Itinerary
Day 1: Airport - Colombo
Stop At: Colombo Fort, Galle Buck, Colombo Sri Lanka
Your driver will meet you at the airport or your hotel and continue to Colombo City. Depending on your time of arrival / pick-up you will enjoy a Colombo sightseeing tour (optional) or proceed directly to your hotel.
Duration: 1 hour
No meals included on this day.
Accommodation included: Overnight at Oriental Hotel, Colombo
Day 2: Colombo - Train Journey to Kandy - Kandy
Stop At: Colombo Fort Railway Station, Olcott Mawatha Road, Colombo Sri Lanka
After breakfast you will be picked you up from your hotel and proceed to the Colombo Fort railway station from where your journey to Kandy starts by train. This train ride will take you by the famous Muthurajawela marshland, through villages and vast paddy fields.
Once in Kandy, our driver who will await you at the railway station, takes you to your hotel for relaxing afternoon.
This special Sri Lanka Train / Drive Tour is certainly a must for everybody who wants to explore Sri Lanka's hill country in a very special way.
The railway network was introduced by the British colonial government in 1864. The main reason for building a railway system in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) was to transport tea and coffee from the hill country to the capital city Colombo. Still today a journey by train from Kandy to the highlands of Nuwara Eliya, Ella or Dickoya is one of the most fabulous experiences Sri Lanka has to offer. The climb uphill up to 6,000 ft above sea level, is one of the greatest railway journeys in the world. The dramatic landscape of the highlands stirs the senses as you wind past lush tea plantations, majestic peaks and rushing waterfalls.
Duration: 3 hours
Stop At: Kandy City Center, Kand, Kandy 20000 Sri Lanka
Free Time. Once in Kandy, our driver who will await you at the railway station, takes you to your hotel for relaxing afternoon.
Duration: 2 hours
Meals included:
Breakfast
Accommodation included: Overnight at Thilanka Hotel, Kandy
Day 3: Kandy - Elephant Orphanage - Temple of the Tooth - Botanical Garden
Stop At: Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, B199, Pinnawala 71100 Sri Lanka
The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage was established by the Sri Lankan Department of Wildlife Conservation in 1975 for feeding and providing care and sanctuary to orphaned baby elephants that were found in the wild
Duration: 2 hours
Stop At: Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Sri Dalada Veediya, Kandy 20000, Sri Lanka
Sri Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is a Buddhist temple in the city of Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is located in the royal palace complex of the former Kingdom of Kandy, which houses the relic of the tooth of the Buddha
Duration: 2 hours
Stop At: Royal Botanic Gardens, , Kandy, Sri Lanka
Established in 1816, these gardens are located about 6.5km before Kandy on the side of the Colombo-Kandy highway. Initially planted with Coffee and Cinnamon, now includes beautiful Sri Lankan and overseas species. No vehicle is allowed entry to this 147-acre garden. It is bounded on three sides by a loop of the Mahaweli River.
The Avenue of Royal Palms, Bamboo-fringed riverside drive, Bat drive, Spice garden, Orchard house, Cactus house and a Glasshouse of anthuriums, begonias, African Violets and other species and the giant Javan fig tree found on the great lawn attract locals as well as visitors from overseas. It covers an area of 1600 sqm. Keep your eyes open for an oxen driven lawn mover.
Duration: 2 hours
Meals included:
Breakfast: Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian options available
Accommodation included: Overnight at Thilanka Hotel, Kandy
Day 4: Kandy - Sigiriya - Dambulla - Kandy
Stop At: Sigiriya, Sri Lanka
Climb the UNESCO World Heritage Site Sigiriya Rock in Sri Lankas Cultural Triangle, where you will have a chance to gaze over the stunning views of Central Sri Lanka. Sigiriya (sometimes called Lions Rock) is the ruins of an ancient palace in a 200m high rock fortress, overlooking the beautiful plains of North-Central Sri Lanka. Built for an exiled Indian prince, the breathtaking ruins are one of Sri Lankas main tourist attractions and date back to AD 477. Despite its age, Sigiriya still retains much of its former beauty and features some of the finest examples of ancient art in the form of wall paintings, as well as a network of attractive gardens and reservoirs, and Sigiriyas namesake a gigantic pair of lions paws cut into the rock. With its fascinating history and unerring beauty, Sigiriya is often referred to as the 8th wonder of the world and the UNESCO-sponsored Central Cultural Fund has even restored Sigiriyas 5th century Water Gardens, so that you can get a glimpse of what Sigiriya might have been like thousands of years ago.
Duration: 2 hours
Stop At: Dambulla Royal Cave Temple, Kandy - Jaffna Highway, Dambulla 21100 Sri Lanka
Dambulla Rock Temple is a magnificent gallery of Buddha images and wall and ceiling paintings not seen anywhere else in the Island. It is a complex of five cave temples with its origin going back to the first1st century BC.
Dambulla and its five cave temples are filed with Buddhist murals and many Buddha statues. Visitors must remove their shoes and approach the shrines bare-foot. The first cave is filled with the 47-foot-long recumbent image of the meditating Buddha.
In the second cave, there are 150 beautifully carved and preserved gilded statues of gods and Buddhas. The rock ceilings are painted in brilliantly preserved and intricately detailed patterns and images of the holy figures.
Duration: 2 hours
Meals included:
Breakfast: Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian options available
Accommodation included: Overnight at Thilanka Hotel, Kandy
Day 5: Kandy - Scenic Train Ride to Ella via Nuwara Eliya - Ella
Pass By: Nuwara Eliya Town Hall, Avissawella - Hatton - Nuwara Eliya Hwy, Nuwara Eliya 22200, Sri Lanka
You will pass Nuwara Eliya, home of the famous Ceylon Tea.
Nuwara Eliya or City of Light is the tea capital of Sri Lanka at an altitude of 1889 m and is the most visited hill station of the island.
Nuwara Eliya was found by a group of British officers during the earlier part of the 19th century, who as the story goes, had gotten lost while elephant hunting. The British governor at the time, Sir Edward Barnes, was told about this little town and subsequently decided to take residence there, soon creating a health resort, which soon became internationally renown.
Nuwara Eliya is surrounded by a seemingly endless array of tea plantations populated by tea pickers who are almost exclusively Indian Tamils, who are distinct from the Ceylonese Tamils who live in the Northeast of the country.
Pass By: Demodara Nine Arch Bridge, Gotuwala, Ella 90090 Sri Lanka
The Nine Arch Bridge also called the Bridge in the Sky, is a bridge in Sri Lanka. It is one of the best examples of colonial-era railway construction in the country. The construction of the bridge is generally attributed to a local Ceylonese builder, P. K. Appuhami, in consultation with British engineers.
Stop At: Ella Rock, Ella Main Street NECS-Nature Exploration and Conservation Society Sri Lanka, Ella 90090 Sri Lanka
Ella is a beautiful small village in Sri Lanka's hill country with little more than a handful of shops, hotels and guesthouses, but it has an almost perfect climate and occupies a very scenic vantage point, with views on a fine day stretching right across the South Coast of Sri Lanka.
A traveller writes:
"The view through the Ella gap was probably the best in the entire island. It was quite early and the isolated hills on the plain popped up like little islands in the mist."
As if view's weren't enough, Ella is surrounded by hills perfect for walks through tea plantations to temples and waterfalls.
Duration: 8 hours
Meals included:
Breakfast: Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian options available
Accommodation included: Overnight at Flower Garden, Ella
Day 6: Ella - Colombo or optional South Coast (pls. read description)
Pass By: Ella Rock, Ella Main Street NECS-Nature Exploration and Conservation Society Sri Lanka, Ella 90090 Sri Lanka
IMPORTANT: The driver/guide will put you on the train in Kandy, but does NOT follow to Ella! Flower Garden is only 50 m from Ella railways station and, if in doubt, we'll inform them to meet you. From Ella you can either return to Colombo by train (or bus), travel down to the South Coast by bus or arrange with us a tour extension.
Meals included:
Breakfast: Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian options available
No accommodation included on this day.