Swagatam Tours Private Limited

Holidays of Asia

Sri Lanka Tourism

• Sri Lanka Tour Package
Duration : 6 Nights / 7 Days
Destinations : Colombo - Sigiriya - Habarana - Dambulla - Minneriya National Park - Sigiriya - Habarana - Dambulla - Kandy - Bentota - Colombo

Sri Lanka is often called the Pearl of the Orient. It is a land of sunshine, beaches, mountains, waterfalls, tea plantations, coconut palms, spices and gems. Sri Lanka’s 1600 km of coastline contains fine beaches, wide stretches of sand, miles of clear water, pretty bays and deep natural harbours. North of Colombo is the beach of Negombo. To the south lies Beruwala and Bentota.

Best Time To Visit : December to March.
Best Buys : Ruby, topaz, tea.

Day 1 : Colombo - Sigiriya - Habarana - Dambulla
Arrive Colombo and transfer to your hotel in Sigiriya/ Habarana/Dambulla. Evening at leisure.
Overnight.

Day 2 : Sigiriya - Habarana - Dambulla - Minneriya National Park
Breakfast. Proceed on a tour of the Minneriya National Park by jeep in search of wild life. Return to the hotel. In the evening visit the Dambulla Rock Temple, which was built by King Walagambahu in the 1st century B.C. Dambulla is a World Heritage Site and is the most impressive of Sri Lanka's cave temples. The complex of five caves contains over 2000 sqm. of painted walls and ceilings with images of the Buddha. The largest is the colossal Buddha spanning 14 meters, carved out of rock.
Overnight.

Day 3 : Sigiriya - Habarana - Dambulla - Kandy
Breakfast. Drive to Kandy and check in at your hotel. Your afternoon city tour includes Kandy Lake, Kandy town and bazaar, the Arts and Crafts Centre, a gem museum and lapidary. In the evening, visit the Temple of the Tooth relic and enjoy a traditional cultural dance show.
Overnight.

Day 4 : Kandy - Bentota
Breakfast. Depart for Bentota. Enroute visit the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage, which is home for about 60 elephants (out of which around 50 are baby elephants found abandoned or orphaned in the wild). The best time for your visit is at 9 a.m., when you will have the opportunity of seeing these 'babies' being bottle-fed. You could also accompany the elephants to a river close by to see them having their daily bath. Continue to Bentota and transfer to your hotel.
Overnight.

Day 5 : Bentota
Breakfast. Full day at leisure. Bentota is a tropical paradise where you can go boating, enjoy some water sports, explore coral reefs in a glass bottom boat and more.
Overnight.

Day 6 : Bentota - Colombo
After breakfast proceed to Colombo. Arrive and check-in at your hotel. In the evening enjoy a city/ shopping tour of Colombo. Drive past the residential areas where you find the stately homes of the affluent, the Colombo Museum, the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall - an outright gift to Sri Lanka from the People's Republic of China, the New Parliament in Sri Jayawardenapura and the Folk Art Centre. Also visit the House of Fashion and Odel dress boutiques.
Overnight.

Day 7 : Colombo
Breakfast. Transfer to the airport.

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Other Palaces of Interest

» Colombo
Colombo, the island's largest city, is noisy, frenetic - and just a little crazy. Thankfully, the breakdowns, snarled traffic and power cuts are received with a shrug and a smile. While the city holds less obvious interest than many other parts of the island, it's still colourful and worth a look.

To the north of the centre is the Fort district, the country's business centre. South is Galle Face Green, a seafront expanse of occasional green graced by cricket games and trysting lovers. Cinammon Gardens, further south, is the most fashionable neighbourhood, with mansions and tree-lined streets.

» Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura is Sri Lanka's first capital, a potent symbol of Sinhalese power, and the most extensive and important of Sri Lanka's ancient cities. It became a capital in 380 BC and for over 1000 years Sinhalese kings ruled from this great city.

The Sacred Bo-Tree is the city's holiest site, and was grown from the tree under which Buddha achieved enlightenment. The Thuparama Dagoba, the oldest of the many temples in Anuradhapura, is believed to contain the right collar-bone of Buddha.

» Galle
The port of Galle, thought by some to be the Biblical city of Tarshish, splendidly illustrates the solidity of the Dutch presence in Sri Lanka. The 36ha (89ac) Dutch Fort, built in 1663, has withstood the ravages of time. Its massive ramparts surround the promontory that forms the older part of Galle, and shelters within its walls sturdy Dutch houses, museums and churches. The New Oriental Hotel, built for Dutch governors in 1684, is a colonial gem with a wonderfully atmospheric bar. Nearby is a tiny sliver of a beach suitable for a dip, though most travellers prefer to head along the coast to the fine beaches at Unuwatuna, Weligama and Tangalla.

» Hikkaduwa
Hikkaduwa has been severely affected by the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 26 December 2004. The area has suffered extensive damage and loss of life. Infrastructure is slowly being rebuilt and services restored but check with the relevant authorities before travelling to the area in the immediate future.

Hikkaduwa is the island's most developed beach resort. It has a range of accommodation, good restaurants and pleasant cafe-lined beaches. There's good snorkelling at an attractive and easily accessible coral sanctuary, scuba diving at a number of wrecks in the bay, tours by glass-bottomed boats and pretty good surfing. It's a relaxed place, similar to many Asian beach resorts popular with Western travellers. There are also plenty of handicraft shops catering to tourist whims, a Buddhist temple, a nearby lake with abundant birdlife and some pretty dangerous traffic hurtling down the main road.

» Kandy
The laidback 'capital' of the hill country, and the historical bastion of Buddhist power, is built around a peaceful lake and set in a picturesque bowl of hills. It has a distinctive architectural character and the town centre is a delightful compendium of old shops, buses, markets and hotels.

Its standout attraction is the octagonal Dalada Maligawa, a temple which houses Sri Lanka's most important religious relic - the sacred tooth of Buddha. There are daily ceremonies of homage to the Tooth Relic, each attracting white-clad pilgrims carrying lotus blossoms and frangipani.

» Sigiriya
The spectacular rock fortress of Sigiriya is an impregnable fortress, a monastic retreat, and a rock art gallery. Built in the 5th century AD to fend off a feared invasion, it is situated atop a 200m (656ft) high rock, and at the height of its glory must have been akin to a European chateau plonked on top of Uluru. There are water gardens, 5th century rock paintings of well endowed damsels, a 1000-year-old graffiti wall recording visitors impressions of the pin-ups, a couple of enormous stone lion paws and tremendous views.

Nuwara Eliya
Once the favourite hill station of the British, Nuwara Eliya still retains the vestiges of Empire: a blend of Tudor and Georgian architecture, gabled roofs, immaculate lawns and moss-covered gravestones. Soak up the quaint atmosphere by visiting the Hill Club - by jove, there's a golf course, tennis courts, even copies of Country Life here - or visit the botanic gardens and tea plantations in the surrounding hills.

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