SRI LANKA · CEYLON
Lion Rock, tea trains and the leopard coast.
Leopard safaris in Yala, the hill-country train to Ella, the sky-fortress at Sigiriya and the Dutch fort at Galle. Every great day on the island, from the cultural triangle down to the south coast.
Only here
Three days you can only have in Sri Lanka.
Safaris, temples and train rides turn up all over Asia. Tracking a wild leopard in Yala, riding the tea-country line to Ella and climbing a fifth-century sky-palace at Sigiriya do not.
Leopard country
Leopards in Yala
Yala has the highest density of wild leopards anywhere on earth, and they hunt in the open here in a way they do almost nowhere else. A dawn jeep through the scrub and lagoons turns up elephants, sloth bears, crocodiles and painted storks before breakfast, with the leopard the prize everyone holds their breath for.
- 1 Ella: Drop to Tangalle/Hiriketiya/Mirissa/Galle & Yala Tour
- 2 ELLA: Drop to Tangalle/Hiriketiya/Mirissa/Galle & Yala Tour
- 3 From Ella: Drop to Tangalle/Hiriketiya/Mirissa & Yala Safari
The hill-country line
The Train to Ella
The blue train out of Kandy climbs for hours through the tea estates of the highlands, doors open to the cool air and the green falling away on both sides. It crosses the Nine Arch Bridge, a colonial-era span of stone curves wrapped in jungle, on what is regularly called one of the most beautiful rail journeys in the world.
- 1 Ella to Kandy Train Tickets (Reserved Seats)
- 2 Ella to Kandy scenic train journey with reserved seats ticket
- 3 Ella: Tea Factory, Train, and Nine Arch Day Tour with Pickup
Sky fortress
Sigiriya Lion Rock
A fifth-century king built his palace on top of a two-hundred-metre rock monolith and reached it through the carved paws of a giant lion. You climb past the frescoes of the cloud maidens and the mirror wall to gardens in the sky, with the jungle stretching unbroken to the horizon. There is nothing else like it.
- 1 From Colombo: Sigiriya and Dambulla Day Trip with Safari
- 2 From Kandy: Sigiriya Rock & Dambulla Cave Temple Adventure
- 3 From Sigiriya: Minneriya National Park Private Jeep Safari
Start here
The one almost everyone books first.
More Sri Lanka trips begin with this than anything else on the list.
Where most people start
Sri Lanka's Most Popular Tours
A Yala safari, the Sigiriya climb, the hill-country train and a tuk-tuk loop of Colombo. The days most travellers come to the island for.
Where to begin
The days a Sri Lanka trip is built around.
A safari in the southern parks, the climb up Sigiriya, the train through the tea hills, a cooking class, a tea-estate morning and the whales off the coast. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
Getting around
How you cross the island.
Sri Lanka is small but slow, and the how is half the trip. Three ways to move between the regions, and when each one earns its place.
Tea country
The hills are nothing but tea.
Above Kandy the highlands turn into a sea of clipped green that gave the world the word Ceylon. You walk the rows with a picker, follow a leaf through the rolling and drying floors of a colonial-era factory, then drink the result looking out over the estate that grew it.
Read the guide: the best tea-country tours →Off the south coast
Blue whales, a mile off the beach.
The deep water drops close to shore off Mirissa, and from December to April the largest animal that has ever lived passes within sight of the harbour. A morning boat turns up blue whales and sperm whales, spinner dolphins by the hundred, and reefs to snorkel on the way back in.
See the whale-watching trips →The south coast
A walled town above the Indian Ocean.
Galle Fort is a Dutch-built town of coral-stone ramparts, shuttered villas and a white lighthouse, jutting into the sea at the bottom of the island. You walk the walls at sunset past cafes and gem shops, with the waves breaking below and the whole of the colonial south behind you. The best base on the coast.
Galle & the south coast →The ancient cities
Royal capitals older than almost anywhere.
Anuradhapura was the island's first great capital, and its brick stupas, monasteries and bathing pools stood for over a thousand years before Polonnaruwa took over. White dagobas rise out of the jungle, pilgrims circle the sacred bo-tree grown from the Buddha's own, and monkeys run the ruins. The deep history at the top of the cultural triangle.
- 1 Private City Day Tour in Anuradhapura
- 2 Explore & Ride the history of anuradhapura with Vogel Tours
- 3 Delve Into Ancient Anuradhapura with Optional Visit to Mihintale
Plan by region
The island in three chapters.
Most trips run the same arc, north to south: the ancient cities of the cultural triangle, the tea country in the hills, then the beaches and whales of the south coast.
The cultural triangle
Start in the ancient north.Climb Sigiriya at first light, walk the painted caves at Dambulla, and wander the ruined royal cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. A thousand years of kings in one corner of the map.
The hill country
Up into the tea.Kandy and the Temple of the Tooth, then the slow blue train climbing through the estates to Nuwara Eliya and Ella. Cool air, waterfalls and tea to the horizon.
The south coast
Down to the sea.The ramparts of Galle Fort at sunset, blue whales a mile off Mirissa, and a long line of palm beaches from Bentota to Tangalle. The island unwinds at the bottom.
The Gathering
Three hundred wild elephants in one field.
Each dry season the receding waters of Minneriya and Kaudulla draw the largest assembly of wild Asian elephants on the planet onto the grass of the old reservoir bed. An afternoon jeep puts you among herds hundreds strong, with calves underfoot and the dust going gold as the light drops. There is no bigger wildlife show in Asia.
See all 31 elephant safaris →By region
Pick a corner of the island.
Colombo for the city and the coast road. Sigiriya for the rock and the ruins. Kandy for the temple and the hills. Ella for the tea and the train. Galle for the fort. Yala for the leopards.
By activity
Pick what kind of day you want.
A safari if you came for the leopards and elephants. The train if you want the tea hills. A cooking class to take the curry home. A boat off Mirissa for the whales.
Plan it
One week, three chapters.
First time in Sri Lanka? Here is how a week falls into place, north to south, without a wasted day.
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