Panoramic Sri Lanka

1. West coast
2. 01 2 m

   Day 1. Land at Negombo

   Drive 12 km · 25 min

   Negombo 2 m

   Met at the airport and driven twenty minutes to a beach hotel in Negombo. The rest of the day is yours, which after a long flight is the right amount of plan.

3. Cultural Triangle
4. 02 100 m

   Day 2. Pinnawala, then north

   Drive 215 km · 5 h

   Habarana 100 m

   Inland to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, timed for the morning bathing in the river and the bottle feeding of the calves. Then north into the dry zone to Habarana, the base for the ancient cities and the jeep safaris at Minneriya.

5. 03 100 m

   Day 3. Polonnaruwa and Sigiriya

   Drive 130 km · 3 h in total

   Habarana 100 m

   Polonnaruwa in the morning: the capital from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, compact and well preserved, with the rock-cut Buddhas of Gal Vihara at its end. In the afternoon, the climb up Sigiriya, past the frescoes and the lion’s paws to the palace foundations on the summit.

6. Hill country
7. 04 500 m

   Day 4. Dambulla and Kandy

   Drive 120 km · 3 h

   Kandy 500 m

   South to the cave temple at Dambulla, five caves of painted rock in use for two thousand years. On into the hills to Kandy, with a drive round the upper lake, the market square and the Temple of the Tooth.

8. 05 1,868 m

   Day 5. Peradeniya and the tea road

   Drive 80 km · 3 h

   Nuwara Eliya 1,868 m

   The Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya first thing, then the climb through Ramboda past its falls, stopping at a working tea factory and its garden. Nuwara Eliya by evening: the Victorian hill station, and cold at night.

9. 06 1,868 m

   Day 6. Horton Plains

   Drive 60 km · 2 h return

   Nuwara Eliya 1,868 m

   An early start for Horton Plains and the walk to World’s End, where the plateau drops away, and on to Baker’s Falls. Leave at first light: the cloud closes the view by mid morning. The afternoon back in Nuwara Eliya.

10. Deep south
11. 07 20 m

    Day 7. Hakgala, Ella and down to Yala

    Drive 175 km · 4 h 30

    Yala 20 m

    The gardens at Hakgala on the way out of town, then Ella, a small hill village with a view straight down to the southern plains, and the long descent off the escarpment to Yala.

12. South coast
13. 08 5 m

    Day 8. Yala at dawn, Bentota by night

    Drive 250 km · 4 h 30

    Bentota 5 m

    Out in a jeep as the park opens, for elephants, deer, crocodiles and, with luck, a leopard. Back for breakfast, then west along the coast to Bentota. After a dawn safari this is a long day on the road.

14. 09 5 m

    Day 9. Bentota, on the water

    No transfer

    Bentota 5 m

    A free day by the sea, or out on the water: the lagoon is where the jet skis and windsurfing are. A boat on the Madu River through the mangroves, and a turtle hatchery in the afternoon.

15. West coast
16. 10 5 m

    Day 10. Colombo

    Drive 65 km · 1 h 30

    Colombo 5 m

    Up the coast to Colombo for the last night: the Fort, the Pettah markets and Galle Face Green at sunset.

17. 11 9 m

    Day 11. Home, or the beach

    Drive 35 km · 45 min

    Airport 9 m

    A transfer to the airport, or on to a beach hotel for a few more days by the sea.

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.