Five nights across Sri Lanka's hill country and south-west coast — Kandy, the tea estates above Nuwara Eliya, the Ella train and two nights at Bentota
Sri Lanka is small enough that six days genuinely covers it. You land at Colombo, head inland to the elephants at Pinnawala and the old royal capital at Kandy, climb through the tea estates to Nuwara Eliya, then take the hill railway down to Ella — the stretch over the Nine Arch Bridge that most people come for. From there the road drops to the coast at Bentota, where you have two nights for the beach, the Madu river and the walled town at Galle.
A private air-conditioned van with a chauffeur guide stays with you the whole way, meeting the train at Ella so you never carry luggage. Rooms are held on half board, so breakfast and dinner are taken care of and lunch is left open on the road. If you would rather add Sigiriya rock and the Dambulla cave temple, that needs one extra night in the cultural triangle at the start — tell us and we will build it in.
The essentials
Trip information
Package code
EH06SL001
Pickup
Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo
Drop
Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo
Night count
05 Nights, 06 Days
Travellers
4 pax
Vehicle
Toyota KDH Grand Cabin (AC)
At a glance
Itinerary highlights
Day 1Land at Colombo and drive inland to Kandy
Day 2Kandy, then up through the tea estates to Nuwara Eliya
Day 3The hill train from Nanu Oya to Ella
Day 4Down to the coast at Bentota
Day 5Madu river, the turtles and Galle Fort
Day 6Colombo on the way to the airport
Your route, day by day
Day-by-day itinerary
Kandy
The last capital of the Sinhalese kings, set in a bowl of hills around a man-made lake.
Day 1
Land at Colombo and drive inland to Kandy
Your chauffeur guide meets you in the arrivals hall and the road turns inland almost immediately. You break the drive at Pinnawala to see the elephants, then carry on up to Kandy and check in. If your flight lands in the morning there is time for the 5 PM Kandyan cultural show and the evening puja at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic — say the word and we will hold seats. Otherwise the evening is a walk around the lake and dinner at the hotel.
Starts from Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, ends at Mahaweli View Kandy, covering around 135 km in an estimated 4h 30m.
Sightseeing
Pinnawala Elephant OrphanageOpen 8:30 AM – 5:30 PMAllow 90 min
A state-run home at Kegalle for elephants orphaned or injured in the wild, running since 1975. The herd is walked down to the Maha Oya river to bathe twice a day, and that is what most people time their visit around.
Watch the river bathing session
See the bottle-feeding of the calves
Look in at the paper mill made from elephant dung
Kandy & Nuwara Eliya
A morning in Kandy, then a slow climb into the tea country where the British built a hill station.
Day 2
Kandy, then up through the tea estates to Nuwara Eliya
You start at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic first thing, when the morning puja is on and the crowds are thinner, then cross to the botanical gardens at Peradeniya. After that the road climbs steadily — the temperature drops, the hills turn into tea, and you stop at an estate to walk the rows and go through a working factory. You reach Nuwara Eliya in time for a wander at Gregory Lake before dark.
Starts from Mahaweli View Kandy, ends at Grand Highlands Nuwara Eliya, covering around 105 km in an estimated 5h 00m.
Sightseeing
Temple of the Sacred Tooth RelicOpen 5:30 AM – 8 PM, puja at 5:30 AM, 9:30 AM and 6:30 PMAllow 75 min
The Dalada Maligawa holds a tooth of the Buddha and is the most important Buddhist site in the country. The relic itself is never shown; what you see is the golden casket chamber, opened during puja to the sound of drums and horns. The complex sits inside the old royal palace grounds beside the lake.
Attend the morning puja
Walk the painted upper gallery
See the tusker hall and the palace museum
Royal Botanical Gardens, PeradeniyaOpen 7:30 AM – 5 PMAllow 90 min
Sixty hectares in a loop of the Mahaweli river, laid out in the 1820s on the site of an older royal garden. The orchid house and the avenue of royal palms are the set pieces, and there is a Javan fig with a canopy wide enough to shade a small crowd.
Walk the palm avenue
See the orchid house
Find the giant Javan fig tree
Tea estate and factory visitOpen 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM, closed Sundays and poya daysAllow 60 min
A working estate on the Ramboda–Nuwara Eliya road where the leaf is withered, rolled, oxidised and graded in one building. The guide walks you through each stage and the tasting at the end explains why the same bush gives very different grades.
Follow the leaf through the factory
Taste the estate grades
Watch the pluckers on the slopes
Gregory LakeOpen 7 AM – 6 PMAllow 60 min
A reservoir dug in the 1870s under Governor Gregory, now the centre of evening life in Nuwara Eliya. The promenade around it fills up at dusk, and it gets cold quickly once the sun drops behind the hills.
Walk the lakeside promenade
Take a swan boat or a speedboat ride
Sit out with a pot of local tea
Ella
A small hill town in a notch in the mountains, reached by the most scenic railway in the country.
Day 3
The hill train from Nanu Oya to Ella
After breakfast you are dropped at Nanu Oya station for the train to Ella. It is a slow, open-windowed run of roughly four hours through tea slopes, tunnels and waterfalls, and the line crosses the Nine Arch Bridge on the approach to Ella. Your driver takes the luggage by road and is waiting on the platform. The afternoon is free for Ravana Falls or the short climb up Little Adam's Peak.
Starts from Grand Highlands Nuwara Eliya, ends at Ella Gap Lodge, covering around 75 km in an estimated 5h 00m.
Part of the old main line to Badulla, built to move tea down from the estates. The track runs along the contour of the hills, so you spend most of the journey looking straight out over tea and cloud. Reserved seats are held for you, but people stand at the doorways for most of it anyway.
Sit on the right-hand side leaving Nanu Oya
Buy vadai from the platform vendors
Watch for Demodara loop before Ella
Nine Arch BridgeOpen all dayAllow 60 min
A stone viaduct between Ella and Demodara, built during the First World War when steel was unavailable, so it was raised in brick and cement alone. It curves through jungle on nine arches and is best seen from the viewpoint on the Ella side when a train is due.
Walk out along the track between trains
Photograph the bridge from the tea slope viewpoint
Stop at a viewpoint cafe above the arches
Little Adam's PeakOpen all dayAllow 120 min
An easy hour's walk up a stepped path from the edge of Ella, ending on a ridge that looks straight down the Ella Gap towards the southern plains. Far gentler than the Adam's Peak it is named after.
Climb for the sunset over the Gap
Carry on to the far viewpoint
Stop at Ravana Falls on the way back
Bentota
A beach town on the south-west coast where the Bentota river meets the sea, and the main water-sports base in the country.
Day 4
Down to the coast at Bentota
The longest drive of the trip, and the scenery changes completely — hills give way to paddy, then to rubber and coconut, and finally to the coast road. You stop at Ravana Falls on the way out of Ella. You should reach Bentota by mid-afternoon, in time for the beach and a swim before dinner.
Starts from Ella Gap Lodge, ends at Bentota Bay Resort & Spa, covering around 230 km in an estimated 5h 30m.
Sightseeing
Bentota BeachOpen all dayAllow 120 min
A wide, clean stretch of sand running north from the river mouth, quieter than the beaches closer to Colombo. The sea is calm from November to April and rough during the south-west monsoon.
Swim in the calm season water
Walk up to the river mouth sandbar
Watch the sunset from the sand
Water sports at the river mouthOpen 9 AM – 5 PMAllow 90 min
The lagoon behind the beach is flat and sheltered, which is why jet skis, banana boats and water-skiing all run from here rather than from the open sea. Operators are licensed and provide life jackets; charges are extra as applicable.
Jet ski on the lagoon
Banana boat or tube ride
Try water-skiing on the flat water
Bentota & Galle
A mangrove estuary, a turtle hatchery on the coast road, and a walled Dutch town an hour south.
Day 5
Madu river, the turtles and Galle Fort
A full day, starting early on the water at Balapitiya where the Madu river opens into a maze of mangrove islands. Back on the coast road you stop at one of the turtle hatcheries, then continue south to Galle for the afternoon inside the fort walls. You are back at Bentota for dinner.
Based at Bentota Bay Resort & Spa, covering around 115 km in an estimated 7h 30m.
Sightseeing
Madu river boat safariOpen 7 AM – 5 PMAllow 150 min
A protected wetland at the Madu estuary with something like sixty small islands, most of them mangrove. The boat threads narrow tunnels of overhanging root, stops at a cinnamon island where the bark is stripped and rolled by hand, and passes a temple that occupies an island of its own.
Go through the mangrove tunnels
See cinnamon peeled on Cinnamon Island
Visit the island temple at Kothduwa
Turtle hatcheryOpen 8 AM – 6 PMAllow 45 min
Several small hatcheries run along the coast between Bentota and Kosgoda, buying eggs from local collectors and burying them in protected sand until they hatch. Green, olive ridley and hawksbill turtles all nest on this coast.
See the hatchling tanks
Learn how the nests are relocated
Join an evening release if one is scheduled
Galle FortOpen all day; museums 9 AM – 5 PMAllow 150 min
A fortified town built by the Portuguese and rebuilt by the Dutch in the seventeenth century, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The ramparts still run the whole way round the headland, and inside them the grid of streets is largely intact — Dutch churches, a working lighthouse and old merchant houses now used as shops and cafes.
Walk the ramparts at sunset
See the lighthouse and the clock tower
Look inside the Dutch Reformed Church
Browse the gem and lace shops on Pedlar Street
Colombo
The commercial capital, and the last stop before the drive up the coast to the airport.
Day 6
Colombo on the way to the airport
Breakfast, then check out and take the expressway north. If the flight timing allows we fit in a Colombo city tour on the way — Galle Face Green on the seafront, the Gangaramaya temple, Independence Square and the markets at Pettah — with a stop for shopping before the last hour to the airport. If you are flying out early, we go straight through.
Starts from Bentota Bay Resort & Spa, ends at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, covering around 135 km in an estimated 3h 30m.
Easy Holiday
