Day 1: Arrive Negombo
Land, drive twenty-five minutes, sleep. Nothing else is required of you today.
Grand tour · 15 days
The Grand Island Loop
Fifteen days, four kingdoms, two mountains and a whale
At a glance
- 15 days · Grand tour
- West Coast · Cultural Triangle · Hill Country · Wilderness & National Parks · South Coast
- Dec–Mar
- About 26h 55m
- Premium per person
The full circuit, unhurried. Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa with time to actually look at them, three nights in the Cultural Triangle, Kandy, the tea country and Horton Plains, the train to Ella, a safari on the way down and three nights on the south coast to finish.
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 Anuradhapura
Three and a half hours north into the dry zone. Arrive in the afternoon and go straight to the Ruwanwelisaya for the evening pilgrimage, which is when the sacred city makes sense.
Day 3: The sacred city
A full day across a capital that ran for a thousand years: Isurumuniya, the Twin Ponds, Abhayagiri, the great stupas and the Sri Maha Bodhi, paced around the heat.
On this day
- Anuradhapura sacred city
Day 4: East to Sigiriya
Under two hours across the plain to Sigiriya village. An afternoon cycling the paddy and tank bunds, and an early night before the climb.
Day 5: Two rocks
Pidurangala in the dark for first light on the fortress, breakfast, and then Sigiriya itself — frescoes, mirror wall, lion's paws and the summit palace.
On this day
- Pidurangala rock at sunrise
- Sigiriya rock at opening time
Day 6: Polonnaruwa
An early run east and a morning on a bicycle among the ruins of the twelfth-century capital, finishing at the Gal Vihara. Afternoon back at Sigiriya, or a jeep onto the Minneriya grassland.
On this day
- Polonnaruwa by bicycle
- Minneriya and Kaudulla elephant safari
Day 7: Dambulla, then down to Kandy
The painted caves in the morning, lunch in Dambulla, then two hours into the hills, arriving in Kandy for the evening puja.
On this day
- Dambulla cave temple
- Evening puja at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
Day 8: Kandy
Peradeniya's gardens in the morning, the lake and the market in the afternoon, and Kandyan drumming and dance in the evening if you want it.
On this day
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya
Day 9: Into the tea country
The first leg of the hill railway to Nanu Oya, then an afternoon on a working estate and through the factory to the tasting table.
On this day
- The Kandy to Ella train
- Tea estate and working factory tour
Day 10: World's End
A 5am start onto the plateau and the loop to the escarpment before the cloud closes it, returning past Baker's Falls. The afternoon is for a fire and a pot of tea.
On this day
- Horton Plains and World's End
Day 11: The train down to Ella
Three hours on the most photographed stretch of railway in Asia, over Pattipola and along the Idalgashinna ridge into the Uva basin.
On this day
- The Kandy to Ella train
Day 12: Ella
Little Adam's Peak at sunrise and the Nine Arch Bridge below it, or Ella Rock if you want the long version. Yoga on a deck over the gap in the afternoon.
On this day
- Little Adam's Peak and the Nine Arch Bridge
- Sunrise yoga above the Ella gap
Day 13: Elephants and the run to the coast
Out of the hills to Udawalawe for a morning jeep drive on the grassland, then two hours more to the south coast.
On this day
- Udawalawe elephant safari
Day 14: Mirissa
Blue whales at dawn, then a surf lesson at Weligama or a hammock, depending on how the last two weeks have gone.
On this day
- Blue whale watching from Mirissa
- Beginner surf lesson at Weligama
Day 15: Galle, and home
An hour west for a last morning inside the ramparts and lunch in a fort courtyard, then three hours 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: Fourteen nights' accommodation, including a tea-estate bungalow and a fort house
- Included: Daily breakfast
- Included: Reserved train seats on both hill-country legs, luggage forwarded by road
- Included: Two jeep safaris and one whale watching boat
- Included: Licensed guides at Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Dambulla, Kandy and Galle
Not included
- Not included: International flights and visa
- Not included: Site and national park entrance fees
- Not included: Lunches and dinners
- Not included: Drinks
- Not included: Travel insurance
- Not included: Tips
Where this trip goes
12 destinations, in route order.
Enquire about The Grand Island Loop
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.