SRI LANKA INSIDER TOUR

Mountains, forest gardens, virgin rainforest, paddy fields, and waterfalls; home-cooked curries and tropical fruits, river bathing; boat safaris; yoga and meditation; Buddhist and Hindu temples; backstreets and bazaars; elephant rides; and more…

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These are sample tours of Sri Lanka. All our tours are private - you won't be part of a group. Our Sri Lanka tours are customized to meet your need - although we like to base tours around the key community projects we support. Note that we don't arrange air flights.

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Sample tour: 14 days/13 nights
Colombo, Kandy, Watagoda, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kitugala - Sri Lanka

Day one and two
Is your arrival in Colombo. From the airport, we'll whisk you straight away to Horathapola Estate, nestled within the coconut estates and less than an hour from the airport. The 1920s mansion has been converted by its owners, Javana and Pia Fernando. There's a working estate for you to explore, a pool, gardens and verandas.

Overnight: (2 night), Horathapola Estate

Day three
We'll take the spectacular train journey to Kandy in the hill country - passing through forests, waterfalls and paddy fields. You'll have the chance to explore the back streets of the city - options include the market, backstreet shops, temples and botanical gardens etc.

By late afternoon we'll start preparations for an evening feast, cooked at uncle Ragu's house. With aunty and uncle's expert guidance, we'll get the chance to cook and sample the best of Sri Lankan cuisine - string hoppers, coconut sambol - as well as an amazing array of locally harvested fruit.

Overnight: (1 night), Hotel Swisse. The hotel dates back to 1840s - secluded, quiet, swimming pool, fine garden.

Day four, five, six and seven
From Kandy, we'll take the morning train to Watagoda - then car to the ecolodge. The eco lodge is in a 65 acre forest garden, surrounded by paddy fields and mountains. The setting is both simple and luxurious - forest, open plains and waterfalls. The food is organic and fair-trade - much of it grown on the estate

Over the next couple of days, our guide will take you around the area. We can visit Pusulpitya temple and take lunch in a villager's house. After lunch we'll visit a nearby tea estate school and join the line pickers for a cup of tea. You can take evening walks around the village through the paddy fields, and across the hanging bridges.

Other options include bathing in spout baths and waterfalls, visiting temples, hiking and taking a picnic lunch. There is traditional ayurveda treatment available in the near by town (Pundaloya). We can also take a day trip to Horton Plains (an undulating plateau more than 2000m high - "beautiful, silent, strange").

Overnight: (4 nights), Eco Lanka Villa.

Day eight, nine and ten
We'll make our way to Sigiriya and spend the next three days visiting Sri Lanka's ancient cities and a national park.

Sigiriya rock fortress that rises magnificently from the jungle. Built in AD43, the fortress is actually more like a palace built on top of a 200m-high rock (377m above sea level), adorned with a moated island, water gardens, cave, frescoes and rock paintings.

We'll visit the temples at Dambulla. The caves' history is thought to date to around the 1st century BC when King Valagambahu, driven out of Anuradhapura, took refuge here for 14 years. When he regained his throne, he had the interior of the caves carved into magnificent rock temples. Five of the caves became shrines. Together, they contain about 150 buddha images.

In a small town, just outside Dambulla, lives our friend Pushpani. Pushpani spent three years working as a cook for a Lebanese diplomat in New Yor. Now back with her family, we can stroll around her hometown with her and share lunch - western or middle-eastern cusine (a nice break from Sri Lankan).

Overnight: (3 nights), Agro Eco Lodge - government owned estate surrounded by paddy fields.

Day eleven and twelve
We'll make our way to the Rafter's Retreat at Kitugala. If you are feeling adventurous, you can hire out mountain bikes to explore the hills, plantations and river banks; go white water rafting; take a dugout canoe ferry over the water; or go walking and trekking around the plantations and ancient caves. Those looking to relax, can lounge on the lawn or dabble their feet on the river.

Overnight: (1 night), Rafter's Retreat - comfortable and simple accommodation - either rooms or tree-houses above the Kelani river. Camping is also available.

Day thirteen
We'll make our way back to Colombo - colourful and bustling. You can either relax, or we'll take you on our off-the-beaten track tour of Colombo with its whirl of sights, smells and tastes. Much under-stated by the conventional tourist crowd, the tour will take you to the city's more intriguing neighborhoods. You can see the colorful bazaars and back streets of Pettah and visit the city's hauntingly beautiful temples and churches.

Overnight: (1 night), Galle Face Hotel. Inside the grand four-story colonial building, the sweeping staircase and threadbare red carpet bear witness to a glittering past. You can spend evenings on the marble-tiled veranda taking tea at sunset or wandering along the public promenade.

Day fourteen
After a farewell meal, we'll take you to the airport for your flight home.

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Sample tour: 14 days/13 nights
Colombo, Kandy, Watagoda, Udawalawa national park, Sinharaja Forest Reserve - Sri Lanka

Overnight: (2 night), Horathapola Estate

Overnight: (1 night), Hotel Swisse. The hotel dates back to 1840s - secluded, quiet, swimming pool, fine garden.

Day four, five, six and seven
From Kandy, we'll take the morning train to Watagoda - then a car to the ecolodge. The eco lodge is in a forest garden, surrounded by paddy fields and mountains. The setting is both simple and luxurious - forest, open plains and waterfalls. The food is organic and fair-trade - much of it grown on the estate.

Over the next couple of days, our guide will take you around the area. We'll visit Pusulpitya temple and take lunch in a villager's house. After lunch we can visit a nearby tea estate, visit the school and join the line pickers for a cup of tea. We can take an evening walk around the village through the paddy fields, and across the hanging bridges.

Overnight: (4 nights), Ecolanka Villa.

Day eight, nine and ten
We'll make our way to Udawalawa national park for camping. The park's 30,821 hectares centre on the large Uda Walawe Reservoir, fed by the Walawe Ganga. Of all Sri Lanka's national parks, this is thought to be the best, with herds of elephants, wild buffalo, sambar deer and leopards. The reserve has recently been listed by NORAD (a Norwegian funding agency), as a priority area for ecotourism. Our partner - Palitha - will be working with them on this work.

Overnight: (3 nights) at the national park campsite.

Day eleven and twelve
From Udawalawa, we'll turn south to Sinharaja Forest Reserve, staying the next two nights in a simple ecolodge run by a member of the local community and serving the best home-cooked vegetarian meal one could imagine. (note that the eco lodge is very basic, but offers you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sleep and wake up in the rainforest).

The forest is totally isolated from the wider world. With the help of an expert guide, we'll explore the rainforest and surrounding villages. No vehicles are allowed in the reserve, so we can take easy walks in relative solitude. The giant canopy trees reach heights of up to 45 m, with nearly all the sub-canopy trees found being rare or endangered. Mammals include the leopard, sambar, barking deer and wild boar, and there are 45 species of reptiles, 21 of which are endemic

Overnight: (2 nights), Sinharaja Forest Ecolodge.

Overnight: (1 nights), Galle Face Hotel. Inside the grand four-story colonial building, the sweeping staircase and threadbare red carpet bear witness to a glittering past. You can spend evenings on the marble-tiled veranda taking tea at sunset or wandering along the public promenade.

Day fourteen
After a farewell meal, we'll take you to the airport for your flight home

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GENERAL INFORMATION

Accommodation in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka offers a wide range of accommodation – from simple homestays and ecolodges to luxury villas and old colonial hotels – and prices vary enormously. As a general rule, the more luxurious the accommodation, the more likely it is to be owned by a non-Sri Lankan and the less likely we are to be supporting the local economy – though there are exceptions. In some places we encourage you to opt for certain accommodation e.g. the ecolodge at Watagoda, because of the wonderful praise the place has received from other visitors.

Other things to do
Numerous options – elephant rides, white water-rafting, mountain biking, cooking tours, dance performances, camping, religious tours, farm walks...

Seasons
The climate for travelling in Sri Lanka is best between December and March on the west and south coasts and in the hill country, and from April to September the east coast is at its best. We regularly take visitors around the country outside of these months, and the experiences have always been good. The best thing is to avoid to much travelling and time on the road, and instead stay in just a few places, taking short day excursions out.

General tour costs to Sri Lanka
Bsed on average priced accommodation, tours work out roughly between £130 - 150 per day for a single person, with the cost of additional visitors being relatively small (£20-30). These costs include all food, accommodation, travel and guides, as well as all activities in the itineraries, unless otherwise specified.

However, costs vary considerably according to the type of accommodation you are looking for. Camping, for example, is typically expensive, but provides a novel experience.

Those wishing to keep costs down have two options – either they can ask for us to quote on clean but inexpensive hotels and guest houses, and/or we can give you a guided tour for just part of your stay, and arrange for you to relax by the beach for the remainder of your holiday (we can book accommodation for you at your expense).