Wonders of Sri Lanka

Arrive in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s lively capital. You’ll drive past colonial buildings, temples, markets and modern streets before settling into the hotel, a calm base within the city’s energy. This evening, join your Travel Director and Small Group for a rooftop dinner, sharing locally sourced dishes that reflect the island’s culinary traditions while looking out across the Colombo skyline.

• Rooftop Dinner

Set off on a tuk-tuk ride through Colombo’s busy streets, moving from colonial-era buildings into the city’s more compact neighborhoods. You’ll travel through the lanes of Pettah Market, a long-standing center of trade and pause at the Red Mosque, noting its Indo-Saracenic design. Next, visit the 18th-century Wolvendaal Church, built by the Dutch. Continue to Gangaramaya Temple and finish the day at Hotel Nippon, a historic stop for travelers, and try its well-known mutton roll.

• Colombo City Tour by Tuk Tuk

You’ll meet Sri Lanka’s craft traditions in Divulapitiya, where generations of makers have worked with lacquer, batik, Dumbara weaving, drums, brass and clay. In Hiriwadunna, walk through village fields shaped by traditional farming, with a Farm-to-Table lunch of seasonal produce served in the open air. Nearby, watch artisans turn clay by hand into everyday pots using techniques passed down through families. At the Ibbankatuwa Megalithic Tombs, stone-built burial chambers take you much further back, into the lives and rituals of Sri Lanka’s prehistoric communities, before you reach Dambulla and your lakeside hotel.

• Farm -to-Table Lunch at Hiriwadunna Community
• Ibbankatuwa Megalithic Tombs

Travel to Anuradhapura, a UNESCO-listed city famous for its stupas, monastic sites and reservoirs that outline the scale of Sri Lanka’s early capital. Walk among stone structures that shaped the city’s religious and civic life for centuries. At Isurumuniya Temple, observe a monk leading a blessing ceremony. Later, you’ll have the chance to see Asian elephants across open plains and around the reservoir on an Optional Experience to Minneriya National Park.

• Visit Historic Anuradhapura
• Meet a Buddhist Monk at Isurumuniya Temple

This morning, choose between climbing the UNESCO-listed Sigiriya Rock Fortress or visiting a nearby botanical garden shaped by Sri Lanka’s long tradition of landscape design. After time to unwind, you’ll continue to Polonnaruwa with a Local Specialist, walking through the remains of this former capital and its key religious and civic structures. Finish the day with dinner full of flame-grilled flavors at your hotel.

• Sri Lanka BBQ Dinner
• Climb Sigiriya Rock
• Visit the Botanical Gardens
• Visit Ancient Polonnaruwa

Travel into Sri Lanka’s cultural heart, beginning at the Dambulla Cave Temple, where rock-cut chambers are filled with Buddha statues and painted ceilings. Continue to Matale to explore Sri Lanka’s herbs and spices, learning more about their use in local cooking, indigenous medicine and Ayurveda. Later, travel by tuk-tuk to Madakumbura Village in the buffer zone of the Knuckles Mountain Range. Pass paddy fields, schools and temples before arriving at a local home, where you’ll join a traditional cooking lesson and sit down to lunch with the family. Continue to Kandy, set among the hills of Sri Lanka’s central highlands and known for its strong Buddhist heritage, royal history and lakefront setting.

• Visit Dambulla Cave Temple
• Cooking Lesson with a Local Family

Enjoy a relaxed start before exploring Kandy’s Royal Botanical Gardens, where palm avenues, tropical plants and landscaped collections reflect the breadth of Sri Lanka’s flora. Afterwards, spend time as you please or choose from two Optional Experiences: join a Local Specialist to explore Kandy’s eateries and heritage buildings, or take a Mahaweli River cruise past riverside communities. Later, visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, one of Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist sites, before ending the day with a Kandyan Cultural Show of traditional drumming, dance and ceremonial performance.

• Puja Ceremony at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
• Kandy Cultural Dance Performance

Cooler air and tea-covered hills welcome you into Sri Lanka’s central highlands. At a tea estate, follow the journey from leaf to cup, stepping into the fields before seeing how Ceylon tea is processed and tasting a freshly brewed cup for yourself. In Nuwara Eliya, explore with your Travel Director, from the waterside setting of Gregory Lake to the town’s red-brick, Tudor-style post office. Your day finishes at the Grand Hotel, where polished silverware, delicate sandwiches and sweet treats accompany a traditional high tea in this former colonial hill station.

• Nuwara Eliya City Tour
• High Tea in Nuwara Eliya
• Tea Estate Visit

Take your seat for one of Sri Lanka’s great railway journeys, traveling from Nuwara Eliya towards Ella through tea-covered hills, forested valleys and ribbons of falling water. Historic stations and hillside villages punctuate the route as the train winds through the central highlands. At Ella Gap, pause for lunch with the land dropping away towards the southern plains. From here, the cool hill country gives way to warmer lowlands on the road to Yala, where your hotel sits close to one of Sri Lanka’s best-known national parks.

• Ella Gap Viewpoint
• Scenic Train Journey to Ella

Set out on morning and evening game drives with an expert ranger, exploring Yala’s diverse landscapes, from dry woodlands to coastal lagoons. Keep watch for Asian elephants grazing near waterholes, crocodiles basking along the shores and, with luck, the elusive Sri Lankan leopard. Between drives, you may like to take a guided nature walk through the hotel’s surroundings, where vibrant birdlife thrives, from kingfishers and bee-eaters to herons wading in the wetlands.

• Yala National Park Game Drive
• Bird Spotting Nature Walk

Travel along Sri Lanka’s southern coastline, passing fishing villages and palm-lined shores shaped by life at the water’s edge. Stop in Weligama to meet stilt fishermen, who work from wooden poles set in the shallows—a practice developed during World War II when boats were scarce. Continue to Galle Fort, a UNESCO-listed stronghold built by the Portuguese and later expanded by the Dutch. Explore its streets with your Travel Director, including the former District Judge’s house, museums, temples and a long-standing mosque that reflects the fort’s mixed heritage. Finish up at the lighthouse, a local gathering point with clear views over the Indian Ocean.

• Weligama Stilt Fishermen
• Galle Fort & Lighthouse Visit

Spend the day at leisure, unwinding at your hotel or exploring more of Galle’s historic streets and coastal scenery. For those seeking a deeper connection to Sri Lanka’s landscapes and traditions, a choice of Optional Experiences awaits. Set out early on a whale-watching cruise to search for blue whales and dolphins off the southern coast, or visit a cinnamon estate to learn about the cultivation of this prized spice. In the afternoon, you can opt to join a boat trip across Koggala Lake, where mangrove-lined shores and small islands reveal a mix of wildlife and local heritage. As the day winds down, enjoy dinner at the hotel with your Travel Director and fellow travelers, reflecting on the journey through this captivating island.

Spend your final morning at leisure, soaking in the last moments of your Sri Lankan adventure. In the afternoon, you’ll visit a sea turtle conservation center on a MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience, where a dedicated team works to protect Sri Lanka’s endangered turtle species. Learn about ongoing conservation efforts, if the season allows, witness hatchlings being released into the ocean. After this meaningful visit, bid farewell to your Travel Director and Small Group before transferring to the airport. Flights should be booked for departure after 20:00, bringing your journey through Sri Lanka to a close.

• Victor Hasselblad Sea Turtle Research Centre