* the prices are per person, you need to double it to get room price.

At the time of writing this post the USD1 was worth LKR133, so my visit to Sri Lanka cost approximately USD280.

Just want to add some remarks to above number.
I was traveling in the group of 5 people, so we split total cost of car rental of USD400 (including tips).

You can’t save much on sightseeing, though you can pay even more for safari to Yala NP if only couple people are booking it.

The quality and the price of accommodation depends on location.  By looking to above table you could see I paid almost the same price in Dambulla and Mirrisa beach, but you can’t compare these two places. Here is what we got in Dambulla:

Unfortunately I don’t have picture of the hotel in Mirrisa beach because my camera was stolen in India couple days latter, but I can assure what guest house in Mirrisa was like paradise comparing with this one in Dambulla. Cost additionally only USD1 per person and was 400 meters (1/4 mile) away from perfect beach:

I didn’t book any hotels/guest houses in advance because of intensive plan I had I didn’t know where I end up that night. But you can check Agoda accommodation booking site if you know your schedule and want to book hotels in advance as usually they have good deals with 50-60% discount for same places.

The prices are for double room and online you can get better rooms for similar price especially in Sigyriya/Dambula area. Of course prices are tend to change.

Food price depends on what do you eat and where do you eat. Breakfast (Sri Lankan or American/English) and lunch will cost about 250-400 rupees, dinner can start at 300 rupees and can go to 1000-1200 rupees if you order fresh sea food plate at the beach cafe. So everything depends on you.

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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

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Today we allowed ourself  to sleep a little bit longer after early start yesterday, followed with refreshing swim in the ocean and good breakfast in one of cafes on the beach. As we there leaving Sri Lanka today it was no rush, as was no much plans for sightseeing on this day except driving back to Colombo to catch our flight to India.

The South West coast beaches are  good if you want to have some time to relax. I would love to spend there more time on one of surfing beaches.

May be next time. Now is time to go.

Galle fort is interesting place for a short stop. Latest fortified city was built by Dutch almost 6 centuries ago with only with few changes since then.  Galle is the best example of a fortified city built by Europeans in southeast Asia and then you scroll a long the streets it feels more like Southern Europe, but not Asia.

Further North from Galle you can visit some turtle hatcheries. With more and more developments on the beaches there are not much place for turtles to lay their eggs. To save turtles the hatcheries were created and now there are 3 or 4 along the coast.  Kosgoda Sea Turtle Conservation Project is one of them. Entry cost 300 rupees and they also accept donations. Just before sunset is the best time to visit as they releasing baby turtles to the sea. They can’t do it during day time because of predators hunting for these babies.

Another place to visit is Manu Ganga river delta if you are not in rush like we were. In Balapitiya you can take a scenic cruise along Madu Ganga river to watch daily live of families living on one of 30 islands there.

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Main attraction today was visit to Yala National Park. The park is famous for largest concentration of leopards in the world and most tourists  are coming here for leopard “hunt” with their photo/video cameras.
I have been on safaris in Namibia, Bostwana  and Republic of South Africa, but didn’t see anything like this that was happening at Yala National Park. I am not talking about animal spotting.
The gates of the park opens at 6:00 and you must be there before that time. That’s way we went to bed very early yesterday as it took about an hour to get to the gates from our guest house. Even with such early start we were at the end of long queue of 4wd cars.

Everybody was there for a leopard and when the gates were open it looked more like start of a rally, but not a safari trip. In the park cars did split, but after awhile the race was on again as somebody spotted leopard and announced it by radio. The arrived to the place and yes, it was leopard there, except it was about 200 meters (650 feet) away from the road in the shadow on the tree, so silhouette of leopards was all we could see. But I can’t complain I didn’t see it.
The park is plenty of other animals – elephants, water buffalo, crocodiles, different lizards and a lot of bird species – but that leopard “hunt” overshadows everything else.

It was interesting experience thought and I would go for another safari during day or just before sunset if I would have time.  I feel it would be totally different experience as you could enjoy park without crowd of jeeps in one spot. But I was on the mission to see Sri Lanka in 5 days and need to keep moving. It was no time for another safari.

We wanted to spend this night near the beach and have a rest after intensive trip around Sri Lanka, but we did one short side trip before heading to the beach.  Not far from South coast there is Mulkirigala Rock historical temple.

 In the guide book was written it has little of Dambulla and Sigiriya.  I am not sure about Sigiriya except you need to climb a steep rock to get to the rock temple. It is much smaller comparing to Dambulla rock temple, but still it is very interesting and very quite as not many tourist are coming to this place.

And now is beach time

Mirissa beach still is not overdeveloped with holiday resorts, has great restaurants with fresh sea food and was perfect place to spend my last night in Sri Lanka.

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