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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.

We arrived to Colombo International Airport and drove straight to Sigiriya. There are enough places there to stay between Dambulla and Sigiriya. As I mention in previous post it took much longer then I expected and we arrived to Sigiriya are very late. It was already dark and best what we could do just go to bed.

Day 1

The first task was visit Sigiriya (Lion’s rock)  – a large stone and ancient rock fortress or ruins of the fortress dated back to 5th century.

It is better to go in the morning as you will need to do some stair climbing to get to the top of the rock and it won’t be so hot. Or you can do it later afternoon as it will be better light for taking photographs of the rock.

At the left side of the rock the narrow pathway emerges on the large platform from which the rock derives its later name, the Lion Rock.

There was a sculpted lion’s head above the legs and paws flanking the entrance, but the head broke down many years ago.

It is probably half way of  the ascent to the summit of Sigiriya Rock. Most people take a rest here before heading further up.

Give about 2 hours to see everything in slow pace, but it can take more time for somebody less physical fit.
Sigiriya site is open 7:00 – 19:00 (7am – 7pm). Cost 30$US.

East from Sigiriya there is Polonnaruwa – 1000 years old ruins of the second most ancient of Sri Lanka’s kingdoms.  On the map it looks not so far, but with Sri Lankan traffic it takes some time to get there.

It is quite big site, split to couple locations,  also there is museum, so give about 3 hours.
Cost 25$US

It was enough for one day and we went back to Dambulla for the night.

If you are lucky you can see elephants on the way to Polonnaruwa. The road between Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa is boundary of Minneriya-Giritale National Park and it is not rear to see elephants crossing that road.

We saw only one elephant on the way to Polonnaruwa, but on the way back to Dambulla about 10 elephants were crossing the road. It was fantastic.

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The post Sri Lanka in five days. Day 1 appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.