri Lanka is a small country, but it is one of the most significant spice exporters in the world. Get ready with your nose and feel the rich smells from spices like cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, clove, and vanilla. You may learn about the history and cultivation of spices, and watch how to grind the spices. You can also try some spiced drinks or snacks.
3 hours • Admission ticket free
9
Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
Upon arrival in Kandy, your guide will accompany you to check in at the hotel and then take you to Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, which is “Sri Dalada Maligawa” in Sinhalese. Constructed in 1595, the temple is one of the most sacred and important Buddhist temples in the world for housing one of the only 2 tooth relics of the Buddha. As you enter the golden-roofed and white-walled temple building, you may be amazed by the glorious murals and exquisite wood and ivory carvings. You can’t actually see the tooth relic because it is placed in a stupa-shaped gold casket in the inner chamber of the main temple. Local people usually dress in white and offer lotus blooms in front of the Buddha statue. Late in the afternoon, the temple will be in a devout atmosphere when devotees queue up to worship the tooth relic and whisper a prayer.
2 hours • Admission ticket included
10
After visiting the temple, your driver guide will take you to watch a wonderful Culture Dance Show. Sri Lankan traditional dance represented by Kandyan dance dates from the 16th century, the origin of which was a kind of sacrificial dance with a history of over 1,000 years. Kandyan dance features powerful and rhythmic movements, especially the imitations of animals’ actions like peacock pecking and spreading wings. Also there will be dance scenes of harvesting or picking tea leaves, showing the charm of vitality and pureness. Then, your driver guide will escort you back to your hotel.
1 hour • Admission ticket included
Day 5
Kandy: Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya
1 stop
11
Royal Botanic Gardens Peradeniya
After breakfast, we will head to Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, which is the biggest tropical botanical garden in the country and one of the best ones in the world. Founded in 1371, it used to be the imperial garden of the king. Over 4,000 species of native and overseas plants are grown in the gardens, including orchids, spices, medicinal plants and palm trees. The dense plants make the environment cool and comfortable. You may stroll in the gardens, explore more than 20 different gardens or just leisurely sit in the shade of a huge banyan tree. After that, you will be sent back to your hotel. The rest of the day is left for you.
3 hours • Admission ticket included
Day 6
: Kandy - Giragama Tea Factory - Galle Dutch Fort - Bentota
3 stops
12
Say goodbye to Kandy and today we will first drive to Giragama Tea Factory. Sri Lanka is one of the leading three black tea exporters in the world. Ceylon black tea is one of the four best black tea along with Keemun black tea, Assam black tea and Darjeeling black tea. Interestingly, though, the mountain area in this country used to be coffee growing regions in colonial times. Due to a severe plant disease, people had to grow tea instead, which was the beginning of the high-quality Ceylon black tea. In the tea factory, you can watch the production processes of tea from withering, rolling to fermentation and drying while tasting a cup of Ceylon black tea. You may also walk into the tea plantation, carrying a basket to pick some tea leaves.
2 hours • Admission ticket included
13
Galle Dutch Fort
Next, we will drive you to Galle Dutch Fort, a 300-year-old fortification located on the south coast. With many well-preserved European-style architecture in this small town, Galle Fort looks different from other World Heritage sites in Sri Lanka. The Dutch built this fort and later the British expanded it, making it a mix of different architectural styles and local culture. The clean streets in the fort are lined with colonial houses which are now shops, cafes or restaurants. Some old buildings like the Dutch Reformed Church, the clock tower and the post office are still in use. You could not say no to enjoy a sunset beside the Galle Fort Lighthouse when the glow of sun paints the sky red and makes the sea glitter.
2 hours 30 minutes • Admission ticket included
14
Bentota
After admiring the beauty of Galle, we will drive you to the hotel in Bentota.
1 hour • Admission ticket free
Day 7
Bentota: Madu River Boat Safari & Sea Turtle Conservation Project; Coastal Train to Colombo
3 stops
15
Madu River Buddhi Boat Safari Balapitiya
Enjoy your breakfast and your driver guide will pick you up at the hotel for a Madu River boat safari. Madu River, locally called “Madu Ganga”, is one of the biggest and most important mangrove reserves in Sri Lanka. Mangrove forest provides appropriate environment for hundreds of wildlife species. You will take a 2.5-hour adventurous boat tour along this river to explore the intricate maze of rivers, tree roots and small islands, and watch the wildlife including monkeys, crocodiles, snakes and chameleons. You will make a stopover at Cinnamon Island and visit the cinnamon plantations on it and watch how the locals produce cinnamon bark. Besides, you may try a fish therapy for a fee in the midst of the river.
2 hours 30 minutes • Admission ticket included
16
Sea Turtle Conservation Project (Koggala)
Next, we’ll visit a Sea Turtle Conservation Project. Under the influence of Buddhism, most Sri Lankans are kind to animals. There are many animal conservation projects and stations in this country. You will be shown around the turtle hatchery and learn something about species of turtles, the life cycles and hatching process of them, and various conservation efforts of this place such as how to care for injured turtles and how to release baby turtles.
2 hours • Admission ticket included
17
Colombo
You may have traveled on a train before, but not all the trains can take you through the scenic views like Sri Lankan trains, especially the one from Bentota to Colombo. This coastal rail route, renowned as one of the most beautiful train rides in the world, stretches along the western shore of Sri Lanka with Indian Ocean close at hand. You will experience a 1-hour train journey like a local and feel the warm and lively atmosphere in the carriage. The highlight of the journey will be the part from Mount Lavinia to Colombo when the tracks are almost parallel with the shore and you may immerse yourself in the salty sea wind and clear blue sea. If you have seen Hayao Miyazaki’s animated movie “Spirited Away”, you will surprisingly find the scenery resonates with the scene in which Chihiro and No-Face take the ghostly train that rides through seawater.
1 hour • Admission ticket free
Day 8
Departure from Colombo, Airport see-off
1 stop
18
Colombo
Your best Sri Lanka tour ends today. Your driver guide will transfer you to the airport and see you off. Wish you a nice flight home!
1 hour • Admission ticket free

Additional info

• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

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