Tailor made Mini Tours around Sri Lanka
OVERVIEW
These tailor-made tours in Sri Lanka mainly cover four main tourist attractions: Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Bentota, and Colombo. You will spend more time on sightseeing rather than staying and relaxing in a hotel room, you can explore the island at your own pace, in a car or minivan, with your personal English-speaking driver/guide.
Duration
This is one of the best Sri Lanka holiday deals, designed for 4 nights/5 days. As we always cater to our valuable clients, simply request a custom tour to meet your needs. Our schedule is your schedule!
TOUR PLAN
The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Est. 1975, started with seven orphans. Today some of these orphans enjoy the fortune of seeing their grandchildren born in the same location. The original objective of establishing the orphanage inclined more towards tourism, but it soon became a conservation and educational centre. With the help of local and foreign elephant experts, Pinnawala started a scientific breeding programme for elephants.
Proceed to Kandy check in to a hotel in Kandy and evening visit Temple of Tooth Relic.
Kandy
115 km from Colombo, Kandy is Sri Lanka’s scenic highland capital, and last barricade of the Sri Lankan kings against European conquest. Its 16-19th-century relics are the sanctuary of traditional culture, and the island’s most visited tourist destination.
Kandy’s main attraction is the Dalada Maligawa, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha, brought to Sri Lanka in the 4th century AD. This sacred relic has since been symbol for its sovereign rulers and is always enshrined in great splendour. If you are visiting Kandy during July-August, the Esala Perahera is definitely a must see. Sometimes called ‘Asia’s grandest pageant’, this spectacular annual event is held to honour the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha and to obtain blessings of the guardian deities of Sri Lanka.
Nuwara Eliya
Then we head to Nuwara Eliya, which is famous as “Little England” with its colonial style city.
Nuwara Eliya, meaning “city on the plain (table land)” or “city of light”, is a town in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka with a picturesque landscape and temperate climate. Nuwara Eliya’s climate lent itself to becoming the prime sanctuary of the British civil servants and planters in Ceylon. Nuwara Eliya was also a hill country retreat where the British colonialists could immerse in their pastimes such as fox hunting.
Due to the high altitude, Nuwara Eliya has a much cooler climate than the lowlands of Sri Lanka, with a mean annual temperature of 16°C. But the temperature changes and sometimes it can be as low as 3°C. In the winter months it is quite cold at night, and there can even be frost, although it rapidly warms as the tropical sun climbs higher during the day.
Check in to the hotel in Nuwara Eliya and if you wish, you can go for an evening boat ride on Gregory Lake.
Kithulgala
Kithulgala is a small town in the west of Sri Lanka. It is in the wet zone rain forest, which gets two monsoons each year, and is one of the wettest places in the country. Kithulgala is also a base for white water rafting, which starts a few kilometres upstream.
Then visit Bentota, famous for its water sports. Enjoy a leisurely evening on the beach.
Bentota
On the south coast of Sri Lanka sits the city of Bentota. The general area of Bentota is interesting for its birds. On the shore, sea & wandering birds are often found, including the rare Indian Heron. The vegetation along the river harbours many local species as well as winter migrants. Many interesting sightseeing tours are possible from here such as the turtle hatchery or boat trips on Bentota River.
Colombo
Visit Fort, the former British administrative centre and military garrison, Sea Street – the Goldsmith’s quarters in the heart of Pettah, the bazaar area, a Hindu temple with elaborate stone carvings, and the Dutch Church of Wolvendaal, dating back to 1749. Worth visiting in the Cinnamon Gardens are the historic Dewatagaha Mosque and the former Victoria Eye Hospital buildings. Also visit the BMICH, see the replica of Avukana Buddha, and Independence Square.
Overnight stay at a hotel in Colombo.
The last day of the tour: after breakfast, proceed to the airport for the departure flight home.
