Sri Lanka - 8 Nights/9 Days by Majestic Tours

Tour Itinerary

Departs from Bandaranaike International airport

Day 1. Airport/Kandy...

Arrival at the Bandaranaike International airport.. Welcome and assistance upon arrival and transfer to the Hotel in Kandy. On the way visit the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnawela. It is an orphanage for baby elephants set up by the Department of National Zoological Gardens. The Orphanage was established to feed, nurse and house young elephants found abandoned by their mothers. Other inmates are those found displaced from their natural environs by development projects or those found wounded. In the evening arrive in at Kandy and check in the Hotel.

Day 2. Kandy

After breakfast, visit the Royal Botanical Gardens of Peradeniya. The Royal Botanical Garden at Peradeniya were established in 1821 and now cover 140 acres enclosed in a loop in the Mahaweli river, the longest river in Sri Lanka. Its primary aim was the testing and acclimatizing of plants for Commercial use in Sri Lanka. Today the Gardens have one largest collections of flora from sub tropical climates around the world. And a beautiful and rare collection of Orchids . And visit an ancient cave Temple in Hindagela or visit Triangle Temple, Gadaladeniya Embekke and Lankatilaka ( those Temple are built in AD1300) Evening visit the temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha, Kandyan cultural dance, and visiting a Sri Lanka Gem Museum. Over night stay at Kandy.

Day 3 Kandy, Dambulla / Sigiriya OR Polonnaruwa, Kandy

After breakfast, proceed to Dambulla, visit the Rock caved golden temple of Dambulla, Has a history since 3rd century BC and belonging to Malwatta Chapter, is recorded to have given shelter and protection to KING WALAGAMBA, who was defeated by the CHOLAS during war. This location, formerly know as JAMBUKOLA PATTANA, was found by King Walagamba, under the guidance of a farmer. He has been given a small cave by the Buddhist priests, and he has taken refuge at the temple for twelve years as a priest, after gaining much war strength within these twelve years, King Walagamba marched strongly through the enemy forces to Anuradhapura with his army and regained complete control over the city from the Chola rule. As means of appreciation of the refuge given to him, King Walagamba ordered the construction of the temple, in a grand scale, of the five main caves, three caves by the names of DEVARAJA LENA, MAHARAJA LENA & RAJA LENA respectively, have given prominence. Proceed to Matale, and visit a spice garden

Sigiriya, An awe inspiring rock fortress rising 183 meters above the surrounding green scrub jungle, just declared a world heritage site, is perhaps the most memorable place for visitors to Sri Lanka. The site was built under the orders of the paranoid King Kasyapa. The well-planned complex included caved temples, bathing pools, lovely ponds and

Asia's oldest surviving landscaped gardens. Today Sigiriya is famous for its frescoes painted in the pocket of the rock, The "Lion Stairway", the 'Mirror Wall' and the Water Gardens are its other highlights. Climb to the summit of the rock to view the ruins of the monastic complex.

Polonnaruwa, The medieval capital of ancient ceylon. The city of polonnaruwa was the 2nd capital of Ceylon, with its comparatively brief history with over a dozen of rulers. visit the sites where once seven story castles and temples were situated , archeological museum , famous for its three of the Buddha statues, and the 2500 hector man made reservoir ( 1153 - 1183 AD ) with capacity of 134 million cubic meters of water. over night stay at Kandy

Day 4 Kandy / Ella

After breakfast proceed to Nuwara Eliya, On the way visiting a tea plantation and tea factory, beautiful view of mountains and greenery, water falls and a historical Hindu temple, the period of King Rawana.over night stay Ella

Day 5 Ella/ Yala

After breakfast proceed to Ella. Ella, situated at 1,050 meters, is famous for the view from its mountain gap, its towering rock, and mysterious cave. Although Sri Lanka has many scenic delights, there are few places to equal Ella. The view from the front garden of the rest house is particularly awe-inspiring. The terrain falls away precipitously down a ravine and then over miles of jungle to the shimmering expanse of the sea in the far distance, a scene enhanced by the looming Ella Rock on the right and a jungle ridge on the left

Ella Rock is remarkable for the cave popularly known as the Cave of Ravana, because The legend has it, that it was here that Ravana, the demon villain of the Ramayana, hid his captive, the beautiful Sita. Properly known as Rattaran Guhava, it was in this cave that the Sri Lankan paleontologist, Dr Paul Deraniyagala, discovered ten skeletons of the cannibalistic Balangoda Man, Homo sapiens balangodensis. A visit to the cave requires a rope or rope ladder for entry as the floor is below the mouth. The cave has not ben explored beyond the lake that fills it only a short way from the entrance.

Ravana Ella Falls, about 5 km from Ella, are also associated with the Ramayana. Ravana The stream plunges with a foaming spray over a series of ledges into the valley close to the road. Wide but not very high (9m) this waterfall has been described as the wildest looking in Sri Lanka. It is certainly one of the most beautiful.

Day 6: Yala

Yala West (Ruhuna) National Park is well recognised as one of the best parks in the world to observe and photograph leopards. The park covers an area of over 100,000 hectares and is divided into five blocks. Block one is the most visited area since it contains the highest density of leopards. However other areas of Yala such as Yala East had been closed to visitors for some years and it will take time to research leopard numbers in these areas. Yala West consists of scrub jungle, brackish lagoons and stunning rock monoliths scattered throughout the park, its eastern edge is bounded by the South East coast

An excellent 'Natural World' wildlife documentary was filmed here featuring the 'Leopards of Yala', by Gordon Buchanan. Two local leopard experts, Jehan Kumara and Ravi Samarasinha assisted with the research and filming, Ravi continues his study of the park and its residents. One of the main findings of the film was that Yala has well over thirty leopards, probably the highest density anywhere in the world. It is also thought that Sri Lankan leopards are a distinct sub-species from their Indian neighbours, and the largest leopards in Asia over night stay Hikkaduwa OR choice of beach in south....

Day 7: Hikkaduwa OR choice of beach in south

Hikkaduwa Beach with beautiful corals also visiting the Galle Datch port Once Galle is the main port of Ceylon.The 90 acre Galle fort, which was originally founded by the Portuguese and later extended by the Dutch in 1663.The fort houses many important Dutch buildings including a Dutch period museum.over night stay Hikkaduwa

Day 8: Hikkaduwa Beach

Over night stay at Hikkaduwa

Day 9

After breakfast proceed to the airport on time for departure.