Adventure Tour No. 300 E

Day 1 Airport – Hendala – Colombo – Hendala

Our driver will be waiting for you at the airport upon arrival of your flight and take you to the Hotel Pegasus Reef, Hendala. Afternoon City Tour of Colombo. Colombo is the commercial capital of Sri Lanka with a population of 1.5 million. The Fort, in the very centre of the city, is where most of the colonial remnants, mainly from the British era are still to be found. Nearby Pettah is Colombo's busiest and most traditional bazaar, a mosaic of human activities and architectural memories. Cinnamon Gardens is the most prestigious residential area.

Dinner and overnight at the Pegasus Reef Hotel, Hendala

Day 2 Hendala – Negombo – Hendala

After breakfast, you drive to Negombo along the coastal road and the canals built by the Dutch in the 17th century mainly for the transport of spices to the Colombo port. From the original canal system only a small section is left. You visit the fishery harbour and its fish market.

Negombo is the major beach resort on the coast north of Colombo close to the international airport. Long, palm-fringed, wide, sandy beaches invite for sea bathing. With its many shops, restaurant and bars the centre of Negombo offers to the visitor many distractions. You will have lunch at one of the restaurants. After lunch, you take the main road back to the Hotel Pegasus Reef.

Afternoon is at your leisure. Should you not be in a position to do Colombo City Tour on first day, due to your late arrival, you can do it now  instead of staying at the hotel. Dinner and overnight at the hotel

Day 3 Hendala – Kitulgala
 

You will leave your hotel after breakfast bypassing Colombo and Avissewella to the east, into the interior of the country, past paddy fields, palm groves and coconut plantations. By noon, you will arrive in Kitulgala for lunch. Check in at Kitulgala Rest House

Kitulgala, made famous by the film classic “Bridge on the River Kwai”, is a village in the Kelani Valley 85 km from Colombo. It is the best site in Sri Lanka for White Water Rafting. Just across the Kelani River is a primeval forest with lush tropical flora and is home about 54 rare species of birds, including the indigenous white owl. Bird watching and a tour of the water falls is possible from here.

In the afternoon, we shall take you to the water fall close by and organize for those who are interested bird watching or white water rafting. Dinner and overnight at Kitulgala Rest House

Day 4 Kitulgala – Kandy

You leave Kitulgala after breakfast and continue your journey to Kandy. The road begins to ascend gradually. If possible you stop for a short visit at a rubber factory, where you will learn in detail, how the milky sap called latex is treated to become raw rubber. Another stop will be made at a spice garden; where you see many unknown trees, bushes and plants. After this stop you will enjoy a panoramic view of the central highland with its hills and mountains.
 

Before reaching Kandy you will visit in Peradeniya the world famous Botanical Gardens. The park dates back to 1371 under the reign of King Vikrama Bahu III when he held court here. The English put the cornerstone of the present garden in 1821. During the Second World War the garden served as the headquarters of Earl Mountbatten, the supreme commander of the allied forces in Southeast Asia who later became the last Viceroy of India. You will find in the garden a very large variety of orchids, spice trees, palms, bushes, as well as tropical plants and flowers of all type. After the visit, the driver will take you to Hotel Suisse for late lunch and check-in.

The old royal city of Kandy situated at 5'00 m, beautifully nestled between green hills. In its very centre lies a small artificial lake and the palace of the last Singhalese king which has become a temple and the most holiest shrine in Sri Lanka, where the tooth relic of the Lord Buddha is highly venerated. You will visit the temple in the evening. After this visit you have the opportunity to attend a dance performance, where you will see the famous Kandyan dances, as well as up-country and devil dances.

Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight.

Day 5 Kandy – Bandarawela
 

After breakfast you leave Kandy. From Peradeniya the road starts steadily to ascend and at noon, shortly before reaching Nuwara Eliya, you will have climbed 1'500 m. You are now in the tea country; wherever you look, you will see tea plantations, the rich full green of thousands and thousands of tea bushes. And out of the green in regular intervals the white coloured tea factories will enchant your eyes. Occasionally you can see a few rice fields and near villages, vegetable plantations or gardens.

Lunch at the Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya. During the British rule, the Grand Hotel was the summer palace of the English governor. The small resort town of Nuwara Eliya, situated at 2070 m above sea level, lies on a little lake and is surrounded by mountains covered over and over by tea bushes. At the town boundaries there are a lot of vegetable plantations and flower fields, but also along the roads of Nuwara Eliya and in most of its gardens flowers are blooming.

After lunch the journey descends to the town of Bandarawela at 1200 m, which you will reach in the late afternoon. Dinner and overnight at the Orient Hotel

“Whenever possible, we shall do our best, to allow you to make the journey from Kandy to Bandarawela by train. A journey by train through the tea country, past waterfalls, mountain creeks and through the tea plantations is something very special!  With no more then 40 km the train drives uphill and masters the severest inclines by means of impressive tunnels. Your driver brings you in Peradeniya to the railroad station and waits for you upon your arrival in Bandarawela. You will take your lunch packet along from the hotel and have lunch on the train.”

Day 6 Bandarawela – Buttala

After breakfast at the hotel you leave Bandarawela to the south, passing tea and vegetable plantations, occasionally a waterfall, forests and many small villages and hamlets. From the descending road you have again and again a beautiful view to the mountains and into the valleys. After reaching the plain you will again see coconut and rubber plantations and the familiar paddy fields.

At noon you will reach for lunch the Galapita Healing Garden, Buttala. According to the 5th century Buddhist chronicle “Mahavamsa”, Buttala itself was situated on the northern border of King Dutugemunu's Ruhunu Kingdom as a defense base to be used on his way to Anuradhapura, making it a location of considerable cultural and historical importance as well as a prime eco tourism destination. The landscape is tremendously varied with abandoned chena fields, irrigation tanks, dense tall dry zone forests, thorny scrub jungle, and many flowering trees and rare tropical woods.

Afternoon visit of Yala National Park. Yala is renowned as the biggest and the most popular wild-life park in Sri Lanka, Yala is the ideal setting for a rugged jungle safari. Search for wild elephants, leopards, bears, crocodiles and wild deer. A safari jeep and an experienced tracker is all you need to have an experience of your life-time in the wilderness.

Return to the hotel for dinner and overnight.

Day 7 Buttala – Arugam Bay

You leave the hotel after breakfast and explore, what has not been possible for the last 30 years, the beauty of the East Coast. Here the coast line is uneven with many bays and sheltered coves. On some beaches one can walk a mile into the sea. The east coast is ideal from April to November with calm sea and sunny weather.

 
You will arrive at Arugam Bay at noon for lunch and check-in at Palm Groove Holiday Inn. Arugam Bay, the southern most beach resort of the east coast is a very popular surfing centre ranked 3rd among the 20 best beaches of the world. In the afternoon you can enjoy the beach and the sea.

 
Dinner and overnight at your hotel.

You can extend your stay at Arungam Bay.

Day 8 Arugam Bay – Batticoloa – Polonnaruwa

You leave Arugam Bay after breakfast and drive along the coast to Trincomalee through Batticoloa. Batticoloa is the marked centre of the southeast coast, famous for its “singing fish” and its picturesque lagoon. The Dutch made their first footstep in Sri Lanka here in 1602. The Dutch fort was built in 1665 it is still visible near to Batticoloa. Lunch en route.  You drive in westerly direction into the interior of the country through flat barren landscaping. There are no hills to be seen but few small farm houses.

You will arrive at Polonnaruwa in the late afternoon. Check-in for dinner and overnight at the Hotel Sudu Araliya.

Day 9 Polonnaruwa – Mihintale – Anuradhapura

After early breakfast you check-out of your hotel for the visit of the well preserved remains of the city which has been the capital of the Singhalese kings from the 11th to the 13th century. You see the excavations: Temples, dagobas, the royal palace, the royal library. The most famous Singhalese king Parakrama Bahu the Great (1153- 1186) has built in the environs of Polonnaruwa an impressive irrigation system with many artificial tanks interconnected with irrigation channels. The reservoir near Polonnaruwa has been until recently, when the large dams were built in the mountains, the largest and most beautiful artificial lake. After the visit you continue to Mihintale for onother visit. Lunch en route.  This is the place where in the year 247 BC Buddhism originated in Sri Lanka. The message of Buddhism was brought to the Singhalese King Devanampiya Tissa by Mahinda son of the great Indian Buddhist Emperor Ashoka. In a series of flights, 1840 ancient granite slap steps lead majestically up the hillside. In the late afternoon you will reach the Hotel Galway Miridiya Lodge, Anuradhapurafor check-in, dinner and over- nigh.

Day 10 – Anuradhapura – Puttalam – Kalpitiya

After breakfast check-out at your hotel and leave to Anuradhapura in order to visit a selection of the most remarkable sights. As per written records Anuradhapura has been made royal capital by the king Panduk-Anhaya in 380 BC. It remained residence and royal capital for 119 successive Singhalese kings till the year 1000 AC when it was abandoned and the capital moved to Polonnaruwa. You will see some of the most famous as well as the tallest dagoba of Sri Lanka, remains from palaces, temples, monasteries, ceremonial baths and the temple of the holy Bo-tree. This tree was grown from a sapling of the very tree under which more than 2500 years ago the Buddha found enlightenment.

After the visit you continue your journey to Kalpitiya through Puttalam. Puttalam is situated at the center of the Coconut Triangle; Puttalam is the second largest Coconut producer of the country while also being the center of salt production. The Kaffir community in this area was brought to the island by the Portuguese from African villages. The Kaffir slaves settled here and their descendants speak Portuguese Creole. Lunch en route

 Check-in at the Dolphin View Eco Lodge, Kalpitiya in the evening. The western peninsular area of Kalpitiya in the Puttalam district of Sri Lanka is remarkably untouched by tourism. Dinner and overnight at the lodge.

You can extend your stay at Kalpitiya.

Day 11 Kalpitiya – Negombo

After the breakfast, you can make a fishing boat ride to view the dolphins or do other watersports acitivities. Please note, if the sea is too rough, the dolphins are not coming to the surface. Return to the lodge for lunch.

After lunch you leave Kalpitiya and drive to Negombo on the busy coastal road through Chilaw, you will arrive at Camelot Beach Hotel, Negombo, in the late afternoon. Dinner and overnight at the hotel

Day 12 Negombo

Breakfast at you hotel and END OF TOUR

The prices include full board, starting with dinner on day  one and finishing with breakfast on day twelve, transport in air-conditioned car or micro bus with English speaking driver/ guide from the airport on arrival and  back to Negombo, inclusive of entrance fees for the excursions and visits men-tioned in the programme, but  without white water rafting in Kitulgala and delphin viewing and other activities in Kalpitiya and Arungam Bay.