Cultural Triangle
10-Day Sri Lanka Cultural, Wildlife & Scenic Escape
Negombo / Sigiriya / Kandy / Nuwara Eliya / Ella / Tissamaharama / Galle
The shape
This is the island covered properly, and it moves. Nine nights across seven bases, with two doubled up - Sigiriya and Ella - so there are two mornings where nothing is packed.
Sigiriya at seven, before the coaches. The Tooth Relic during the midday ritual rather than around it. Tea country by road, then Ella on foot. Yala in the afternoon when the leopards move, and the last night inside the fort at Galle.
The route runs the length of the island - dry zone, hills, the south coast - so you leave having seen four different countries’ worth of landscape without ever driving more than three and a half hours in a day.
The Peacock Standard
Always included
- Private vehicle and chauffeur guide throughout
- Every property booked and confirmed
- Breakfast daily, dinner most nights
- Park and site entrances arranged in advance
- Airport meet-and-greet on arrival and departure
- Cold towels and chilled king coconut in the vehicle
- A number answered at any hour
What each day holds
Day by day
Day 1 · Negombo
A night to land
Met at the airport and driven twenty minutes up the coast. Nothing is scheduled. The point of this night is that day two starts properly rather than at half strength.
The lagoon at dusk · an oruwa on the sand · the sun going down
Days 2–3 · Sigiriya · two nights
The rock, then the elephants
North past Pinnawala, where the herd is walked down to the river to bathe and the calves are bottle-fed. Up at first light on the second morning for the climb - twelve hundred steps, and the water gardens laid out below when you turn around. The afternoon is a jeep safari for wild elephants; which park depends on where the herds have gathered that week, so your guide decides that morning.
The bathing herd · a calf at feeding time · the rock from the tank · the frescoes · the water gardens · wild elephants at Minneriya, Kaudulla or Hurulu
Day 4 · Kandy
A painted ceiling and a drumbeat
Dambulla first: five caves, a hundred and fifty Buddhas, every inch of ceiling painted. Then south into the hills, and the Kandyan dancers in the evening - drums, fire, and a great deal of noise.
The cave entrance at Dambulla · the cave Buddhas · the drummers
Day 5 · Nuwara Eliya
Into the tea
The Tooth Relic at midday, during the Thevava ritual rather than around it. Then the climb into tea country, stopping at Ramboda Falls and a working factory where the leaves are still sorted by hand. Nuwara Eliya is genuinely cold after dark.
The Temple of the Sacred Tooth · the Thevava ritual · Ramboda Falls · the tea factory at Bluefield
Days 6–7 · Ella · two nights
Little England, then down
The old red post office and the racecourse in the mist, before the road drops toward Ella. Nine Arches by tuk tuk, and Ravana Falls on the way in. The second morning is yours - Little Adam’s Peak at sunrise, the Demodara Loop by tuk tuk, tea and pol roti in a village kitchen, or nothing at all.
The old post office · the road down · Nine Arches · Ravana Falls · Little Adam’s Peak at six · pol roti on the fire
Day 8 · Tissamaharama
Down to the dry country
Out of the hills to Tissamaharama, and into Yala in the afternoon, when the light drops and the animals begin to move. Leopards if you are lucky; elephants, buffalo and a great deal of birdlife if you are not.
Tissamaharama from above · a leopard, if it wants to be seen · the jeep going in · the birdlife · an elephant on the track
Day 9 · Galle
The coast road, and the fort
West along the coast, stopping at Koggala for the stilt fishermen, then into Galle Fort. The ramparts in the evening, when the families come out to sit on the wall.
The stilt fishermen · the fort gate · the colonial streets · the old town
Day 10 · Departure
Breakfast, then the expressway to the airport - the only road in the country that behaves like a motorway.
2.5 hrs