day trip to Galle from Colombo, The Sri Lanka 14 days itinerary

Choose Your Adventure In Sri Lanka

Sanjeewa Padmal (Seerendipity)

Table of Contents

Choose your adventure in Sri Lanka

Whether you are a thrifty traveller, a luxury seeker splashing out the money, an ultimate culture connoisseur, or a weary beach bum, this tropical island offers plenty of activities for you.

More than 2.3 million tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2018, and the authorities expected around 2.5 million tourists in 2019. The Muslim extremist bomb attack, which claimed the lives of about 250 people, many of whom were tourists, forced a revision to the forecast for 2019. The island was visited by around 2 million tourists in 2019. The Easter Sunday bomb blast in 2019 caused a huge setback in the tourism sector. The suicidal bomb attack was masterminded by Muslim extremists targeting Sri Lankan tourist hotels and a few Catholic churches.

However, the island had been able to come back strongly from the misfortune and record a quick recovery, cementing the island’s reputation as one of the leading holiday destinations in the region. Whether you are a thrifty traveller, a luxury seeker splashing out the money, an ultimate culture connoisseur, or a weary beach bum, this tropical island offers plenty of activities for travellers. Even better, with the US$ and other hard currencies that are measuring up against Sri Lankan rupees, there has never been a better time to explore Sri Lanka.

Choose adventure in Sri Lanka: City break

Immortalised by a rich historical past, Kandy sits in the central hills of Sri Lanka at an elevation of 500 metres above sea level. Kandy is one of the most enchanting cities in Sri Lanka and attracts a large number of travellers every year. Kandy is one of the best places for Sri Lankan one-day trips from Colombo and other beach resorts on the west coast and southern Sri Lanka, and a large number of tourists undertake the one-day trip to Kandy from Bentota and Kalutara.

At its core, Kandy-once stood as the capital of Sri Lanka’s hill country, is a vision of ancient historical monuments peeking out from between colonial buildings and modern Highrise concrete towers. Hundreds of shops selling various items are packed around the beautiful lake of Kandy while tooth relic temple rises majestically next to the lake.

The city of Kandy is sliced into two, separating the ancient part of the city (a UNESCO world heritage site) and the modern Kandy. The historical part of the city that categorized as the UNESCO world heritage site, is the city’s beating heart, which includes most popular tourist attraction such as Kandy Lake, tooth relic temple, 18th-century colonial mansions, museums and many other historical monuments.

Sri Lanka’s Overlooked Coastline
The palm-fringed west coast beaches of Sri Lanka

Adventure in Sri Lanka: Super-luxe cruise in the Indian ocean

Cruise in the Indian ocean off southern Sri Lanka to take a closer look into the world’s biggest creature by chartering a private yacht for a sun dawn trip. Early morning whale watching cruise offers a sophisticated way to watch marine creatures such as blue whales, sperm whales, sea turtles and dolphins. If you are venturing on the whale watching trip from November to April the boat can be packed to the brim with many other travellers (for the best view, take a seat near the edge of the deck), the boat tour may last between 1 hours or 5 hours, all depend on the how soon you encounter the acrobatic giants in the waters.

“We are not going back to the shore unless we see whales,” said Janaka, who organize whale watching trip off Mirissa harbour. “In some cases, we encounter whales just after 30 minutes journey from the shore and it may even take about 5 hours until we see a whale, our main priority is to show the whales to our customers and very rarely we fail on our duty.” Said Janaka.

boat tour madu

Adventure in Sri Lanka: Boating at Madu river estuary

Colombo’s cityscape can be converted to a thrilling backwater trip even if you have a concern about your holiday budget. The boat trip on the Madu River estuary available from morning to the dusk and can be done 7 days of the week. The entire boat trip takes you through the mangrove forest and stops in 2 islands to give you the firsthand experience on Cinnamon cultivation as well as cinnamon processing that convert the bark of the cinnamon plant to an edible commodity. The second stop will be at an island, where there is a Buddhist temple. The Madu River boat tour takes around 2 hours in total. If you like the boat trip and really enjoy the peaceful setting in the river, stop for a fish therapy, which gives you the healing effect of fish massage that lasts around 30 minutes.    

Chosen adventure: Beach break

Sri Lanka’s coastline spreads around the island for more than 1300 km; this vast coastal belt is a lot more than the resort towns of Bentota, Hikkaduwa, and Unawatuna. Away from the hustle and bustle, historical monuments snuggle into the interior of the island. Secluded bays are equipped with stretches of golden-colored sandy beaches and fishing villages frequented by fishing boats.

Super-luxe beach stays in Bentota

Those in the know choose the laidback luxury of Bentota tourist resort on the west coast. Bentota beach resort is a designated area with a large number of luxury beach resorts. The resort is surrounded by Indian ocean and Bentota River, while it is connected to the mainland on the southern direction. Bentota beach resort also known as the golden mile, considered as the home to most luxury beach resorts in Sri Lanka you will encounter branches of many luxury hotel chains such as Taj hotel, Cinnamon hotel.

As you walk along the pristine beaches keep your antenna up and notice the coconut ropes that go from one crown to the next and create a bridge for toddy tappers to go from one to the other. The coconut bud makes Sri Lanka’s most popular alcoholic beverage, arrack. The syrup extracted from coconut bud is distilled to produce Arrack, which is the most popular alcoholic drink among the working people of Sri Lanka. The arrack is available in all parts of Sri Lanka including tourist hotel, so, sample a glass of arrack cocktail, while the beaches on the west coast are perfect for topping up your tan.   

Bentota and Hikkaduwa sits on the west coast of Sri Lanka, kissed by the blue coloured, warm waters of Indian Ocean

Wallet-friendly beach holiday in Hikkaduwa

Nestled in the western coast of Sri Lanka between Bentota and Galle, Hikkaduwa is just 136 km from Colombo, small fishing village perfect for backpackers who are still in search of value but over the heady party days. It is all about lazing on hammocks, sleeping in a dormitory or a budget-friendly guest house or pitching a tent between the palms and a pristine strip of gold-coloured sand only minutes down the Hikkaduwa city. 

A couple of new luxury properties sprang up in the recent past due to the growing demand for luxury accommodation in Hikkaduwa and many other luxury bungalows are also in place to cater to luxury seekers. Hikkaduwa rest is an easygoing spot for chilled-out holidays, with rustic wooden cabins and homemade dinners packed with local produce.   

Chosen adventure: Sri Lanka cultural triangle

At dawn, the valley in the north-central plains of Sri Lanka’s cultural triangle glow shades of soft apricot, buttery yellow and rose petal pink as its gigantic dagobas start to emerge from the woods. Hot air ballooning is the best way of capturing the spectacle of this ancient city in the cultural triangle. Hot air ballooning has become a big business in Sigiriya and Dambulla over the last few years amid the ever-increasing interest of Sri Lanka’s historical monuments.

Super-luxe: hot air ballooning

The luxury hot air ballooning trip in the cultural triangle lasts about 2 hours for those who like to

Experience the views without the chatter and camera-clicks of other passengers. And in the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka when it is not about being up above, it is about burrowing down below. With views over a pristine countryside dotted with thousands of lakes that blend antiques such as Sigiriya rock fortress, Golden Buddha of Dambulla rock cave temple, ancient stupas and Dagobas, hot-air ballooning are a perfect way to experience the magnificent engineering skills possessed by the ancient engineers.

Wallet-friendly: trekking to the Sigiriya rock

If your budget does not support a hot-air ballooning trip, pull on your hiking shoes and head on to Sigiriya rock fortress, where the 1-hour trek rewards you with some seriously fantastic views across the pristine jungle, farmlands, lakes, canals, rice paddies and small hamlets in the dry zone. The 1-hour trek elevate you to 500 meters above sea level and the birds-eye view from the top of the rock is simply gorgeous and it also allows you to keep close look into the many ancient constructions such as swimming pools, palaces, fountains, and Sigiriya paintings.   

Why you should choose Seerendipity for your adventure in Sri Lanka

Serendipity Tour is an entirely locally owned travel company with a head office in Colombo. The highly experienced local staff is a key strength of Serendipity Tours, and they can plan your dream holiday to Sri Lanka.

The best price guaranteed for your Sri Lanka trip

When you book a tour with Serendipity Tours, you directly book the tour with the local company, which means there are no middlemen and therefore you can guarantee the best price. Simply get in touch with us and let us know when you travel and what you like to see.

Plan your best Sri Lanka trip with-expert

Our staff makes a personalised program for you, which you can change until you find the best Sri Lanka trip package for you. Visit www.sirilaktours.com to browse our existing tour packages, which you can customise to meet all your expectations. Write to us at admin@seerendipitytours.com, tel. 0094-77-440977, WhatsApp 0094-77-4440977.

Please support us

We have put a lot of time and effort into compiling this blog post. Please be kind enough to leave your very own comments.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *