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Start in Negombo and end in Colombo! With the Active Adventure tour Sri Lanka One Life Adventures – 12 Days, you have a 12 days tour package taking you through Negombo, Sri Lanka and 9 other destinations in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka One Life Adventures – 12 Days includes accommodation in a hotel as well as an expert guide, meals, transport and more.
Itinerary
Arrive on day one and be greeted at the airport by your tour guide, who will load your luggage into a tuk tuk as you ride through the tree lined and sunbaked streets of Negombo to your first hotel. Today is your day, or get your base tan on the beach, for in the evening we meet as a group and hit the town for your welcome dinner and drinks.
Fill up on a delicious breakfast in the hotel before we hop on a private bus to start our journey to Sigiriya. On the way we will stop off to explore the magnificent Dambulla Caves, history and religion bounce off every painted wall and stone Buddha statue, leaving you with an unrivalled sense of spirituality. Then we’ll continue on to check into our stunning hotel in Sigiriya, the jewel of the Cultural Triangle. We will finish our epic day with a sunset climb to the quiet Buddhist monastery of Pidurangala, to get an open and unobstructed shot of what it is we’ll be climbing in the morning!
An early wake up time today as we put on our hiking shoes, grab our camera and head out to climb the incredible Sigiriya Rock. Protruding produly out of the earth, ruins of a grand palace provide evidence all around the grounds of a once violent and noble Sri Lankan history. View the ancient wall paintings, the sanskript marked mirror wall and the huge stone lion paws guarding the ascent to the summit. The views from the top are unrivalled as you travel through time examining the ruins. This afternoon you have the option to go on an extra safari in Minneriya national park, where elephants patrol the land. To fill those hungry bellies, we stop by a local family for lunch who will prepare a traditional feast for us before taking a well-deserved rest on a lounger in the afternoon sun.
Today we say goodbye to Sigiriya and embark on our travels down south towards Sri Lanka’s second largest city, Kandy. We will stop at a spice garden on the way to learn about where our favourite spices come from and have a cooking class where we’ll learn the secret to a perfect Sri Lankan curry! Here, our local chef will teach you how to make dhal and chicken curry as well as fried cashew coconut sambal and poppadoms. Then we’ll continue our drive to Kandy, check in to our next accommodation and take in the sights and sounds of this bustling city with a Tuk Tuk tour!
Eat your breakfast overlooking the hills of Kandy before we head into town to visit the sacred Temple of the Tooth. This is a religious shrine which is said to house the tooth of Buddha himself. We then jump on the bus and travel through the mountainous region of the hill country. The hills are ablaze with small green tea plants which Sri Lanka is famous for. We stop by a functioning tea factory to learn how the tea is processed and ends up in your cup at home, whilst actually learning how 7 different types of tea are made all from the same plant! A trip to Sri Lanka is not complete without experiencing life on the train and the journey from Nuwara Eliya to Ella is dubbed as the best journey in the world. 180 degree views of tea plantations, waterfalls, lakes and local villages pass on by as your train traverses the tracks cut into the mountainside. Try the sweet milk tea on board, converse with friendly locals and take pictures to make you the envy of all your friends back home. After we check into our hotel, we’ll head into Ella for dinner and drinks in everyone’s favourite mountainous town.
Accommodation
- 8 nights in twin-share rooms at modern hotels.
- 2 nights in twin-share rooms at a resort.
- 1 night glamping in a two-person luxury tent at a safari camp.
Guide
- Legendary One Life group leader*, local Sri Lankan cultural guide and/or private driver throughout tour.
- *For tours until the end of January 2023 the tour will have a local guide only.