Classic tour has designed for you to explore the ancient ruined city of Polonnaruwa, the famous Lion Rock fortress Sigiriya, The Golden Rock Temple in Dambulla, Kandy the last royal capital of Sri Lanka and Nuwara Eliya, home of the famous Ceylon tea.
NOTE: This is an independent Classic Tour and can tailor to your specific needs.
| Period | Accomodation Type | single person traveling | Two persons traveling | Three persons traveling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01.11.2009 - 30.04.2010 | Moderate Style Hotels | USD 615.00 | USD 759.00 | USD 937.00 |
| 01.11.2009 - 30.04.2010 | First Class Hotels | USD 1,095.00 | USD 935.00 | USD 1,180.00 |
Cost includes:
Depart after breakfast from your hotel in Colombo/Beach, our journey takes us Sigiriya. In the afternoon we begin our sightseeing with a visit to Polonnaruwa, a former Sinhalese capital dating from the 11th & 13th centuries. We will tour Polonnaruwa houses temples, figures and carvings which includes the incredible Gal Vihara, a granite rock carving of huge Buddha images.
Dinner and overnight stay is at Amaya Lake/Hotel Sigiriya.
Following breakfast we drive the short distance to the 600ft rocky outcrop of Sigiriya rising almost vertically from the surrounding scrub and jungle. With a fortress bearing the ruins of King Kassapa’s Palace dating back to the 5th century, Sigiriya boasts water gardens, boulder gardens, an enormous lion’s platform as well as a mirror wall and impressive frescos.
En route to Kandy we visit the most impressive of Sri Lanka’s cave temples at Dambulla. Built in the 1st century BC this world heritage site is made up of five caves with more than 2,000 square metres of painted walls and ceilings. This is the largest area of cave paintings to be found anywhere in the world.
After this visit we arrive in Kandy, where an afternoon tour showcases the most beautiful of Sri Lanka’s cities, with its colonial buildings situated around the man-made lake. On the banks of the lake, you will see one of the most important sites for Buddhists, the sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic. The day is rounded off with in the evening with a Sri Lanka cultural show.
Dinner and overnight stay is at the Earl’s Regency Hotel / Suisse Hotel.
Following breakfast we travel the short journey south to Peredeniya on the banks of the Mahaweli Ganga to the Royal Botanical Gardens. The gardens were first planted and laid out for King Kirthi Sri Rajasingha (1747-1780) and covers some 150 acres. With lawns, flowering shrubs and in excess of 10,000 trees and 4,000 plant species this visit demonstrates the beauty of Sri Lanka. In 1821, during British rule, the Royal Park became a botanical garden. Here, exotic crops such as coffee, tea, rubber and cinchona (quinine) were all tested and now form a large part of the Sri Lanka’s economy.
We continue our journey south into ‘up country’ and the hill resort of Nuwara Eliya, at 5,199 ft above sea level we experience a perennial spring-like climate. This area is famed in Sri Lanka for its tea plantations, cascading waterfalls and colonial buildings that resemble old English cottages. Here we visit a typical Sri Lanka tea plantation and a working tea factory.
Dinner and overnight stay is at the Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya.
We depart after breakfast for a tour of Nuwara Eliya, traveling through spectacular scenery including rubber and tea plantations and the stunning waterfalls of the ‘Up country’. After our sightseeing in Nuwara Eliya we return to Colombo hotel/beach hotel stopping en route at Kitugala, which allows us the chance to see the Devon Falls.
We arrive back at the Colombo/beach hotel in the early evening.