SRI LANKA SAMPLER Sample Itinerary SRI LANKA SAMPLER | OVERVIEW Sri Lanka is an often overlooked gem in the Indian Ocean. It boasts dense rainforests, endless tropical beaches, breath-taking highlands, abundant wildlife, and strong cultural history. We want you to experience and explore all of this in one trip. Our itinerary is to give you the most of each day but doing so in a comfortable and relaxed manner. This trip is custom curated to immerse you in an active, authentic and local holiday. ITINERARY OVERVIEW 14 Days / 13 Nights FEATURED EXPERIENCES 2 Nights Negombo Sri Lankan Cooking Class Fishing Village Visit 3 Nights Dambulla Cashew Farm Site Visit Live Cooking Demonstration At Sigirya Village Climb Sigiriya Rock Fortress Village Trek 1 Night Kandy Spice Garden Tour Head & Shoulder Massage Kandy City Tour Cultural Performance Ravana Waterfalls Ella Gap 1 Night Nuwara Eliya Train Ride To Nuwara Eliya On Sri Lanka's Iconic Train 2 Nights Yala Yala National Park Safari 1 Night Galle Galle City Tour View The Stilt Fishermen 3 Nights Bentota Sri Lanka Village Life Tour Kapu Ela River Tour With Local Expert Cycle & Culinary Journey Through Bentota TO BOOK THIS ITINERARY, OR CUSTOMIZE AN ASIA PACIFIC ITINERARY CONTACT [email protected] OR YOUR LOCAL TOUR EAST SALES REPRESENTATIVE SRI LANKA SAMPLER | SAMPLE ITINERARY 0 1 / 1 0 ITINERARY DAY 1 | NEGOMBO Welcome to Sri Lanka! Upon arrival at the airport you will transfer to your hotel in WELCOME TO SRI LANKA! Negombo. Lined by a string of fine beaches, along with tourist amenities of every conceivable standard and style, Sri Lanka’s west coast shows the island at its most developed, it’s most westernized, and it’s most tourist-oriented. DAY 2 | NEGOMBO Start your day early in the morning travelling to Lellama, the local fish market with the SRI LANKAN COOKING CLASS your expert chef Ranil and purchase freshest catch from the local fishermen. Return to the hotel and learn how to prepare and cook your favorite seafood dishes. Experience FISHING VILLAGE VISIT amazing cooking talents right before your eyes as you learn some tricks of the trade. Your experience ends as you enjoy a delicious Sri Lankan style seafood curry at the end of the session. In the afternoon, head off on a sightseeing tour of Negombo. Travel to the famous local fishing village, which sits along the Dutch built canal. Here, you're surrounding with the hive of activity as the fisherman travel up and down in their gaily painted boats. You will find many churches around the surroundings. You may choose to take part in an optional catamaran trip, or return to your hotel for the rest of your day at leisure. SRI LANKA SAMPLER | SAMPLE ITINERARY 0 1 / 1 0 ITINERARY DAY 3 | DAMBULLA Depart for Dambulla (148 kms or 4.5 hour drive). On your way to Dambulla stop at the cashew colony of Sri Lanka which was established and revamped during late President CASHEW FARM SITE VISIT Premadasa’s tenure. Roadside stalls were erected as a part of his vision to help the villagers in Kajugama whose livelihood depends solely on the sale of cashew to travelers, especially foreigners. Cashew, the evergreen tropical tree has become a cash crop today. Cashew season in Sri Lanka begins in March and continues through April. The vendors in Bataleeya get their nuts from and villages in the Eastern Province. Taste and purchase a packet or two to support home based industries. Continue on to Dambulla. Once there, we go for a visit of the 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. There are images of deities associated with Buddhism all around. The frescoes on the walls and the ceiling are the oldest here but they are over painted in the Kandy period. In the Second Cave, the finest and the largest of all, there are 150 life-size statues of the Buddha in various postures with few statues of Gods and Kings. The ceiling is also covered with frescoes, which depict great events in the life of the Buddha and landmarks in the history of the Sinhalese people. After exploring the caves, head to your hotel for time at leisure. SRI LANKA SAMPLER | SAMPLE ITINERARY 0 1 / 1 0 ITINERARY DAY 4 | DAMBULLA Depart your hotel for a live cooking demonstration overlooking the Sigiriya Rock Fortress. LIVE COOKING DEMONSTRATION AT SIGIRYA Join for a live Sri Lankan Cookery Demonstration with an experienced chef in the pool VILLAGE lawn area facing Sigiriya Rock Fortress. Today's live cooking of a mouth-watering meal is a complete Sri Lanka menu offering fish mustard stew, cashew and green pea curry, CLIMB SIGIRIYA ROCK potato, brinjol mouj, and a variety of Sri Lanka curries with steamed rice, mango chutney FORTRESS and papadam. The meal will be prepared right in front of you allowing you to experience how all of the dishes are being made, after preparation you may dine the prepared Lunch while enjoying the Sigiriya Rock fortress view on a lovely outdoor dining extent. After your meal, you will head to Sigiriya to climb the rock fortress. The famous 8th Wonder of the World, Sigiriya rises dramatically from the central plains, the enigmatic rocky outcrop of Sigiriya is perhaps Sri Lanka's single most dramatic sight. Near- vertical walls soar to a flat-topped summit that contains the ruins of an ancient civilization, thought to be once the epicentre of the short-lived kingdom of Kassapa, and there are spellbinding vistas across mist-wrapped forests in the early morning. In the evening, return to the hotel for the dinner and your overnight stay. SRI LANKA SAMPLER | SAMPLE ITINERARY 0 1 / 1 0 ITINERARY DAY 5 | DAMBULLA This morning, travel to Habarana to have a real village walk through the rustic rural community of Sirgirya /Habarana area accompanied by your guide. VILLAGE TREK Today's village trek is not merely a walk but an authentic encounter with the local village folk. Experiencing their lifestyle, their culture and their hospitality, by authentic we mean its true village scenario. Upon arrival you will be picked up in a bullock cart to offer a ride though the village road seeing the plantations paddy fields of a local and then you will walk through the plantations vegetable & fruits which brings to the Hiriwaduna Lake where you will cross a sceanic reservoir by Oruwa (Traditional Boat). After that you will have evening snacks and an herbal tea at a village house which will be an interesting one which is served on a clean scraped coconut shell Afternoon return back to the hotel for time at leisure. DAY 6 | KANDY Proceed to Kandy. En route visit Matale Spice garden (78 kms – Approx. 2 ½ hrs drive). SPICE GARDEN TOUR The A9 Hwy between Matale and Dambulla is famous for its spice gardens, with over 30 HEAD & SHOULDER MASSAGE dotted along the road. They will take you on a tours of their gardens with a guide who can explain the merits and health properties of herbs, spices and plants including cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, coffee, nutmeg, pepper, cardamom, aloe KANDY CITY TOUR vera, iriweriya (tulsi) and the henna plant. Enjoy a 15 mins head and shoulder massage at the spice gardens. Upon arrival proceed on a city tour of Kandy. Visit Temple of the Tooth Relic and several other sights. This evening, enjoy a traditional cultuarl performance. SRI LANKA SAMPLER | SAMPLE ITINERARY 0 1 / 1 0 ITINERARY DAY 7 | NUWARA ELIYA This morning, depart for the train station. Board Sri Lanka's iconic train en route to TRAIN RIDE TO NUWARA ELIYA Nuwara Eliya. After our 4-hour train journey you will be dropped off tt Peradeniya Station to for the train ride till Nanu Oya Station. ON SRI LANKA'S ICONIC TRAIN Known as the ‘Little England’ of Sri Lanka, Nuwara Eliya is set against beautiful TEA PLANTATION VISIT backdrops of mountains, valleys, waterfalls and tea plantations. It is supposed to be one of the coolest places in the island, which is reminiscent of an English spring day. All around Nuwara Eliya you will see evidence of the British influence. Seasons may be absent elsewhere in Sri Lanka, but here you can read them by the flowers, which bloom in the spring (March to May) and the fall (August and September). These are the “seasons” when low-country folk flock to Nuwara Eliya to escape the sea level heat and humidity. In the afternoon, visit a tea plantation to see where your morning cup of tea originates. Head to the Pedro Tea Estate, about 3.5km east of Nuwara Eliya. Start off your visit with a 20 minute guided tour of the factory, which was originally built in 1885 and is still packed with 19th century engineering. Then proceed to Tea Lounge at Grand Hotel Nuwara Eliya for a warm cup of tea, enjoying the product after seeing the effort that goes it to make it. The rest of your day is at leisure. SRI LANKA SAMPLER | SAMPLE ITINERARY 0 1 / 1 0 ITINERARY DAY 8 | YALA After breakfast proceed to Yala (189 kms or a 4.5 hour drive).