Sri Lanka Grand Explorer – 4-Star Hotels

Start early at Sigiriya, before the heat builds. The approach is half the pleasure: you walk through the symmetrical water gardens, past boulders where the king's courtiers once sat, then up to the foot of the rock. Locals call the fortress the Eighth Wonder of the World, and a few steps in you see why. Built in the 5th century by King Kashyapa and rising about 200 m above the forest, it is a palace perched on a monolith.

The climb follows a sequence. An iron staircase spirals up the cliff to a sheltered gallery of painted celestial maidens, still glowing after fifteen centuries. Beyond it runs the polished Mirror Wall, once glossy enough to reflect the king as he walked, now covered with centuries of visitors' verses. Giant lion's paws mark the old gateway, and about 1,200 steps in total take you to the summit ruins, with forest in every direction. Take water, a hat and shoes with grip, and expect it to take the best part of the morning.

Later you drive a short way to Dambulla. Five caves lie beneath a rock that rises around 160 m above the plains, and since the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC monks have decorated them. Between them the caves shelter 153 statues of the Buddha, a few royal and divine figures, and ceilings painted with scenes from his life. Remove your shoes, cover your shoulders and knees, and allow time to look slowly.

Finish with a village outing near Sigiriya: a bullock-cart ride between paddy fields, a paddle in a traditional canoe on the lake, a visit to a chena plot where villagers grow food in the rain-fed way of their grandparents, and a cooking demonstration in a family kitchen that ends with an authentic rice-and-curry lunch. Then return to your hotel in Sigiriya.

Transport: Private air-conditioned vehicle with English-speaking driver-guide

After breakfast you leave Sigiriya for Kandy, a drive of roughly three hours, with a long, rewarding stop at Matale on the way. The Ayurveda spice garden here is run as a working plantation and teaching garden. A guide walks you through the shaded rows and introduces each plant: nutmeg, pepper vines climbing their supports, clove trees, cinnamon, curry leaf and cardamom, a relative of ginger. Cardamom likes the shade of tall forest trees and can only be harvested by hand, which helps explain its price.

Many of the growers belong to a cooperative that processes and sells their crop at fair prices, and you can taste, smell and buy spices and herbal remedies if you wish. There is no pressure, and it is simply a good way to understand why Sri Lanka was a name on every medieval spice trader's lips.

Continue into the hills. The road drops into the Kandy valley, where the city surrounds a small artificial lake and a ring of green ridges. Check in and rest for a while. Late in the afternoon, at around five o'clock, you attend a cultural dance performance in town that lasts about an hour. Expect drummers, dancers in elaborate headdresses and silver-bright costumes, acrobatic Kandyan dances and, to finish, fire-walking. It is lively, loud and better enjoyed from the front half of the hall.

Afterwards you return to your hotel in Kandy for dinner wherever you like, and your driver-guide can recommend a restaurant close by.

Transport: Private air-conditioned vehicle with English-speaking driver-guide

Kandy deserves a full day, and this one is arranged around the city's three great attractions. The morning begins at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, beside the lake. Tradition says the Buddha's tooth reached the island in the 4th century, carried in a princess's hair from Orissa, and kings and monks have guarded it ever since. Pilgrims arrive with lotus flowers, drummers announce the ritual and the inner shrine opens for worship at set times of the day. Dress modestly, remove your shoes and bring a little patience for the queues.

Then you visit a gem museum and workshop, where a reconstructed mine and a short film explain how the stones are dug up, cut and mounted. Sri Lanka has produced sapphires and other gems for centuries, and the display cases show them raw and finished. The showroom is there if you want to look, with no obligation. Afterwards there is free time for lunch and shopping in the town centre, where you can browse for batik, woodcarvings and tea.

In the afternoon you drive about 5 km west to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya. The grounds sit in a loop of the Mahaweli river, covering some 147 acres and holding more than 4,000 species. Walk down the avenues of giant trees and palms, visit the orchid house and the spice garden, and look out for the giant trees and clumps of bamboo. Their story goes back to 1371, when a king kept court beside this bend of the river, and they briefly served as an Allied headquarters in the Second World War. Allow a relaxed two hours.

Transport: Private air-conditioned vehicle with English-speaking driver-guide

The road from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya climbs steadily through terraces of tea, and the journey takes roughly three to four hours by road without stops. You will spend much of the day on the way, because the stops are the point.

First comes a tea estate and factory. Tea reached the central hills under British rule, and the first bush is said to have come from China to Peradeniya. Inside the factory the leaf passes from withering to rolling, fermenting, drying and grading, and the visit ends with a fresh cup of Ceylon tea and a view across the terraces. The smell inside the withering room alone is worth the visit. Pickers in bright clothes work the slopes nearby, and you can watch them from the road.

Further up lies the Hanuman temple at Ramboda, a colourful shrine on a hillside that holds an 18 ft statue of Hanuman, the tallest in the country, and links the island to the Ramayana epic. It is quick to visit, but remove your shoes at the door. Close to it, Ramboda Falls tumbles in tiers beside the highway and makes a good photo stop, particularly after rain.

You reach Nuwara Eliya, at about 1,900 m, in the late afternoon. The town's clipped lawns, colonial bungalows and flower gardens earned it the nickname Little England, and you can walk beside Gregory Lake or around the market before dusk. Evenings are cold, so keep a jumper and a light jacket within reach.

Transport: Private air-conditioned vehicle with English-speaking driver-guide

Today is the one many travellers come for. After breakfast your driver-guide takes you to the small station at Nanu Oya, which serves Nuwara Eliya, where you board the scenic train to Ella. The journey takes around three to four hours, and the line, laid by the British in 1864 to carry tea and coffee from the estates, climbs through tea fields, tunnels and bridges, with waterfalls and cloud at the windows. Many carriages have open doors, so keep a firm grip on your camera and do not lean out. Train tickets are bought separately and seats should be reserved well ahead, because the busiest services sell out. Your driver meets you at Ella with your luggage already in the car.

Once you arrive, check in to the hotel and rest if you like. In the afternoon you visit two of the village's best-known sights. The Nine Arch Bridge at Demodara is a curved viaduct of stone blocks and cement with no iron reinforcement, commissioned in 1921, which runs between two hills in the jungle. It looks best when a train slides across, and your driver-guide will know roughly when to arrive. Walking along the track is common, but step off when you hear a horn.

Ravana Falls, a short drive away beside the road, drops about 82 ft from a curved rock in the shape of a drooping areca flower when it is full, and it thins considerably in the dry season. Local legend ties the falls to Ravana of the Ramayana. Return to the hotel, have dinner in one of Ella's cafés and sleep well.

Transport: Private air-conditioned vehicle with English-speaking driver-guide

You can enjoy Ella's cool, clear morning before the journey south begins. If you are an early riser, walk to the Nine Arch Bridge again for the morning trains, or take the easy path to Little Adam's Peak, which climbs through tea fields for around an hour and rewards you with a ridge view through the Ella Gap. Back at the hotel, have breakfast and pack.

On leaving Ella, your driver-guide stops once more at the places you passed yesterday if you want a second look: the Nine Arch Bridge in morning light, and Ravana Falls beside the road as you head down from the hills. The scenery changes quickly. Within minutes the tea terraces give way to dry forest, red soil and open plains, and the temperature rises steadily. The drive from Ella to Tissamaharama takes roughly two hours.

Tissamaharama is a lakeside town and the usual base for Yala. Its ancient Tissa Wewa reservoir lies at the heart of the town, with a gleaming white stupa and rice paddies behind it, and it is worth a short walk around the water's edge at sunset when the birds come in to roost. Kataragama, a pilgrimage town revered by Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims, is a short drive away, and its evening puja on the Menik Ganga river is a memorable sight if you have the energy.

Eat early and go to bed early, because tomorrow's safari leaves in the dark. Your driver-guide will agree the pick-up time and arrange the jeep.

Transport: Private air-conditioned vehicle with English-speaking driver-guide

This is the longest day of the tour and also one of the best. You leave Tissamaharama in the dark for Yala, ideally with a packed breakfast from your hotel, and start the morning jeep safari as the park wakes. A tracker rides with you and the drivers share sightings by radio. Yala has one of the densest leopard populations known anywhere, and the other residents include elephants, sloth bears, crocodiles, peacocks, buffalo and a long list of birds. No sighting can be promised, but the odds of a good morning are high. The jeep fee is paid separately.

Return to your hotel for breakfast and a wash, then drive west along the south coast to Galle, a journey of roughly three hours. The Portuguese started Galle Fort in 1588, and from 1649 the Dutch made it much stronger; today it is a walled town of tiled roofs and old warehouses. Walk the ramparts, passing the lighthouse, the clock tower and the Dutch Reformed Church, then drift through lanes of cafés and galleries.

Continue north up the coast to the Madu River, a wetland of mangrove islands. Of its roughly 64 islands, some are inhabited, and the whole system covers about 915 hectares fed by seven tributaries. A boat ride takes you through the channels, with stops where a cinnamon peeler shows his craft and on a platform where small fish nibble your feet. Further along, at a turtle hatchery, you see turtles of different species and hatchlings that have been rescued, before reaching your seaside hotel at Waskaduwa in the evening.

Transport: Private air-conditioned vehicle with English-speaking driver-guide

After a relaxed breakfast, you leave the beach for Colombo, roughly an hour and a half away, and take a short city tour before your flight. The drive goes past Galle Face Green and the Fort district, with a look at Independence Square, the capital's main museum, the old Parliament building and the twin towers of the World Trade Center. You can stop at Viharamahadevi Park and see temples, a mosque and a church, since the capital holds all four of the island's main faiths. There is also a chance to shop for last gifts. Your driver-guide then takes you to the airport, about an hour from the city, timed to your flight.

Transport: Private air-conditioned vehicle with English-speaking driver-guide