Culture and Wildlife

1. Colombo
2. 01 5 m

   Day 1. Colombo

   Drive 35 km · 45 min

   Colombo 5 m

   Met at the airport and driven into Colombo. After lunch, a city tour and a shopping stop: the Fort, the Pettah bazaar and the sea front.

3. Cultural Triangle
4. 02 81 m

   Day 2. Pinnawala and Anuradhapura

   Drive 240 km · 5 h 30

   Anuradhapura 81 m

   Out to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, where an elephant ride is part of the stop, then north to Anuradhapura, the first capital, for Ruwanwelisaya and the rock temple at Isurumuniya in the afternoon.

5. 03 150 m

   Day 3. Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya

   Drive 180 km · 4 h

   Dambulla 150 m

   East to Polonnaruwa, the medieval capital, then the climb up Sigiriya in the afternoon, and on to Dambulla for the night.

6. Hill country
7. 04 500 m

   Day 4. Dambulla to Kandy

   Drive 72 km · 2 h 30

   Kandy 500 m

   The Dambulla cave temple in the morning, a spice garden on the Matale road and a gem museum, then the Temple of the Tooth and a Kandyan cultural show in Kandy.

8. 05 1,868 m

   Day 5. Up to Nuwara Eliya

   Drive 80 km · 3 h

   Nuwara Eliya 1,868 m

   The Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, then the road through Ramboda past its falls, with a tea factory and a tea garden on the way, and Victoria Park in Nuwara Eliya before dark.

9. Deep south
10. 06 20 m

    Day 6. Yala

    Drive 170 km · 4 h 30

    Yala 20 m

    Down off the hills to Yala for an afternoon jeep safari: elephants, deer, crocodiles, peacocks, and the leopards the park is known for.

11. West coast
12. 07 9 m

    Day 7. Home

    Drive 290 km · 5 h 30

    Airport 9 m

    The southern expressway to the airport. It is a long drive, so an evening flight suits this day best.

Distances and drive times are typical for an unhurried private car, not a promise. Sri Lankan roads outside the expressways are single carriageway through villages, so a hundred and fifty kilometres is usually three hours. Every figure here is an estimate.