Sri Lanka: Boutique and Heritage Stays from Sigiriya to Galle

1. Jour 1 : From the airport to Sigiriya

   Bandaranaike International Airport to Sigiriya via Kurunegala and Dambulla, about 165 km

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Lunch on the drive and a welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Sigiriya
   Détail du jour 1

   Your trip starts at Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) at Katunayake, north of Colombo. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall, and we drive inland to Sigiriya, about 165 km and four hours, partly on the Central Expressway towards Kurunegala. We go straight there rather than spending a first night by the airport, so all nine nights are in the hotels the trip is built around. The coconut country of the west gives way to rice paddies, reservoirs and the granite outcrops of the dry zone, and we stop halfway for a sit-down lunch of rice and curry. You reach your boutique hotel near Sigiriya in the afternoon, home for two nights, with time to swim or sleep. At about 7 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the days ahead, with every drive time and early start spelled out, then we sit down together for a welcome dinner. If you land late, we can book a night near the airport first.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB)
   • Sit-down lunch on the way
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Activités en option

   • A pre-trip night near the airport, booked on request

   Temps libre : Afternoon free at the hotel

   Activité : Land by about 1 pm to join the group transfer; a later arrival can be met separately.

2. Jour 2 : Sigiriya at opening, Pidurangala at sunset

   Sigiriya Lion Rock, then Pidurangala Rock in the late afternoon

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Sigiriya
   Détail du jour 2

   An early breakfast, then we are at the Sigiriya gate when it opens, about 7 am, ahead of the heat and the queues that build on the upper stairs from mid-morning. King Kashyapa built his palace on top of this rock in the late fifth century, and it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With a licensed local site guide, the climb of about 1,200 steps passes the water gardens, the painted women of the frescoes, the polished Mirror Wall and the giant stone paws of the lion gate before the summit, nearly 200 metres above the plain, where brick foundations look out over forest and reservoirs. We are down by about 10 am, and the rest of the day is yours: the pool, a massage or a long lunch. At about 4:30 pm the guide takes anyone who wants to go up Pidurangala, the rock next door, about 30 to 45 minutes on rough steps with a boulder scramble at the top, to watch the sun go down behind Sigiriya.

   Compris

   • Sigiriya Lion Rock at opening, with a local site guide and entry
   • Pidurangala Rock at sunset with your guide

   Activités en option

   • Massage at the hotel (paid locally)

   Option plus facile : Stay at the base of Sigiriya: walk the water and boulder gardens and see the lion paws from below, and skip Pidurangala.

   Option plus active : Climb both rocks: Sigiriya in the morning and Pidurangala at sunset.

   Temps libre : Late morning and early afternoon free

   Activité : Bring a small torch for the walk down Pidurangala after sunset, and shoes with grip.

   

3. Jour 3 : Dambulla, Aluvihare and the Temple of the Tooth

   Sigiriya to the Dambulla cave temple, then Aluvihare and Kandy, about 95 km

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

   A relaxed start, then about half an hour to Dambulla, where a stepped path climbs the rock to the cave temple, a place of pilgrimage for more than two thousand years and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Five caves hold more than 150 Buddha statues under painted ceilings that cover almost every surface of the rock. Cover shoulders and knees, and leave shoes at the door. We drive on south into the hills, stopping at Aluvihare, a rock temple near Matale where, Buddhist tradition holds, monks first wrote down the Buddha's teachings on palm leaves. Lunch is a sit-down meal on the way, and the driving comes to about three hours in all. In Kandy, the last royal capital until 1815, we check in, then visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic beside the lake in the late afternoon and stay for the evening ceremony of drums and offerings. After that the evening is free by Kandy Lake.

   Compris

   • Dambulla cave temple
   • Aluvihare rock temple
   • Sit-down lunch on the way to Kandy
   • Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, with a local site guide and the evening ceremony

   Activités en option

   • Kandyan dance performance (paid locally)

   Option plus facile : Watch the drummers from the hall below instead of joining the queue upstairs past the relic chamber, or go straight to the hotel to rest.

   Temps libre : Evening free after the ceremony

   Activité : About 20 minutes of steps up to the cave temple and a hot stone terrace barefoot; bring socks. Light clothing that covers shoulders and knees for the Temple of the Tooth.

4. Jour 4 : Tea country, afternoon tea and the train to Ella

   Kandy to Nanu Oya by road via Ramboda Falls and Nuwara Eliya, then the train to Ella

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Ella
   Détail du jour 4

   We leave Kandy at about 7:30 am and climb by road into tea country, about 80 km and three hours with stops. The road winds up past Ramboda Falls and estates where pickers work the slopes, and we stop at a working tea factory to see how green leaf becomes black tea, with a tasting. Tea has grown here since the 1860s, when it replaced coffee after a leaf blight. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Nuwara Eliya, the old hill station at about 1,870 metres, cool enough for a jacket, followed by afternoon tea in one of its colonial-era hotels. At Nanu Oya, the station for Nuwara Eliya, we board the train with reserved seats. For about three hours it climbs past Pattipola, the highest station on the line, then runs down through Haputale and Bandarawela to Ella. The Kandy to Nanu Oya rail section has been closed since Cyclone Ditwah, which is why we drive that part; if the train is cancelled, the vehicle drives you.

   Compris

   • Ramboda Falls viewpoint
   • Working tea factory visit with a tasting
   • Sit-down lunch and afternoon tea in Nuwara Eliya
   • Reserved seats on the train from Nanu Oya to Ella

   Temps libre : Evening free in Ella

   Activité : The train time and seat class are confirmed with your final itinerary, as the timetable on this line changed after the cyclone.

   

5. Jour 5 : Nine Arch Bridge at dawn and Little Adam's Peak

   Ella to the Nine Arch Bridge and Little Adam's Peak on foot, then dinner with a local family

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Ella
   Détail du jour 5

   An early start pays off here. We walk to the Nine Arch Bridge before 7 am, when mist still sits in the valley and the crowds have not arrived. Completed in 1921, the bridge curves across a ravine on stone and brick arches about 24 metres high, and your guide will know the morning train times so you can watch one cross. Then we walk on to Little Adam's Peak, about 45 minutes up a path through tea gardens to a grassy ridge with long views down the Ella Gap to the plains. You are back for a late breakfast at the hotel, and the middle of the day is free: a massage, a nap, a book on a balcony above the tea, or a cafe in town. In the late afternoon a local family shows you how they cook rice and curry at home, dhal, a vegetable curry, coconut sambol and more, ground and stirred by hand, which we then eat together around their table.

   Compris

   • Nine Arch Bridge before 7 am with your guide
   • Little Adam's Peak walk
   • Cooking and dinner with a local family

   Activités en option

   • Ayurvedic massage (paid locally)

   Option plus facile : Take a tuk-tuk to the viewpoint above the Nine Arch Bridge and skip the climb up Little Adam's Peak.

   Option plus active : Swap Little Adam's Peak for Ella Rock with a local guide, about 3 to 4 hours return through eucalyptus and tea, back in time for the cooking.

   Temps libre : Middle of the day free

   Activité : Stay back from the bridge edge and off the track; there are no railings.

   

6. Jour 6 : Down to Yala for an afternoon safari

   Ella to Ravana Falls, Buduruwagala and Tissamaharama, then Yala National Park, about 110 km

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Tissamaharama
   Détail du jour 6

   We leave Ella after breakfast and drop through the Ella Gap, stopping at Ravana Falls by the roadside, to the dry lowlands at Wellawaya. Just south of town, Buduruwagala is a quiet forest site where seven figures were carved into a rock face around the tenth century, the central standing Buddha about 15 metres tall. From there the road runs south through scrub and reservoirs to Tissamaharama, about 110 km and two and a half hours of driving in all, and a sit-down lunch at the lodge, home for two nights. At about 2:30 pm we head into Yala National Park by open jeep, with no more than six guests to a jeep so everyone has a window. Yala's grassland, scrub and lagoons by the sea hold elephants, water buffalo, crocodiles, spotted deer, peafowl and many water birds, and the park is known for its leopards, which are seen on some drives but never promised. We stay out until the park closes near sunset, then have dinner at the lodge.

   Compris

   • Ravana Falls
   • Buduruwagala rock carvings
   • Sit-down lunch at the lodge
   • Afternoon jeep safari in Yala National Park, with park fees
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Activité : About three and a half hours in an open jeep on dirt tracks; bring a hat, sunscreen, binoculars if you have them and clothes in neutral colours.

7. Jour 7 : Yala at dawn, a free afternoon

   Yala National Park at the 6 am opening, then the lodge

   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Tissamaharama
   Détail du jour 7

   The second drive starts in the dark. We leave the lodge at about 5:15 am to be at the gate when it opens at about 6, because the first hours are when animals move most and the light is low and warm. The park drivers know which tracks and water holes have been busy that week and keep to the park's rules on distance and speed. Mid-morning we stop at a permitted spot for a picnic breakfast, then carry on until late morning and head back to the lodge for lunch and a quiet afternoon by the pool through the heat. In the late afternoon your guide can take anyone who wants to go to Tissa Wewa, the old reservoir at Tissamaharama, where egrets and cormorants come in to roost at dusk, or to the large white stupa in the town. Dinner is at the lodge again, the second of two nights here, so there is nothing to pack until the morning.

   Compris

   • Dawn jeep safari in Yala National Park, with park fees
   • Picnic breakfast in the park
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge
   • Tissa Wewa reservoir at dusk with your guide

   Activités en option

   • Evening puja at the Kataragama shrines, about 20 km away (ask your guide)

   Option plus facile : Skip the dawn drive, sleep in and join the group for lunch.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free at the lodge

   Activité : About five hours in an open jeep; it is cool before sunrise, so bring a light layer.

8. Jour 8 : Along the south coast to Galle

   Tissamaharama to Mirissa, Koggala and Galle, about 150 km

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Galle
   Détail du jour 8

   After breakfast we drive west along the south coast, past fishing harbours, salt pans and the beaches of Tangalle, about 150 km and three and a half hours with stops. Lunch is a sit-down meal by the sea at Mirissa, a curved bay with a fishing harbour. Further on, at Koggala, you will see the stilt fishermen on their poles in the shallows. Few of them fish this way now; most pose for photos in return for a tip, and your guide will explain how it works. We reach Galle in the late afternoon and check in to a heritage hotel inside the fort walls or within a short walk, home for two nights. Galle Fort was first built by the Portuguese in 1588 and greatly expanded by the Dutch from the 1640s, and its walls still enclose a whole town of churches, warehouses and quiet lanes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As the sun goes down we walk the ramparts with your guide to Flag Rock. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Sit-down lunch in Mirissa
   • Stilt fishermen at Koggala
   • Sunset walk on the Galle Fort ramparts with your guide

   Temps libre : Evening free in Galle Fort

   

9. Jour 9 : Galle Fort on foot, a free afternoon

   Galle Fort walking tour, then Galle at your pace

   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Galle
   Détail du jour 9

   We start at about 8 am, before the heat and the day visitors from the beach towns, for a walk through the fort with your guide. The streets are laid out on the Dutch grid: Church Street with the Dutch Reformed Church and its gravestones set into the floor, the old warehouse that now holds the National Maritime Museum, the lighthouse on the point and the mansions with deep verandas along Leyn Baan Street. Your guide explains how the fort survived the 2004 tsunami that destroyed much of the town outside its walls. By late morning you are on your own, with lunch at one of the cafes inside the fort. Spend the afternoon by the hotel pool, browse the small shops and galleries, swim at Jungle Beach near Unawatuna, a short tuk-tuk away, or sleep. In the evening the group meets for a farewell dinner inside the walls to look back over the trip.

   Compris

   • Galle Fort walking tour with your guide
   • Farewell dinner

   Activités en option

   • Whale watching from Mirissa, December to April, about 6 am to midday (paid locally)
   • Cooking class or massage (paid locally)

   Option plus facile : Join the first half of the walk along Church Street, then rest at the hotel.

   Option plus active : Walk the full circuit of the ramparts, about 3 km, in the morning before the tour.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

   Activité : About 2 km on flat stone streets; bring a sun hat.

10. Jour 10 : Back to Colombo airport

    Galle to Bandaranaike International Airport or a Colombo hotel, about 150 km

    • Environ 2.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 10

    A slow last morning: breakfast at the hotel, a walk on the ramparts or a swim. At about 11 am we drive north on the Southern Expressway, the fast inland road from the south coast towards Colombo, then by the Outer Circular and the airport expressway to Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) at Katunayake, about 150 km and two and a half hours. We aim to reach the airport by about 2 pm, with a margin for traffic around Colombo. Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm; many long-haul flights from Colombo leave in the evening or overnight. If yours is late, we can arrange a later departure from Galle or a day room where the hotel allows it. If you are staying on in Colombo, we drop you at your hotel in the city instead, and we can book extra nights before or after the trip on request.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) or a Colombo hotel

    Temps libre : Morning free in Galle

    Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm; exact timings come with your final itinerary.

Faune et météo : December to April is the dry season in the hill country and on the south and west coasts, with warm days in the lowlands and cool mornings around Nuwara Eliya and Ella. The Cultural Triangle can still see north-east monsoon showers in December and early January. Yala is driest from about February, when animals gather at the water holes; elephants, crocodiles, buffalo and birds are seen on most drives, leopards and sloth bears sometimes, and no safari can promise them. From about May to September the south-west monsoon brings rain to the hills and Galle, and Yala's main block has typically closed for part of September and October, so we do not run then. Around 13 to 15 April, the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, much of the country closes.

• Sigiriya2 nuits
• Kandy1 nuit
• Ella2 nuits
• Tissamaharama2 nuits
• Galle2 nuits