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Day 0

Arrival to Colombo international airport and transfer to Dambulla or Sigriya for the night.

Day 1

Sigiriya (Lion’s rock) 7:00 – 19:00 (7am – 7pm). $US30. A large stone and ancient rock fortress or ruins of the fortress dated back to 5th century.
Polonnaruwa $US25. 1000 years old ruins of the second most ancient of Sri Lanka’s kingdoms.

Day 2

Dambulla Cave temple 7:00- 19:00 (7am – 7pm). LKR1300. It is the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka
Stop at one of numerous spice gardens between Dambulla and Kandy to see many different types of spices and check handcraft shops on the same road. FREE
Just before Kandy check Mariamman Kovil largest hindu temple in Sri Lanka
The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy. 6:00-17:00 (6am – 5pm). Cost LKR1000. It houses a tooth of the Buddha.
Royal Botanic Gardens 7:30-16:30 (7am – 4.30pm) The largest botanic garden in Sri Lanka.
Tea factories on the road to Nuwara Eliya. FREE

Day 3

Nuwara Eliya is small summer resort used by British to escape heat in other parts of country.
Take a train from Nanuoya to Ella. LKR750 Railway pass Horton Plains NP with pictures waterfalls, mountains, tea plantations and view to World’s end,
Take a road B35 to Tissamaharama which passes Yalla National Park. You’ll have good chances to see elephants on the way.
Stop at Kataragama.  It is the most important religious pilgrimage site in Sri Lanka

Day 4

Yala National Park. Safary cost ~$US40.  The park is famous for largest concentration of leopards
Mulkirigala Rock historical temple. LKR200. It has little of Dambulla and Sigiriya.
Take a rest at Mirissa beach which is still not overdeveloped with holiday resorts.

Day 5

Galle is the best example of a fortified city built by Europeans in southeast Asia
Stop at one of turtle hatcheries North of Galle
Take a scenic cruise along Madu Ganga river.
Departure at night.

You can see a lot in 5 days, but…I would suggest to take at least 10 days and make it in much slower pace and definitely you should rent a car with driver, but don’t drive yourself if you don’t have driving experience in Asia. I can recommend our driver Gamunu, who helped a lot with finding accommodation and was working long hours to make sure we will see as much as possible in such short time.

Of course you can use public transport, but then you’ll need even more time.

Check here details of each day:

Day 1. Sigiriya(Rock) – a large stone and ancient rock fortress, Polonnaruwa, wild elephants
Day 2. Dambulla Cave Temple,spice gardens,The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, tea plantations
Day 3. The train trip from Nanuoya to Ella, Rawana Ella waterfalls, Kataragama
Day 4. Spotting leopard in Yala National Park, Mulkirigala Rock historical temple, Mirissa beach
Day 5. Galle fort, baby turtles at turtle hatcheries, Madu Ganga river scenic cruise

The post Sri Lanka in five days. Full itinerary appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

Nuwara Eliya is small summer resort used by British to escape heat in other parts of country. Weather is very refreshing thought it can be a little be chilly at night so no surprise to see locals walking with jackets or sweaters on.
I didn’t spend much time in Nuwara Eliya except visiting small botanic garden. There are no so much to see there, but I need to kill some time till my train arrives.
Today’s plan changed after talking with our driver last night.  There are two ways to go South from Nuwara Eliya. You can go by car, but there is better way. You can take the train from Nanuoya to Ella.
Nanuoya railway station is located 10km (6 miles) from Nuwara Eliya. It seems there is no way to book 1st class ticket in observation car in advance, but our driver suggested to buy cheapest available tickets and latter upgrade it.  Total cost was 750LKR. It is not the cheapest train trip, but it is really worth it and is the one of the best train trips I ever done.

Railway pass Horton Plains National Park with pictures mountains, waterfalls, tea plantations and view to World’s end, the key attraction of the park. The train goes somewhere on that hill in front of World’s End.
It takes about 3 hours to get from Nanuoya to Ella and then continue trip by car. Couple kilometers from Ella there is one of widest waterfalls in Sri Lanka – Rawana Ella.

It was still long way to go to the tonight’s destination Tissamaharama (or Tissa for short) which is gateway to Yala national park, but we decided to go even longer way.
The shortest and fastest way would be by taking A2 highway (see the map). But alternative road B35 is much better. Why? B35 public road passes crosses western part of Yala national park and it is good place to see elephants and I saw more elephants today then on my safari to the Yala NP I took next day.
Kataragama is another stop on this road.  It is the most important religious piligrimage site in Sri Lanka and it is a holy place for Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. It is quite village during day and is better to visit it at night when food offerings ceremonies start.

The same as on second day it was already dark on arrival to Tissa, but we need to go to bed earlier anyway as it was booked safari to Yala NP for next morning. Early morning.. Get up at 4:00.

The post Sri Lanka in five days. Day 3 appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.