TRIPS WITH STAYS OVER ONE OR MORE NIGHTS
Beyond the day trips described above, we will gladly assist you in planning and conducting trips of several days length.
An excursion of several days into the central highlands will immerse you in a completely different landscape and vegetation zone.
Kandy, the last capital of the Sri Lankan kings containing the most important reliquary of the island, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, as well as several more temple sites in the nearby area, is always worth a visit.
The New International Buddhist Museum lies right behind the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. It offers quite a good overview on the evolution of Buddhism over the centuries.
Kandy is a lively little town with many shopping opportunities, restaurants and cultural attractions to be sampled on a trip through the central highlands.
There are innumerable trekking opportunities, sometimes on a par with a trip through the European Alps. We will gladly include these into your touring package. Adam´s Peak, especially, is a must-do for experienced trekkers but it is a physically challenging experience.
The road from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya covers a height difference of 1,400 metres and offers magnificient views on waterfalls, water reservoirs, tea plantations amd rainforests of partly tropical character.
Virtually the entire road is lined with stands for produce, fruits, and flowers without number and of a diversity which amazes even the most supermarket-jaded tourists.
Worth seeing, educational and interesting: visiting a tea plantation should be an obligatory part of your trekking schedule.
Nuwara Eliya’s appearance is still showing strong influences from the British colonial era. Architecture, a red telephone box, a Victorian post office, the golf course laid out in 1892, parks, an artificial lake, a circular road around a historical racecourse with an Gründerzeit terrace – they suggest the lifestyle led by the tea barons in their hillside cottages which would not be out of place in the English Midlands. Some hotels also reflect that colonial style of times past.
Due to the altitude of 2,000 metres above sea level, snow has been known to fall in winter even here. We sugegst appropriate clothing in all seasons: temperatures may drop way below 20° Celsius after sunset, and it is not by chance that many older building are still featuring open fireplaces which are still in use.
A trek to World´s End in Horton Plains National Park may require early rising but guarantees a breath taking view before the morning mists are filling up the valley.
Continuing the trip can be done by mini-bus, but also by train from Nurawa Eliya to Ella as a pleasant alternative. Your bus-driver will transport your luggage to the quarters booked in advance while you are enjoying the view from one of the highest and most beautiful railroads world-wide. The last part of the railroad from Ella to Badulla is especially spectacular; it is the last part of this transportation rail which opened up the central highlands even before the land roads.
Before you return to the coast, please visit the Udawalawe National Park, a shrubland reservation with major populatioons of elephants, buffaloes, leopards and other protected animals.
On the way back to the coast you will pass the Sinharaya National Park, Sri Lanka´s last preserved rain forest.
Another possible stop is the gemcity of Ratnapura with numerous mines in the surrounding valleys.
Ratnapura may also serve as the base for an ascent aof Adam´s Peak.
We will gladly arrange for a roundtrip according to your specifications. Groups of 2 or more persons should apply early since during the high season between November and April, quarters must be booked in time.