Tea and Temples

Arrive in Colombo after an overnight flight from London.  Transfer to your hotel just outside the city centre.  Set in beautifully manicured gardens, this colonial manor house is more than a stop over after a long flight.  Enjoy two nights with options of visiting the vibrant fish market, a cigar factory and a guided tour of the city.

Travel into the hills to your hotel just outside Kandy.  Stop en-route at the Millennium Elephant Foundation – where you can enjoy watching elephants bathing in a river.  In Kandy, find Sri Lanka’s most sacred shrine, the Temple of the Tooth, the Botanical Gardens and an interesting tea museum.  If you rather something more active, why not spend a day exploring the Knuckles and Hantane Mountain Ranges?

This morning, drive south to the magnificent tea country where you’ll stay in a small boutique hotel set in 80 acres of lush forest. The next day, take a walk on paths winding their way through the tea plantations stopping delightful tea picker’s villages to try the different blends.

Travel west along the picturesque cove-sprinkled southern coastline to Galle, famed for pretty beaches, a 17th century Dutch fort and a cosmopolitan vibe.  Stay in an idyllic country-style boutique hotel with an expansive swimming pool.  Spend the days relaxing by the pool, going on short cycling tours and visiting the fascinating city of Galle, with its old Portuguese fortifications, ancient Buddhist temples, cricket stadium and good restaurants.

Make the drive north up to Colombo where you will stay in the hotel you spend your first night.  Spend your final day revisiting parts of Colombo or simply enjoy a final spa treatment at the hotel. The next morning, be met and driven to the airport in time for your flight back to London.