Day 1: Arrive Negombo
Twenty-five minutes from the airport to the beach. Sleep off the flight, walk the sand, eat some seafood, and start properly tomorrow.
Classic trip · 10 days
Classic Sri Lanka
Ten days: the rock, the temple, the train and the whales
At a glance
- 10 days · Classic trip
- West Coast · Cultural Triangle · Hill Country · Wilderness & National Parks · South Coast
- Dec–Apr
- About 20h 25m
- Mid-range per person
The route almost every first-time visitor should take, in the order that makes geographic sense. Cultural Triangle, Kandy, the hill-country train to Ella, an elephant safari on the way down, and three nights on the south coast to finish. Nothing more than four hours in the car on any day.
Day by day
Driving times are door-to-door estimates for typical road conditions, not routing output. Days over five hours on the road are flagged.
Day 2: North to Sigiriya
Four hours north into the dry zone, past reservoirs built fifteen hundred years ago. Arrive in time for a late-afternoon walk in the village and your first sight of the rock.
Day 3: Sigiriya rock and the elephant gathering
At the gate for 7am and up to the summit palace before the heat. In the afternoon, a jeep out onto the Minneriya grassland where the herds gather at the receding reservoir.
On this day
- Sigiriya rock at opening time
- Minneriya and Kaudulla elephant safari
Day 4: Dambulla caves, then Kandy
The painted cave temples in the morning, then two hours south into the hills to Kandy, arriving for the evening puja at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic.
On this day
- Dambulla cave temple
- Evening puja at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
Day 5: Kandy
The botanic gardens at Peradeniya in the morning — orchid house, giant bamboo, the great Javan fig — and an afternoon walking the lake and the market.
On this day
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya
Day 6: The hill-country train to Ella
One of the great railway journeys: six hours climbing through tea estates, tunnels and waterfalls to Ella. Luggage goes ahead by road so you travel with a daypack.
On this day
- The Kandy to Ella train
Day 7: Ella
Little Adam's Peak for sunrise, down through the tea to the Nine Arch Bridge in time for a train, and an afternoon doing very little at all.
On this day
- Little Adam's Peak and the Nine Arch Bridge
Day 8: Elephants at Udawalawe, then the coast
Down out of the hills to Udawalawe for a morning jeep drive among several hundred wild elephants, then on to Mirissa for the first of two nights by the sea.
On this day
- Udawalawe elephant safari
Day 9: Mirissa
Out at dawn for blue whales, back for a long lunch, and the afternoon on the beach. Coconut Tree Hill at sunset if you can still move.
On this day
- Blue whale watching from Mirissa
Day 10: Galle Fort and the flight home
An hour west to Galle for a last walk inside the ramparts and lunch in a courtyard, then three hours up the expressway to the airport.
On this day
- Galle Fort walking tour
Transfers & vehicle
Tell us if you want to be met at the airport or dropped back, and which vehicle suits your group.
What’s included
Included
- Included: Private vehicle and English-speaking driver throughout
- Included: Nine nights' accommodation
- Included: Daily breakfast
- Included: Reserved seats on the Kandy–Ella train, with luggage forwarded by road
- Included: Jeep safaris at Minneriya and Udawalawe
- Included: Whale watching boat at Mirissa
- Included: Licensed guides at Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kandy and Galle
Not included
- Not included: International flights and visa
- Not included: Site and park entrance fees
- Not included: Lunches and dinners
- Not included: Drinks
- Not included: Travel insurance
- Not included: Tips
Where this trip goes
8 destinations, in route order.
Enquire about Classic Sri Lanka
Send us your dates and party size and we will come back with availability, a firm price and anything we would change about the route for your month. It is an enquiry, not a booking — nothing is charged and nothing is committed.