Northern Sri Lanka: Wilpattu, Jaffna and Trincomalee

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Negombo

   Bandaranaike International Airport to your hotel in Negombo

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Negombo
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) at Katunayake, the main airport for Colombo, where a driver is planned to meet you in the arrivals hall. Negombo is about 10 km and twenty minutes away, so tonight we stay by the sea here rather than fighting Colombo traffic, and we are already on the road north for tomorrow. Negombo is an old fishing town with a long lagoon, a canal built in the Dutch period and a busy fish market where outrigger boats land their catch in the morning. Spend the afternoon resting off the flight or walking the beach. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the days ahead: the heat in the north, what to wear in temples, how the game drives work and when the early mornings fall. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of seafood and rice and curry. The briefing is planned for the early evening, so a mid-afternoon landing works best; confirm flights only after your dates are agreed.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Jour 2 : Up the coast to Wilpattu

   Negombo to Chilaw and Puttalam, then Wilpattu National Park, about 150 km

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Wilpattu
   Détail du jour 2

   We plan to leave Negombo at about 8 am and drive north up the west coast, about 150 km and three and a half hours, through coconut plantations, past the fishing town of Chilaw and the salt pans and lagoon at Puttalam, with a coffee stop on the way. By late morning we reach our lodge on the edge of Wilpattu National Park, home for two nights, in time for a sit-down lunch and a rest through the hottest hours. Wilpattu is Sri Lanka's largest national park, dry-zone forest scattered with natural sand-rimmed lakes called villus. We plan to head into the park in the early afternoon in open jeeps with park drivers and stay out until the park's closing time, usually near sunset, when animals come down to the water. Leopard is what everyone hopes for, but sightings vary and none is promised; sloth bear, elephant, spotted deer, crocodile, buffalo and birds around the lakes are also possible. Dinner is at the lodge.

   Compris

   • Drive up the west coast with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch at the lodge
   • Afternoon jeep game drive in Wilpattu National Park, with park fees
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Temps libre : Midday rest at the lodge

   Activité : About three and a half hours in an open jeep on bumpy sand tracks. Bring a hat, sunscreen, binoculars and a light scarf for the dust.

   

3. Jour 3 : Wilpattu at first light

   A morning game drive in Wilpattu, then a free afternoon

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Wilpattu
   Détail du jour 3

   An early start, because the first hours after the gate opens, usually at about 6 am but subject to the park's own times, are the coolest in the park and often a good time for wildlife. We take tea and a snack at the lodge, then go back in by jeep with a packed breakfast, eaten at a rest point inside the park. Morning light on the villus is low and soft, the tracks are fresh, and a leopard is sometimes seen crossing a sand road or lying up on a branch before the heat sets in, though no drive can promise one. Your guide and the park drivers choose the route by what was seen the day before. We are back at the lodge by late morning for a shower and a sit-down lunch. The afternoon is yours: swim if the lodge has a pool, sleep, or sit on the veranda with binoculars, as birds and monkeys come through the trees around the lodge. In the late afternoon your guide may offer a short walk near the lodge if the lodge and guide judge it safe around wildlife, and dinner is at the lodge.

   Compris

   • Morning jeep game drive in Wilpattu National Park from the gate opening, with park fees and a packed breakfast
   • Sit-down lunch at the lodge
   • Late-afternoon walk near the lodge with your guide, if judged safe
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Activités en option

   • Optional, not included: a second afternoon jeep game drive, paid locally; we quote the price before departure

   Option plus facile : Skip the morning drive and sleep in; the afternoon walk near the lodge is short and flat.

   Option plus active : Go back into the park for a second afternoon game drive instead of the free afternoon (optional, paid locally, price quoted before departure).

   Temps libre : Afternoon free at the lodge

   Activité : Wake-up at about 5:15 am for the park's morning opening, usually about 6 am.

4. Jour 4 : Anuradhapura, the first capital

   Wilpattu to Anuradhapura, about 50 km

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Anuradhapura
   Détail du jour 4

   After a relaxed breakfast we drive about an hour and a quarter east on red-earth roads through dry-zone forest and past village tanks to Anuradhapura, the first great capital of Sri Lanka and listed by UNESCO (not re-checked), where Buddhist kings ruled for over a thousand years. We start at the Sri Maha Bodhi, the sacred fig that Buddhists trace to a sapling of the Bodh Gaya tree, planted here in the third century BC, where monks and pilgrims in white still bring flowers every day. Then the rock temple at Isurumuniya with its carved lovers, and a sit-down lunch in town. After a rest at the hotel through the midday heat, we set out by bicycle at about 3:30 pm along flat, shaded roads between the great brick stupas of Jetavanaramaya and Abhayagiri, the moonstones and the twin ponds of Kuttam Pokuna. We finish at Ruwanwelisaya in the late-afternoon light, when pilgrims in white bring flowers and the dome glows. Ticketed areas of the sacred city close in the late afternoon according to the Central Cultural Fund listing, so exact access and timing are confirmed with the site on the day.

   Compris

   • Anuradhapura sacred city with your guide and a licensed site guide, with the ticket
   • Sri Maha Bodhi and Isurumuniya rock temple
   • Sit-down lunch in Anuradhapura
   • Bicycle ride to Jetavanaramaya, Abhayagiri and Kuttam Pokuna
   • Ruwanwelisaya in the late afternoon

   Option plus facile : Ride in the vehicle instead of on a bicycle; it follows the group and stops at every site.

   Temps libre : Midday rest at the hotel; evening free

   Activité : About 2 to 3 hours on foot, barefoot on hot stone at the shrines (bring socks), and an 8 to 10 km bicycle loop on flat roads.

   

5. Jour 5 : North on the A9 to Jaffna

   Anuradhapura to Vavuniya, Kilinochchi and Elephant Pass, then Jaffna, about 200 km

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Jaffna
   Détail du jour 5

   This is the road that takes you into the Tamil north, about 200 km and four hours on the A9 highway, the main road between the south and Jaffna. We leave at about 8:30 am, after breakfast, and the land changes as we go: rice fields and reservoirs around Vavuniya, then the flat palmyra country of the Vanni, where the tall fan palms are a sign of the north. We stop for a sit-down lunch on the way and again at Elephant Pass, the narrow causeway that joins the Jaffna peninsula to the mainland, where your guide tells the story of the war years that marked this region until 2009, plainly and without politics. We reach Jaffna, home for three nights, in mid-afternoon. In the late afternoon we walk into Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil, a major Hindu temple in Jaffna, golden and crowded with families, for the evening puja, with drums, bells and lamps carried around the shrines.

   Compris

   • Drive north on the A9 with your guide, with a stop at Elephant Pass
   • Sit-down lunch on the way
   • Evening puja at Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil

   Option plus active : Before breakfast, climb Mihintale at sunrise, about 12 km east of Anuradhapura, where Buddhism is said to have come to Sri Lanka: about 1,800 granite steps to the summit stupa and the rock of Aradhana Gala.

   Temps libre : Evening free after the puja

   Activité : At Nallur, men are usually asked to remove their shirts before entering and everyone goes barefoot; the temple's own rules on the day apply. Puja times are confirmed locally.

   

6. Jour 6 : Jaffna town and a crab curry lunch

   Jaffna Fort, the Public Library and the market

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Jaffna
   Détail du jour 6

   We start early at Jaffna Fort, before the sun is high on its walls. The Portuguese built the first fort here in the early 1600s and the Dutch rebuilt it later that century as a five-bastion fort of coral stone and granite, with a moat on the edge of the lagoon. Walk the ramparts with your guide for the view across the water and the story of a building that changed hands in every war, then on to the Jaffna Public Library, burned in 1981 and rebuilt, a symbol of the north's long love of learning. Then into the covered market for mangoes, palmyra sweets and a stack of the red chillies that make Jaffna cooking hotter than the south's. Lunch is a long, sit-down Jaffna crab curry, the dish the town is known for, cooked with roasted spices and eaten with your hands if you like. The afternoon is free: rest, wander the old streets around the clock tower, or ride a tuk-tuk to the Nilavarai well.

   Compris

   • Jaffna Fort with your guide, subject to the site's access
   • Jaffna Public Library (outside, and inside when open to visitors)
   • Jaffna market
   • Sit-down Jaffna crab curry lunch

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free

   Activité : About 2 hours on foot in the morning, on uneven fort ramparts and in the market.

7. Jour 7 : The Jaffna islands by causeway and boat

   Jaffna across the causeways to Kayts and Punkudutivu, then by boat to Nainativu

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Jaffna
   Détail du jour 7

   Jaffna sits among shallow lagoons and low islands, and long causeways now link several of them to the mainland. We drive out across the water after breakfast, past fishing stakes, salt flats and palmyra groves, through Velanai and Punkudutivu to the jetty at Kurikadduwan, about an hour and a quarter from town. From there a small public boat, running to the boat operators' own timetable, crosses in about twenty minutes to Nainativu, a holy island for two faiths. Nagapooshani Amman Kovil, a Hindu temple to the goddess with a tall painted gopuram, stands a short walk from Nagadeepa Purana Vihara, a Buddhist shrine linked to one of the Buddha's visits to the island; pilgrims of both faiths share the boat. We take the boat back to the mainland, have a sit-down lunch on the way, and take the separate causeway out to Casuarina beach on Karainagar, about three hours of driving in all, before returning to Jaffna in the late afternoon. Canada's travel advice warns of riptides and mostly unsupervised beaches, so we swim only where the guide confirms the water and the spot are safe that day; otherwise this is a paddle-and-photo stop.

   Compris

   • Drive across the island causeways with your guide
   • Boat from Kurikadduwan to Nainativu and back
   • Nagapooshani Amman Kovil and Nagadeepa Purana Vihara
   • Sit-down lunch
   • Casuarina beach stop on Karainagar; swimming only if the guide judges conditions safe

   Option plus facile : Stay in Jaffna for a free day; the islands need an estimated 30 minutes of walking and a step down into a small boat.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Jaffna

   Activité : The Nainativu boat is a simple public boat; ask the guide about safety gear before boarding; times are confirmed on the day. Same temple dress rules as Nallur, as the temples set them.

   

8. Jour 8 : Down the coast to Trincomalee

   Jaffna to Elephant Pass, Mullaitivu and the coast road, then Trincomalee, about 250 km

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Trincomalee
   Détail du jour 8

   Today is one of the two long drives, about 250 km and, we expect, about five hours of driving by the coast road, over our four-hour cap; we confirm the time against current road conditions before each departure. We have found no practical train or scheduled flight between Jaffna and Trincomalee, and splitting the drive with another night would cost a night in Jaffna or on the coast, so we plan to leave at about 8 am and break the day into three parts. First back over Elephant Pass and east to Mullaitivu, a quiet fishing town on the lagoon, where we stop for a sit-down lunch and, if the guide confirms it is safe to leave the road, a short look at the sea. Then south on the coast road through Kokkilai and Pulmoddai, past lagoons, cashew trees and long empty beaches, with a coffee stop on the way. We reach our hotel on the beach north of Trincomalee, home for two nights, in the middle of the afternoon. The rest of the day is free: the east coast sea is usually calmer in these months, so you may swim before dinner only if the hotel and your guide judge conditions safe; Canada's advice warns of riptides on mostly unsupervised beaches.

   Compris

   • Drive down the coast with your guide, with stops at Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu
   • Sit-down lunch in Mullaitivu

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free

   Activité : One of the two long drives, about five hours of driving (confirmed against road conditions before departure), broken by lunch and a coffee stop.

9. Jour 9 : Pigeon Island and Koneswaram

   Nilaveli to Pigeon Island by boat, then Trincomalee and Swami Rock

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Trincomalee
   Détail du jour 9

   An early start for the sea. We plan to be on the beach at Nilaveli for an early boat, at about 7 am, for the crossing of an estimated fifteen minutes to Pigeon Island National Park, two small rocky islands fringed by a shallow coral reef. Snorkelling here is in shallow water over the reef, and an early start usually means fewer boats and calmer water before the afternoon wind picks up, though visibility and sea conditions vary and the boat may not run in rough weather. Reef fish may be seen, and turtles and small blacktip reef sharks sometimes are. Snorkel gear and life jackets are planned from the boat operator, and your guide stays with anyone who prefers to wade or sit on the island's beach. We expect to be back at the hotel by late morning, and the middle of the day is free. In the late afternoon we drive into Trincomalee to Fort Frederick and up to Koneswaram, the Hindu temple to Shiva on Swami Rock, high above the sea, timed for late afternoon and subject to temple and fort access on the day, then a farewell dinner together.

   Compris

   • Licensed boat to Pigeon Island National Park, with park fee, snorkel gear and life jackets planned
   • Fort Frederick and Koneswaram temple on Swami Rock, timed for late afternoon, subject to temple and fort access on the day
   • Farewell dinner

   Activités en option

   • A whale or dolphin-watching boat trip from Trincomalee on the free afternoon, only if a local operator offers it and quotes it, paid locally, when sea conditions allow

   Option plus facile : Stay on the beach at Pigeon Island or on the boat instead of snorkelling.

   Option plus active : Snorkel a second site on the far side of the island, if the boatman and sea conditions allow.

   Temps libre : Middle of the day free

   Activité : Snorkelling from the beach and from the boat in shallow water; you need to be comfortable in the sea. Boats and snorkelling depend on sea conditions and operator availability on the day. No touching coral, and reef-safe sunscreen only.

   

10. Jour 10 : Across the island to Colombo

    Trincomalee to Habarana, Dambulla and Kurunegala, then Bandaranaike International Airport or Colombo, about 250 km

    • Environ 5.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    Détail du jour 10

    The last day is the second long drive, about 250 km and five and a half hours of driving to the airport, over our four-hour cap. There is no train from Trincomalee that fits a flight, so we break the day with stops. We plan to leave after an early breakfast, at about 7:30 am, and cross the dry zone through Kantale and Habarana, where elephants may sometimes be seen near the road, to Dambulla for coffee. A sit-down rice and curry lunch follows near Kurunegala, beneath its great black rock, then the expressway towards Colombo. We estimate reaching Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) by about 3 pm, traffic and road conditions permitting. A flight leaving after about 7 pm should fit on that estimate, but do not book flights until your dates and the itinerary are confirmed. If you are staying on, we take you to a Colombo hotel instead, up to an hour further depending on traffic. Your guide sees you to the terminal or the hotel door.

    Compris

    • Drive to Colombo with your guide, with a coffee stop in Dambulla
    • Sit-down lunch near Kurunegala
    • Drop-off at Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) or a Colombo hotel

    Activité : Estimated airport arrival about 3 pm; leave a margin and do not book flights until dates are confirmed.

Faune et météo : May to September is generally the drier season in the north and on the east coast, the opposite of the south-west monsoon that wets the south-west and hill country in those months, when the sea at Pigeon Island is usually calmer, though boat trips and snorkelling always depend on conditions on the day. Animals may gather at Wilpattu's lakes as the park dries out. Wilpattu may close for a short break around September; we check park dates for your dates before accepting a booking. From about October to January the northeast monsoon brings heavy rain to Jaffna and Trincomalee, so the trip does not run then.

• Negombo1 nuit
• Wilpattu2 nuits
• Anuradhapura1 nuit
• Jaffna3 nuits
• Trincomalee2 nuits