Arrive in bustling, shaky, colorful Colombo with all its red and green tuk-tuks, trees with canopies shading the roads below, small cricket fields, and food stalls. Transfer to a small but unique hotel downtown Colombo.
Transportation: Colombo Airport (CMB) to Colombo by Car or Van
Accommodation: Colombo Budget Hotel
After an early breakfast, check out and depart for Fort Railway station. Board the train for a fine ride to Kandy. The train pushes its way through small villages with sleepy stations, station masters with green and red flags, and flowers all over. Up through the mountains, closely past waterfalls, and into the clouds. Upon arrival at the cultural capital of Sri Lanka, Kandy, your personal driver will welcome you and take you to your hotel. After freshening up, go to the Kandy view point, enjoy a Kandian dance in the early afternoon, visit the Temple of the Tooth in the evening.
Meals: Breakfast
Transportation: Colombo to Kandy by Train in 1st Class
Accommodation: Kandy Budget Hotel
After breakfast, your driver will take you by true mountain roads through green mountains, with tea plantations clad in light green with dots of color from the workers picking leaves, and to Ramboda waterfall. You can have lunch on the way. You will visit the tea estate at Labookale, famous for a fine variety of mountain tea to listen to the story of tea making. You'll arrive at Nuwara Eliya in the early afternoon and will check-in at your hotel and relax. If you have some energy left, you can visit the Victoria Park or do some short treks.
Meals: Breakfast
Transportation: Kandy to Nuwara Eliya by Car or Van
Accommodation: Nuwara Eliya Budget Hotel
It will be an early start before the sun rises. At this time it will be cold and crisp so bring a sweater!. First, you'll drive out to the Horton Plains, a wild moorland where you'll go for a trek. Suddenly, you will be at the world's end and it seems like all Sri Lanka lies at your feet. You'll drive back to your hotel and proceed with your driver through stunning mountainscapes to Ella, the slow mountain village most people fall in love with. Check in at a place overlooking the mountains and, if you are still curious and your legs still fresh, you can visit the waterfall and the ridge nearby for a fine sunset. If you stay back, the view is just as rewarding.
Meals: Breakfast
Transportation: Nuwara Eliya to Ella by Car or Van
Accommodation: Ella Budget Hotel
After breakfast and a slow relaxing morning, get ready for a simple though inspiring cooking class. Try your hands in preparing some delicious Sri Lankan delicacies, and the spicy, fresh treat will be served to you for lunch. Later in the day you can relax for a lazy afternoon or go to the beautiful Ravana falls and enjoy the scenery along the road with colorful food stalls, large rainforest trees, slow market towns, and the flow of tuk-tuks. There are also other old temples and a cave nearby for a perfect evening.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Ella Budget Hotel
After breakfast, leave for Uda-walwe National Park. Enjoy a jeep ride through the National Park's grassland, which is the home of hundreds of elephants and the best place in Asia to see elephants up close. Most likely you will also spot wild buffalo, crocodiles, deer, and a variety of bird species. Peacocks are easily sighted inside the park. After lunch, drive to Tangalle. Before evening you will check in at a remote beach near Tangalle for a relaxing evening. After dinner, go barefoot and stroll the beach, have a night dip and, if it is close to the full moon, you could be lucky and see a turtle come ashore to lay eggs.
Meals: Breakfast
Transportation: Ella to Tangalle by Car or Van
Accommodation: Tangalle Budget Hotel
Enjoy your breakfast, the rest of the day is at leisure.
Meals: Breakfast
Accommodation: Tangalle Budget Hotel
Start easy and head to Mirrisa. You'll stopover in Tangalle where you can get an early lunch if you choose not to have lunch at the resort. We'll continue the drive to the Buddha temple Wewurukannala Vihara for a magnificent description of the consequences of good or bad deeds. A unique, though also beautiful, slow, and laid-back Buddhist temple. Here sits a 50 meter high Buddha figure – the largest in Sri Lanka. You'll reach Mirissa in the afternoon, check-in, and relax in the garden or go to the beach to enjoy a magnificent sunset.
Meals: Breakfast
Transportation: Tangalle to Mirissa by Car or Van
Accommodation: Mirissa Budget Hotel
Get up very early in the morning to be picked up for a whale-watching safari. The captain will take the boat to the deep blue sea to search for the grand blue whales. There are few places in the world can get you this close to the biggest creature living in the world today. A blue whale needs 8 tons of food everyday to maintain its beauty and shape. Breakfast is served on board. When you're back on shore, check-out and continue to Colombo. On the way there will be a few hours break in Galle, a former Dutch town. There is a fine colonial ambience here, with old brick houses, crisp cafes, restored hotels, deep inner yards, and the wall around the center. If you want, get your evening cup of tea or coffee at one of the high-end restaurants in Galle. Later drive to Colombo for a late arrival.
Meals: Breakfast
Transportation: Mirissa to Colombo by Car or Van
Accommodation: Colombo Budget Hotel
Start your day easy and enjoy a body massage with acupressure technique. Blind people trained in the techniques will do the massage. They will not talk a lot but their hands perform the magic on one's body to give that perfect freshness after a long journey. Later, hopefully still light in mind and body after the treat, you'll be escorted to the airport.
Meals: Breakfast
Transportation: Colombo to Colombo Airport (CMB) by Car or Van
