Best of Sri Lanka 14 Days
highlights-of-sri-lanka

Arrive in Colombo, the  busy capital of Sri Lanka. Overland to  Anuradhapura - The capital of Sri Lanka from the 05th Century B.C. to the end of the 10th Century A.D. was the most celebrated of Sri Lanka’s ancient ruined cities and Pollonnaruwa.

Overland to Sigiriya, one of the World Heritage sites and also known as “Fortress in the Sky” which is perhaps the most fantastic single wonder of the Island. 

Drive further to Kandy, the hill capita and sightseeing tour of Kandy. Explore the Tea Plantation on your way to Nuwara Eliya, one of the biggest tea exporters in the world and finally enjoy the Nuwara Eliya which is also knows as The ‘Little England’ of Sri Lanka, is set against beautiful backdrops of Mountains, Valleys, Waterfalls and Tea Plantations.

Descend to the jungles of Yala.  National Park, before continuing Galle, and enjoy a leisurely walk through the cobbled stone pathways

 

 
 
 
  • Day 01 Arrive Colombo, transfer to hotel
  • Day 02 Colombo
  • Day 03 Anuradhapura
  • Day 04 Dambulla
  • Day 05 Dambulla
  • Day 06 Kandy
  • Day 07 Kandy
  • Day 08 Nuwara Eliya
  • Day 09 Nuwara Eliya
  • Day 10 Yala
  • Day 11 Yala -Galle
  • Day 12 Galle
  • Day 13 Galle
  • Day 14 Negombo - Airport
 

Day 01 Arrive Colombo, transfer to hotel

On arrival at the airport, you will be met by a representative of Third Eye Travel and transferred directly to your hotel in Colombo. Upon reaching your hotel, check-in & relax. 

 

 

Overnight stay at The Galle Face Hotel, Colombo – (Superior Room/s)

Day 02 Colombo

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to your hotel in Anuradhapura. Upon reaching, proceed on a city tour of Anuradhapura.

 

*Anuradhapura - the capital of Sri Lanka from the 05th Century B.C. to the end of the 10th Century A.D. was the most celebrated of Sri Lanka’s ancient ruined cities. The cities greatest treasures are its dagobas constructed of bricks and hemispherical in shape. The most notable of these dagobas are the Ruvanveliseya which dates back to the 2nd Century B.C. and is 300 feet in diameter, the Jetawanarama is 370 feet and the Thuparama Dagoba enshrines the collarbone of the Buddha. The city’s most renowned relic is the sacred Bo Tree, which is said to have grown from a branch of the tree under which the Buddha gained Enlightenment. It was planted 2250 years ago and is the oldest historically authenticated tree in the world.

 

Upon reaching, check-in & relax at the hotel.  

 

 

Overnight stay at Palm Garden Village, Anuradhapura (Standard Room/s)

Day 03 Anuradhapura

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to your hotel in Dambulla. En route, proceed on acity tour of the ancient city of Polonnaruwa.

 

*Polonnaruwa – another “World Heritage Site” was the Capital of Sri Lanka from 11th - 13th Centuries, contains some splendid and spectacular statues. Lankatilake, Tivanka and Thuparama are the most beautiful and largest Image Houses and Tivanka has the best example of frescoes of the Polonnaruwa period. RankothVehera and Kirivehera are well preserved large stupas, and Gal Vihare - a rock shrine, has four Buddha statues, two seated, one standing and one reclining and ParakramaBahu statue are examples of Sinhalese stone carver.

 

Upon reaching, check-in & relax at the hotel.

 

Overnight stay at Jetwing Lake, Dambulla (Deluxe Room/s)

Day 04 Dambulla

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, visit the Sigiriya Rock Forest.

 

*Sigiriya - is home to the 5th Century “Fortress in the Sky” which is perhaps the most fantastic single wonder of the Island. It is also known as Lion Rock because of the huge lion that used to stand at the entrance to the fortress.  Within its triple-moateddefence the huge rock rises almost to a sheer height of 500ft.  On its summit are the foundations of what was once a great and sumptuous palace and gardens complete with swimming pool. On one of the stairways the only known ancient work of Sinhala secular painting survived in the form of Frescoes of life sized damsels in all the freshness and delicacy of their original colour.

 

Afterwards enjoy a 4 X 4 jeep safari at the Minneriya National Park.

 

*Minneriya National Park – This National Park 8889 hectares in extent is famous for its large population of Elephants in herds of 100 to 150 roaming in the jungle and seen in the catchment area of the lake. Entrance is at Ambagaswewa about 6 km from Habarana on the main Habarana Polonnaruwa road. Office is by the side of the main road. Elephants, about 300 wild Elephants, Wild Buffaloes, Wild Boar, Spotted Deer, Sloth Bear, Sambhur, Leopards, Crocodiles, Jackals, 9 kinds of amphibians, 25 kinds of reptiles, 160 species of birds.

 

Overnight stay at Jetwing Lake, Dambulla (Deluxe Room/s)

 

 

Day 05 Dambulla

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to your hotel in Kandy. En route, visit the Dambulla Cave Temples.

 

*Dambulla - is a vast isolated rock mass 500 feet high and a mile around the base. Here is found the famous Rock Temple dating to the First Century B.C. The caves of Dambulla sheltered King Walagamba during his 14 years of exile from Anuradhapura. When he regained the throne he built the most magnificent of Rock Temples to be found in the Island. In the first Cave is a recumbent image of the Buddha 47ft long cut out of the Rock.

 

Upon reaching, check-in & relax at the hotel.

 

 

Overnight stay at Cinnamon Citadel, Kandy – (Superior Room)

Day 06 Kandy

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, Visit the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens. 

 

*Royal Botanical Gardens – 147 acres in extent; Started in 1374 as a pleasure garden of the Kings of Gampola and Kandy.  There are more than 5,000 species of trees, plants and creepers. Some rare and endemic as well as flora from the tropical world are found in the gardens.  Spice Garden and Orchid House are popular with tourists.

 

Transfer back to your hotel.

 

Evening you could witness a beautiful cultural dance performed by various traditional Sri Lankan dance & music artists.

 

*Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic  - ever since 4th Century A.D, when the Buddha’s Tooth was brought to Sri Lanka hidden from sacrilegious hands in an Orissan princess’ hair, the Relic has grown in repute and holiness in Sri Lanka and throughout the Buddhist world. It is considered Sri Lanka’s most prized possession. 

 

 

Overnight stay at Cinnamon Citadel, Kandy – (Superior Room/s) 

Day 07 Kandy

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to your hotel in Nuwara Eliya. En route, visit a Tea Plantation/Factory.

 

Upon reaching, check-in & relax at the hotel.

 

 

Overnight stay at Jetwing St. Andrews, Nuwara Eliya – (Superior Room/s)

Day 08 Nuwara Eliya

MEAL: Breakfast

After an early/packed breakfast from the hotel, enjoy a trek at the Horton Plains National Park.

 

*Horton Plains National Park – 20 miles (32 km) from Nuwara Eliya via Ambewela and Pattipola, is the Horton Plains only 3160 hectares in extent. Known to Sri Lankans as Mahaeliya, it became Horton Plains after Sir Robert Horton, British Governor from 1831- 1837. Horton Plains became a Nature Reserve in 1969 and upgraded as a National Park in 1988 due to its unique watershed and bio-diversity values. Its flora has high level of endemism. The hills are covered with diverse wet low evergreen forest with even large trees grown flattened to the ground on the higher windswept slopes.

 

 

Overnight stay at Jetwing St. Andrews, Nuwara Eliya – (Superior Room/s)

Day 09 Nuwara Eliya

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to your hotel in Yala. Upon reaching, check-in & relax at the hotel. 

 

 

Overnight stay at Jetwing Yala, Yala – (Superior Room/s)

Day 10 Yala

MEAL: Breakfast

After an early/packed breakfast from the hotel, enjoy a 4X4 jeep safari at Yala National Park.

 

*Yala (Ruhuna) National Park- the Ruhunu National Park covers 126,786 hectares including the Strict Natural Reserve (Block II). The most familiar is Block I (14,101 hectares) and this block was established in 1938. Yala is famous for its big herds and large number of Elephants, Leopards, Spotted Deer, Sambhur, Crocodiles, Mongoose, Wild Boar, Wild Buffalo, and many other animals. More than 130 bird species are recorded which includes the resident and winter visitors 

Transfer back to your hotel.

 

 

Overnight stay at Jetwing Yala, Yala – (Superior Room/s)

Day 11 Yala -Galle

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to your hotel in Galle. En route, visit the Stilt Fisherman in Weligama. Upon reaching, check-in & relax at the hotel. 

 

 

Overnight stay at Jetwing Lighthouse, Galle – (Deluxe Room/s)

Day 12 Galle

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, proceed on a city tour of Galle.

 

The Dutch Fort - Galle - The South Coast’s major city is Galle, whose oldest landmark is the massive Portuguese and Dutch Fort which is a “World Heritage Site” in which the central city is contained. But the city may be much older. Some scholars believe it to be the “Tarshish” of the Old Testament, to which King Solomon sent his merchant vessels, and to which Jonah fled from the Lord. Today, the 90-acre Galle Fort shows no evidence of the Portuguese founders. The Dutch incorporated the Portuguese northern wall in a great rampart in 1663. A second, taller wall was built inside of it. Between the two walls, a covered passage connected the central bastion with the Fort’s two half bastion’s overlooking the sea. The Dutch also installed a sophisticated drainage system, complete with brick-lined underground sewers that were flushed twice a day by the high and low tides.

 

 

Overnight stay at Jetwing Lighthouse, Galle – (Deluxe Room/s) 

Day 13 Galle

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, transfer to your hotel in Negombo. En route, visit the Kosgoda Turtle Hatchery.

 

*Kosgoda Turtle Hatchery - Where you can see five species of turtles-Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas), Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta), Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) and Olive Ridley Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea).The eggs collected by the Villagers and Fishermen are purchased by the Kosgoda Hatchery and kept in sandy pens until they are hatched. The newly hatched ones are kept in tanks and released to the sea in the night. This Hatchery alone has released more than 1,750,000 young turtles to the sea. An endowment by the Hasselblad Estate was responsible for the establishment of this hatchery.

 

Upon reaching, check-in & relax at the hotel. 

 

 

Overnight stay at Paradise Beach Hotel, Negombo – (Standard Room/s)

Day 14 Negombo - Airport

MEAL: Breakfast

After breakfast at the hotel, get transferred to the airport for your departure 

 
 
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