Highlights of Sri lanka

After breakfast visit temple of the tooth relic & Peradeniya botanical garden & do a city tour including Kandy lake, Kandy bazaar, Gem museum. Overnight stay at Kandy. Overnight stay at hotel.

Royal Botanical Gardens -This botanical garden was first built as a pleasure garden by a Sinhala king and was expanded by the British.  It is 147 acres in extent and provides an amazing variety of trees, plants and flowers

Kandy – a lovely exotic city, the Hill Capital and last stronghold of the Sinhala Kings is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which retains an aura of grandeur, time has not affected. Encircled by hills, with a tranquil lake in its centre, it is the site of the renowned temple that enshrines the Tooth Relic of the Buddha and the Royal Botanical gardens – home to one of the world’s best collections of Orchids. A cultural sanctuary where many legends, traditions and folklore are still lovingly kept alive, Kandy and its satellite villages are the centre of the islands handicraft industry (items of wood, brass & silver) exquisite silver or gold jewellery and precious gems of many varieties including the world’s best blue and star sapphires. The highlight of the city’s calendar is the Esala Perahera, when a replica of the casket enclosing the Tooth is taken in procession for ten glittering nights in July/August by exotically costumed dancers, drummers and approximately 100 Elephants.

 

After breakfast proceed to Nuwara Eliyaen route visit  Ramboda hanuman temple & Ramboda water fall then proceed to Nuwara Eliya. Evening do a city tour. Overnight stay at Nuwara Eliya

Tea Plantation - visit a tea plantation and a tea factory where one the best teas in the world is produced. You will be told all about the process of manufacturing tea and also see how tea is graded. Taste a cup of pure Ceylon tea in the factory.

NuwaraEliya – Sri Lanka's premier hill resort with a fine bracing mountain climate, NuwaraEliya is also the heart of Sri Lanka's tea country, producing some of the world’s best tea.  The mountain slopes and valleys are a carpet of velvety green tea plantations, interspersed with gushing streams and tumbling waterfalls. Red or green roofed plantation bungalows, English country style homes and hotels with lovely flower gardens, a fine 18 hole golf course and a racecourse gives Nuwara Eliya a decidedly British character.

After breakfast proceed to Yala.In the evening do a jeep safari at Yala national park.Overnight stay at Yala. 

Yala :Yala or Ruhunu National Park is one of the best and most popular parks in the country due to its diversity and density of mammals. It consists of five blocks covering an area of 97,881 hectares. Block 1, which was established in February 1938 and covers an area of 14,101 hectares, is widely used by tourists due to its very extensive network of roads.  Block II was established in September 1954, Block III in April 1967, Block IV in October 1969 and Block V in October 1973. The vegetation of the park is primarily semi arid thorn scrub interspersed with riverine forests and fairly dense pockets of forests. There are many places to stay just outside the park in Palatupana as well as a number of bungalows inside the park. These bungalows, as with the case of all national park bungalows, and camp sites have to be pre booked at the head office of the DWLC and a cook and a caretaker are provided and the visitors are required to take all the rations needed.  As with all most all National Parks, excluding the Horton Plains National park, a permit and a guide should be obtained at the park entrance

After breakfast proceed to Bentota. En route visit Galle city. Do a madhu river boat ride. Overnight stay at –Bentota

Madu River -which flows across Balapitiya (approx 80kms down south from Colombo) is one of the rarely visited and unspoiled attractions any nature lover can find in Sri Lanka. She boasts of having a cluster of 64 small islands scattered along her path and the most of which are uninhabited and covered with mangroves. The smallest islet of the lot is called "SathaPahaDoowa" where there is a tiny shrine with a statue built in respect of the gods of Kataragama (Katharagama). According to folklore this islet had been purchased for five cents but some say the name has derived due to its shape of the five cent coin. Madu is certainly a placid and memorable place of interest to any nature lover who longs to witness mesmerizing landscape of the nature. But over thrilled visitors are forewarned! - Madu River is also a known den for crocodiles.

After breakfast proceed to Colombo and do a city tour.  En-route do a turtle farm. Optional – Do a water sport. Overnight stay at Colombo.  

Turtle Hatchery - turtle hatchery operated by the wild life protection society of srilanka.  several species of turtle, especially the hawksbill, are endangered; most vulnerable of all are their eggs; which are left uncovered on beaches all around the coast.  the goodwill of kosgoda area fishermen, who bring these eggs gratis to the hatchery, has led to the hatching and release of 100,000 young turtles in only two years since the hatchery opened.

Colombo - like many capital cities in developing countries Colombo is fast changing its face. almost overnight, skyscrapers arise from where old buildings once stood, yet in some parts, the old world charm is retained. A 100-year-old clock tower and several British built, colonial buildings are still to be seen in the city.  The Pettah bazaar – where one can shop for bargains, a Hindu and a Buddhist temple, 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 center are some of the places of interest that one can visit to.

After breakfast proceed to airport for departure.