Two thousand year old capitals, the great natural harbour of the wild east coast, a fortress in the sky and the last royal city, Sri Lanka's ancient heart, on the dry side of the island.
Flights into Colombo land late, so we keep you near the airport, Negombo's fishing coast, twenty minutes away, is a gentle place to land. A lagoon sunset, a first rice and curry, an early night before the ancient cities.
North to Anuradhapura (about three and a half hours), the island's first capital and a sacred city for over a thousand years. Vast white dagobas, monastery ruins across miles of forest, and the Sri Maha Bodhi, a tree grown from a cutting of the one the Buddha sat beneath. Cycle the ruins at dusk.
Across to Trincomalee (about two and a half hours) and one of the world's great natural harbours, on the quiet east coast the package crowds never reach. The clifftop Koneswaram temple over the sea, the hot wells, and the long empty sands of Nilaveli and Uppuveli.
A boat to Pigeon Island for snorkelling over coral and reef sharks, or, from May to August, when the east is calm, a dawn boat for blue and sperm whales offshore. The rest of the day belongs to a beach that is almost entirely yours.
Back inland to Sigiriya (about two and a half hours). The afternoon at the Dambulla cave temples, five shadowed grottoes of golden Buddhas, before settling in beneath the great rock, ready for a dawn climb tomorrow.
Sigiriya at first light, before the heat and the crowds, a fifth century sky palace on a 200 metre monolith, frescoed maidens and the lion's paws at the summit. The ruined medieval capital of Polonnaruwa nearby, its standing Buddhas and brick palaces, and a village lake afternoon.
Over the hills to Kandy (about two and a half hours) via a spice garden, the last kingdom of the Sinhalese, taken by the British only in 1815. The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic at evening puja, the lake, and a performance of Kandyan drumming and fire dancing.
The serene Peradeniya botanical gardens, the old market and the craft workshops, and a tea estate on the cool slopes above the town for a cup at the source. A last hill country dinner before the trip winds down.
A last Kandy breakfast before the drive back down to Colombo and the airport (about three hours, timed to your flight). You leave with two thousand years of history and a head full of dry zone green.
Three ways to do the same route: Comfort, Premium or Luxe. Breakfasts in. Mix tiers city by city if you like, it is your trip.
Priced to your dates, your hotel tier and how the two of you like to travel. Ask, the first answer usually lands within minutes.
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