Sri Lanka
Island of Stories
August 2027 | 19 days / 18 nights
Negombo • Anuradhapura • Jaffna • Sigiriya • Kandy • Gal Oya • Nuwara Eliya • Ella • Galle • Colombo
CULTURE • FOOD • WILDLIFE • TEA COUNTRY • COASTLINES • TIME TO REALLY EXPERIENCE IT
NZD $9,500 per person twin share
Solo pricing available • Deposit $500 per person • International flights additional
Sri Lanka changes character almost every day
One morning you're in a Tamil market in the far north choosing ingredients for lunch with a local family. A few days later you're climbing Sigiriya as the first light reaches the jungle, listening to temple drums in Kandy, gliding across the waters of Gal Oya or watching tea country unfold from a train window. Then the mountains fall away and the Indian Ocean appears. This is exactly why I love this itinerary. It reaches well beyond the usual highlights, but it also gives us time to enjoy them properly. We'll travel with our own private vehicle and local expertise, stay in some beautiful places, eat incredibly well and have genuine free time woven through the journey. I'll be travelling with you throughout, taking care of the details while Sri Lanka does the rest.
The Travel With Becks way
Sri Lanka rewards curiosity. Its history is ancient, its landscapes change constantly and its food can be completely different from one part of the island to the next. I want us to experience those contrasts rather than simply move through them. That's why we head north to Jaffna for three nights, cook and eat with a Tamil family, spend two nights in the Cultural Triangle, slow down in Kandy and Gal Oya, then follow the hills through Nuwara Eliya and Ella before finishing beside the sea in Galle and Colombo. There are wonderful organised experiences throughout, but also afternoons and evenings where you can swim, wander, find a cafe, book a massage, shop, have a drink or simply sit somewhere beautiful. Those unscripted hours are often when a destination starts to feel like yours.
A DEEPER ROUTE • LOCAL CONNECTION • BEAUTIFUL STAYS • GENUINE FREE TIME • SMALL-GROUP EASE
The coast, an ancient capital & the road north
Day 1 — Arrive Sri Lanka | Negombo
Ayubowan - welcome to Sri Lanka. From the airport it's only a short drive to Negombo and the Indian Ocean, which makes this a wonderfully gentle beginning after the flight. Check in at Jetwing Sea, unpack, walk down to the beach and let the warm air and sound of the water tell you that you've arrived. Tonight is simply about settling in and starting the journey well.
Day 2 — Anuradhapura by tuk tuk
We travel north to Anuradhapura, where enormous white stupas rise above trees and pilgrims move quietly through one of Sri Lanka's most sacred ancient cities. Later we'll explore by tuk tuk - a fun way to move between monuments spread across this extraordinary landscape. We'll visit the revered Sri Maha Bodhi, Ruwanweliseya and the immense brick Jetavanaramaya while our guide brings more than a thousand years of history to life.
Day 3 — Elephant Pass to Jaffna
Today the scenery begins to change. As we travel through Elephant Pass, the greener south gives way to open lagoons, palmyra palms and wide northern skies. Jaffna feels culturally distinct from the rest of the island, with its Tamil language, Hindu traditions and food all giving the peninsula its own identity. We arrive with time to settle in, take a first wander and enjoy the feeling of being somewhere many visitors to Sri Lanka never reach.
Jaffna | Food, faith & a different Sri Lanka
Day 4 — Cook, eat & meet Jaffna
This is the kind of day that makes a journey memorable. We begin in a local market among piles of vegetables, seafood, spices and ingredients particular to the north, choosing what we'll cook with our local culinary guide. Then we're welcomed into a Tamil family home to prepare Jaffna curries, pittu, sambols and seasonal dishes using traditional methods and clay pots. Lunch is the reward: everything we've made together, served on banana leaves and shared around the table.
Day 5 — Jaffna's stories & Nallur at prayer
We'll explore Jaffna Fort, the much-loved Public Library and the city's historic heart before having time to ourselves. As evening approaches we visit Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil for Pooja. This is not simply a temple to photograph from outside: drums, bells, ritual and devotion fill the complex as worshippers gather. Experiencing it at prayer time gives us a much deeper sense of the living Hinduculture of the north.
Day 6 — South to the Cultural Triangle
After three nights in Jaffna we turn south towards Sigiriya and Kandalama. It's a longer road day, but the reward is Heritance Kandalama - one of Sri Lanka's most distinctive hotels, set into the landscape with jungle around it. The afternoon is deliberately open. Swim, book some spa time, sit with the view or simply enjoy having nowhere else to be before tomorrow's early start.
Sigiriya, village life & the hills of Kandy
Day 7 — Sunrise on Sigiriya & lunch in a village
We leave before breakfast and reach Sigiriya in the softness of early morning. The great rock rises almost 200 metres from the jungle, with water gardens below and the remains of King Kashyapa's 5th-century citadel above. As we climb, ancient frescoes appear partway up before the summit opens to an enormous view across the Cultural Triangle. Later the scale changes completely: tuk tuks, paddy fields, a small catamaran across a lotus-covered reservoir and a home-cookedlunch prepared with a localfamily over a wood-fired clay stove.
Day 8 — Spices on the road to Kandy
Leaving the dry-zone plains, the road begins to climb and the vegetation becomes richer. In Matale we'll walk through a spice garden and see cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and pepper growing rather than sitting neatly in jars, followed by a Sri Lankan lunch scented with those same flavours. Then we continue into Kandy, Sri Lanka's last royal capital, tucked among greenhills and cooler air.
Day 9 — Temple drums, tropical gardens & Kandy life
At the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic we'll experience the atmosphere during daily worship, with drums, lotus flowers and pilgrims gathering inside Sri Lanka's most revered Buddhist shrine. From there we move into the glorious Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, then back into everyday Kandy at the market. If the Esala Perahera is operating on our date, reserved viewing can be added as an optional experience - an extraordinary night of dancers, drummers, fire and ceremonial procession.
Gal Oya & the high country
Day 10 — Into the wild | Gal Oya
Today we leave the better-known route and head east towards Gal Oya, where forested hills surround the vast Senanayake Samudraya reservoir. Later we'll take to the water by boat, moving quietly between islands with a naturalist watching for crocodiles, waterbirds and wild elephants along the shore - and, with luck, elephants swimming between islands. Tonight we sleep in luxury tents surrounded by the sounds of the wilderness.
Day 11 — Veddha heritage & the road into tea country
This morninga Veddha village chief leads us into ancestral woodland, sharing knowledge of medicinal plants, traditional hunting practices and the relationship his community has maintained with the forest for generations. Afterwards the landscape changes dramatically as we climb towards Nuwara Eliya: waterfalls, mountain bends and brilliant green tea estates emerging through themist. By eveningwe're high in the cool country.
Day 12 — A slower day in Nuwara Eliya
Today is about enjoying the personality of the hill country rather than racing through it. We'll see Nuwara Eliya's red-brick post office and colourful local market, wander beside Lake Gregory and later step into another era for High Tea at the Grand Hotel - fine Ceylon tea, scones and pastries in one of the town's classic colonial settings. It's a lovely change of pace before tomorrow's train journey.
Ella & the journey back to the sea
Day 13 — The train to Ella
Today we board the hill-country train at Nanu Oya and let the landscape come to us. Tea plantations slide past the windows, valleys drop away beneath the tracks and waterfalls appear between misty hills as the train winds towards Ella. Our main luggage travels separately, so we can simply enjoy the ride. On arrival we'll visit Nine Arch Bridge, its great stone arches curving through dense green forest, before settling into Ella for two nights. Train seating is subject to availability and confirmed closer to travel.
Day 14 — Ella, exactly as you want it
A full day with choices. Sleep in, find a cafe, enjoy the hotel and take in the mountain air, or pre-book one of the optional experiences. Little Adam's Peak offers an early walk through tea country to broad sunrise views, while a guided cycling trip heads into quieter countryside, villages and hidden corners around Ella. You can make today active, lazy or somewhere in between.
Day 15 — Down from the mountains to Galle
We descend from cool tea country towards the tropical south, watching the landscape shift again until palms and the Indian Ocean take over. In Galle we'll enter the old fort, where Dutch-era ramparts surround cobbled lanes, whitewashed buildings, boutiques and cafes with the sea just beyond the walls. Once the guided walk finishes, the fort is perfect for exploring independently - especially as the heat eases and sunset draws people onto the ramparts.
Galle, Colombo & one last taste of Sri Lanka
Day 16—Cinnamon, mangroves & lunch on the water
We head to the Madampe River for a quieter look at coastal Sri Lanka. Travelling through mangroves and palm-fringed waterways, we'll learn about the river ecosystem and local livelihoods before going ashore to see how true Ceylon cinnamon is peeled, rolled and dried by hand. We'll also see traditional coir work, take part in mangrove planting and finish with a Sri Lankan lunch at a floating restaurant.
Day 17 — A whole day to enjoy the south coast
This day belongs to you. Begin with a gentle yoga session if you feel like it, then swim, relax, book a treatment, wander back into Galle Fort or do very little at all. Later, the ramparts are one of the loveliest places to be: locals and travellers gather as the sun drops into the Indian Ocean and the old streets begin to glow under the lamps.
Day 18 — Colombo by tuk tuk & Ministry of Crab
Our final city has a completely different energy. In Colombo we'll jump into tuk-tuks and weave through neighbourhoods, markets and historic streets, including Gangaramaya Temple, Pettah, the old civic quarter and Galle Face. The source programme finishes the day with a farewell dinner at Ministry of Crab in the historic Dutch Hospital precinct - a brilliant last evening built around Sri Lanka's celebrated seafood.
Day 19 — Departure day
After breakfast there is time for one last coffee, swim or look around before our private transfer to the airport. By now we've crossed an extraordinary amount of Sri Lanka: Tamil Jaffna, ancient capitals, sacred temples, jungle, elephants, tea country, mountain railways, cinnamon waterways and the southern coast. The landscapes will stay with you, but I suspect the food and people will too.
What's included
18 nights' accommodation on breakfast basis, with dinner included at Wild Glamping Gal Oya
Private air-conditioned transport throughout the programme
English-speaking national guide
Entrance fees and guided sightseeing specified in the programme
Anuradhapura tuk tuk experience
Jaffna market, Tamil family cooking experience and lunch
Sigiriya Rock Fortress and village experience with lunch
Matale spice garden and included lunch
Temple of the Tooth, Peradeniya Botanical Gardens and Kandy sightseeing
Gal Oya boat safari and Veddha heritage experience
High Tea at the Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya
Nanu Oya to Ella train journey, subject to ticket availability
Madampe River safari, cinnamon experience and lunch
Colombo tuk tuk safari and farewell dinner at Ministry of Crab
Travel With Becks hosting, care and support throughout
International flights, travel insurance, drinks, meals not specified, tips and porterage, personal expenses and optional excursions are additional. The Kandy Esala Perahera and Ella cycling are listed as optional experiences in the source programme.
19 DAYS • 18 NIGHTS • DEPOSIT $500 PER PERSON • INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS ADDITIONAL
Can you picture yourself here?
Cooking Jaffna curry in a Tamil family kitchen. Watching dawn spread across the jungle from Sigiriya. Hearing drums inside Kandy's sacred temple. Looking for elephants from a boat in Gal Oya. Following the railway through misty tea country. Learning how cinnamon is peeled by hand. Finishing beside the sea in Galle and around the table together in Colombo. That's the Sri Lanka I want this journey to give you - culturally rich, beautifully varied and full of experiences that bring us closer to the island, with enough breathing room to enjoy where we are.
SRI LANKA • AUGUST 2027
NZD $9,500 per person twin share
Solo pricing available • Deposit $500 per person International flights additional
To reserve your place, contact me and I'll talk you through the next steps and arrange your booking. I can also tailor your international flights and any pre- or post-tour travel around exactly what you'd like to do.
Rebecca “Becks” MacFadyen
Travel With Becks
Contact me today to start planning your next unforgettable group tour!