Round trip & diving in Sri Lanka - Winter

You will be welcomed at the airport and driven towards your hotel in Dambulla.

If you arrive early and still have the energy, you can stop on the way at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, where you can see baby elephants roaming around their sanctuary, being bottle-fed, or bathed by their human caretakers. It is especially fun during feeding time, when the babies gulp down huge bottles of milk substitute in just seconds.

Afterwards, you continue to Dambulla, where you can relax and enjoy the rest of the day at the hotel.

Optional – Authentic Hopper Party
In the afternoon, you may choose to experience a traditional Hopper Party, where steaming hot hoppers are freshly prepared right in front of you by an experienced villager.

You will also have the chance to try making your own hoppers by swirling the batter in the hot pan and cracking an egg in the middle – of course under the guidance of a local expert. Hoppers are an authentic Sri Lankan dish made from rice flour and coconut milk, cooked in a special hopper pan. They resemble pancakes, but are much more unique and exciting. Enjoy crispy egg hoppers and plain hoppers served with dhal and curry – a true taste sensation.

Chauffeur/guide during the journey
On this trip, you will have your own dedicated driver, who also serves as your guide. He will accompany you throughout the journey until the diving part of the tour, ensuring you have guidance and insights at every stop. During the diving section, the local dive center will take over.

Hotel (examples): Liyya Water Villas**** or Hotel Sigiriya

This morning begins with breakfast and a short briefing about the day’s program. The highlight is the climb of the magnificent Sigiriya Rock Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Along the way, you will see the famous colorful frescoes painted on the rock face. The fortress complex includes the ruins of a royal palace, surrounded by an extensive network of fortifications, vast gardens, ponds, canals, alleys, and fountains.

The climb consists of around 1,200 steps. The first part is a gentle walk through the gardens. As you begin the ascent, there are two resting points where you can pause, take in the breathtaking views, and gather strength before continuing to the top.

After the climb, you will take a scenic village path leading to a typical rural home on the outskirts of Habarana/Sigiriya. Here, you can look forward to an evening filled with laughter, fun, and delicious Sri Lankan food. Later, you will be driven back to the hotel to relax before the afternoon activity.

In the afternoon, you will experience authentic Sri Lankan cooking. The tour begins with a visit to the bustling Dambulla market, where you’ll shop for fresh vegetables together with a local seller. From there, you’ll continue to a nearby village on the lakeside for your cooking class. Upon arrival, you’ll be welcomed with a refreshing local drink and settle into a rustic clay and wattle hut.

Here, you’ll learn how to prepare traditional Sri Lankan dishes such as brinjal pahi (fried, caramelized eggplant), pol sambola (coconut and chili sambol), gotukola sambola (Indian pennywort salad), parippu (lentil dhal), and ratu alla hodi (beetroot curry).

You will also discover how coconut milk is made, practice cracking and scraping your own coconut, and taste the different dishes along the way. The result is a flavorful feast of eight unique dishes, served on a lotus leaf – enjoyed the traditional way, with your hands.

Optional pottery-making
You may also try your hand at traditional pottery. Guided by a local potter, you’ll shape clay into simple creations. Since the potter speaks limited English, your driver will assist with translations to ensure you get the most from this hands-on cultural experience.

Hotel (example): Liyya Water Villas**** or Hotel Sigiriya

After breakfast, you will be driven to CIC Agri Farm in Hingurakgoda – the largest farm in Sri Lanka dedicated to rice production.
Hingurakgoda is a well-known region for rice cultivation in the country. CIC took over the farm from the government on a long-term lease in 1998. The farm covers a total area of 1,300 hectares, of which 700 hectares are cultivated with rice. It is irrigated with water from the Minneriya Reservoir, ensuring the production of high-quality rice.

Afterwards, you will set out to explore Sri Lanka’s second ancient kingdom – Polonnaruwa.

Accompanied by your driver, you will visit many sites of archaeological and historical interest in this sacred city, including the Quadrangle, Royal Palace, Gal Viharaya, Kumara and Lotus Ponds, Thiwanka Image House, and more. You will also see one of the country’s largest reservoirs, Parakrama Samudraya.

In the late afternoon, you return to your hotel in Dambulla, where you can spend the rest of the day swimming, relaxing, reading, or enjoying a spa treatment – simply taking the time to unwind and make the most of the surroundings.

Hotel (examples): Liyya Water Villas**** or Hotel Sigiriya

After breakfast, your journey continues as you dive deeper into Sri Lanka’s history, heritage, and culture with a drive down to the vibrant city of Kandy – Sri Lanka’s last royal capital.

Kandy is a prime example of Buddhism’s lasting influence on the island. Its temples, shrines, and monasteries keep the Buddhist traditions alive to this day. The city was the final capital of Sri Lanka’s ancient kings, set among the hills of the Kandy plateau, surrounded by tropical plantations. In 1988, Kandy was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

On the way, you will visit the magical Dambulla Cave Temples, the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. You will also stop at the spice gardens of Matale for a guided tour, learning about the cultivation and everyday uses of spices in Sri Lankan life. Here, you will be introduced to various spices and shown how they are grown and processed.

Optional – Today’s lunch can be arranged in a rice paddy field: a typical farmer’s meal, known in Sinhala as Kamatha. The traditional Sri Lankan paddy field setting is recreated for this experience, offering you a taste of authentic rural life.

Afterwards, you will visit a batik factory, where you can observe the production of beautiful batik prints and browse a wide selection of batik items. After about an hour at the factory, the journey continues to Kandy.

In Kandy, your driver will accompany you to the sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic – Sri Dalada Maligawa – the most important place of worship for Buddhists worldwide. Monks conduct daily rituals in the temple’s inner chamber, performed three times a day. The visit usually lasts about an hour, and we recommend purchasing a lotus flower at the entrance to offer during your visit.

The day ends with a unique cultural performance, featuring traditional Sri Lankan dances accompanied by ceremonial drumming. The show also includes energetic acrobatics, with performers spinning plates, executing daring leaps, and finishing with the dramatic highlight – the famous fire-walking ritual.

Hotel (example): Radisson Hotel Kandy**** or Oak Ray Regency

After breakfast, you will be driven to Dambana, where you will meet Sri Lanka’s indigenous people.

Upon arrival, members of the Vedda community will welcome you and give a short briefing about the day’s activities, including an introduction to the Dambana area.

You will then proceed to meet the Vedda Chief – Wanniyalatto – followed by a short stop at the local museums, which offer a fascinating insight into the community’s heritage.

Afterwards, you will explore the area on a guided forest walk together with the Veddas and our naturalist. During the walk, you will learn how the Veddas identify and gather edible yams, how they locate beehives and harvest honey, how to distinguish animal footprints, how to set up a traditional “Habaka” (a small animal trap), and, of course, how to use a bow and arrow.

One of their traditional ways of invoking blessings from the gods is through a famous ritual dance known as Kiri Koraha. You will also be introduced to other traditional practices that remain part of their daily lives, with hunting being the most significant.

After this unique experience, you will be driven back to Kandy.

Back in Kandy, you will visit a gemstone museum that showcases some of the rarest minerals in the world, found in Sri Lanka. The museum also houses ancient fossils dating back to the Cambrian Era (around 541–485 million years ago). Visitors will gain detailed knowledge of how Sri Lankan minerals and gemstones outshine those found elsewhere in the world.

Hotel (example): Radisson Hotel Kandy**** or Oak Ray Regency

After breakfast, you will be driven to Nuwara Eliya, one of the most scenic towns in Sri Lanka, also known as Little England. As you leave the center of Kandy, the landscape begins to open up with dramatic rolling tea plantations separated by rushing rivers, cascading waterfalls, and deep gorges, all framed by dramatic mountains topped with pine forests.

Today, Nuwara Eliya is a modern, bustling town with department stores and fast-food chains. But the further you move away from the busy center, the more you will catch glimpses of the past.

Here you will find countless opportunities for active experiences. Nuwara Eliya is, for example, known for having the best 18-hole golf course in Asia, and that’s not all – horseback riding, boating, birdwatching, and hiking are just some of the many activities available.

You will visit an organic tea plantation, where you’ll be shown which leaves to pick. You may quickly notice that it takes some practice to make sure the leaves end up in the basket rather than on the ground! The professional tea pluckers will demonstrate how it’s done.

After the tea plucking, you’ll be taken on a guided tour of the Mini Tea Factory and have the entire process explained to you – from the initial withering of the leaves, to rolling, fermenting, and sifting, producing the different types of tea. Following the tour, you’ll enjoy a tea tasting, where a tea taster uses a large spoon to slurp the liquid into the mouth – ensuring that both tea and plenty of oxygen pass over all the taste receptors on the tongue to give a balanced flavor profile.

The area is breathtakingly beautiful, with tea plantations stretching as far as the eye can see.

As you navigate the uneven mountain roads, you’ll get glimpses of plantation life – an old man carrying a bundle of firewood, groups of children walking home from school, and tea pluckers tirelessly harvesting tea just as their mothers and grandmothers did before them. A sense of idyllic peace rests over the place, but every now and then, the curtain lifts, and you catch a glimpse of the darker side of Sri Lanka’s tea trade.

After your visit to the plantation, you will continue to Nuwara Eliya, where you can take a walk in the hills to truly enjoy the cooler mountain climate. Your driver will be happy to guide you on the many available hiking routes of varying difficulty.

Hotel (examples): Mirage Kings Cottale or Galway Heights Hotel*****

After breakfast, you will be driven to Yala to experience the island’s wildlife. Yala is famous for being home to Sri Lanka’s wilderness. It is the most visited and the second-largest national park on the island. Yala is especially renowned for its leopards and Sri Lankan elephants.

In addition, you can see beautiful lakes and the ocean at the edge of the park. A jeep safari inside the park is an absolute must during your visit.

After approximately 3 hours on safari, you will continue to today’s hotel.

Hotel (examples): Kithala Resort or Chaarya Resort

It is time to leave the jungle adventures behind and head down to the coast. You will be driven to the coastal town of Hikkaduwa, known for its stunning beaches and warm ocean waters.

On the way to Hikkaduwa, you will visit the historic coastal city of Galle, located on the island’s southwestern tip. It proudly stands as an important historical landmark with its fortified city, originally built by the Portuguese in the 16th century and later developed in the 17th century during the Dutch colonial era. The Dutch Fort in Galle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest remaining fortress in Asia built by European colonists.

In the late afternoon, you will continue to the beach resort, where it is time for complete relaxation. Explore the surroundings on your own or simply enjoy the day at the hotel with all the leisure activities it offers. Since today has been a big day, the evening is left free, allowing you to retreat to your rooms with room service if you wish.

From here, you will say goodbye to your driver, who has accompanied you throughout the journey. The diving will now be arranged through the local dive center in Hikkaduwa.

Hotel (example): Citrus Hotel Hikkaduwa or Coral Sands Hotel

Breakfast at the hotel
The rest of the day is at your leisure at the beach hotel.
Enjoy the water, relax at the spa and/or indulge in Ayurveda.

Hotel (example): Citrus Hotel Hikkaduwa eller Coral Sands Hotel

A typical diving day in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka, begins early in the morning. You meet with the dive team and instructor at the dive center. After a short briefing about the day’s dive sites, safety procedures, and equipment, you board the boat and head out to the first dive.

Along the way, you can enjoy the beautiful coastline and the clear blue waters. When you reach the dive site, you prepare to descend into the crystal-clear ocean. Hikkaduwa is known for its colorful marine life and diverse corals, so you can expect to see everything from tropical fish to turtles and perhaps even reef sharks.

After the first dive, you take a break on the boat to relax, enjoy some snacks and drinks, and share your dive experiences with fellow divers. You then continue to the next dive site for another incredible underwater adventure.

Following two dives, you return to the dive center. The rest of the day is yours to either explore Hikkaduwa town and its local culture or simply relax on the beach and enjoy the sunset after an exciting day of diving.

Snorkeling is also possible for those who do not wish to dive.

Hotel (example): Citrus Hotel Hikkaduwa or Coral Sands Hotel

Breakfast at the hotel

The rest of the day is free at the beach hotel.

Enjoy the water, the spa and/or Ayurveda.

Hotel (example): Citrus Hotel Hikkaduwa or Coral Sands Hotel

After breakfast, you'll be transferred to Colombo to depart on a memorable holiday in refreshing Sri Lanka.