Colombo
Colombo was just a stop before our flight. We visited
- Gangarama and Seema Malakaya temple: Close to each other. There is a large pond with a shrine in the middle
- Colombo tower
- Galle Face Green
Pinnawala Elephant Sanctuary
You will see elephants of all ages here. It is maintained by the government ($2.5 entry fee). Beware of similar places run by private operators who charge a much higher entrance fee ($10+). They hardly have a few elephants and use it for rides which we were not supportive of. Our driver tried getting us into private ones, but we insisted taking us to the government run one
You can feed fruit plates to elephants during feeding times around 9 AM and 12 PM ($1), sometimes you are allowed to feed any all times. There are separate feeding times at 9 AM, 1 PM, 5 PM from the mahouts
The elephants are taken for a bath to the river nearby in a parade around 10 AM-12 PM and 2-4 PM. The river had high water levels when we visited due to rains the previous night, so there was no elephant bathing that day
Dambulla cave temples
A UNESCO world heritage site, home to beautiful caves with paintings inside. You have to climb a few steps to get there ($6 entry fee)
Anuradhapura
The place with many Buddhist stupas ($15 entry fee). Must visit places include
- Abhayagiri dagoba– The giant brown stupa that is visible from far away
- Jetavanaramaya dagoba– Another large brown stupa
- Ruwanweli Mahaseya- The white stupa with an old bodhi tree
- Isurumuniya temple beside a lake
- Twin ponds
The entire area is quite large with ruins all around. It is better to hire a car to go around, with a driver who knows how to navigate inside as the roads are not well marked
Sigiriya: The rock fortress
The rock cut mountain in the shape of a lion, built in the 5th century. It is a UNESCO world heritage site. Only the limbs are discernable today. 1200 steps to the top give you a very beautiful view of the city around ($15 entry fee)
Polonnaruwa
There are museums and runs spread across a large area ($12.5 entry fee).The highlight was Gal Vihara with large statue of reclining and sitting Buddha in granite rocks
Rankot Vihara is a large and prominent stupa. The audience hall is another wel preserved structure in the area
Kandy
Buddha’s tooth relic temple is here ($4 entry fee). The tooth is stored in a casket, visible only during service hours. We did not wait as it gets pretty crowded and difficult to see it anyway
Kandy Perahera is the largest one in Sri Lanka panning across 10 days around August
We skipped the touristy gem museum, wood carving museum, batik factory etc. which are all shops basically
Nuwara Eliya
Starting point for scenic train that goes across tea growing hills. We took a 2:30 PM train which actually started close to 3:30 PM. It was quite dark by the time we reached midway. We recommend taking an earlier train so that most of the journey till Ella is covered in day light
There are some historic places on the Ramayana trail here like Sita Amman temple (30 mins away) and Hanuman temple (60 mins away) which can be covered on the way from Kandy
There is a tea factory from Damro which offers free demonstration of how tea is made. You can choose to buy tea at the shops there
Ella
Frankly, there is not much to do in Ella. It was a stop after our scenic train ride before we headed to Bentota. There is a small waterfalls that was visible from our hotel
We started our day to see the famous Nine Arch Bridge. Many tourists wait for hours for a train to pass on the bridge to click photos
We trekked to Little Adam’s peak amidst tea gardens to get a view of the surroundings
Galle
Walled fort area built by the Dutch, another UNESCO World heritage site. You can take a nice walk along the walls with a view of the sea
Bentota
Beach city with many turtle hatching areas along with coast from Galle. There are many centres that are privately owned and run by small families. Be careful with which one you visit- some of them just view the turtles as money making machines, not all of them really care for them. We went to Kosgoda Turtle Hatchery ($5 entry fee). You can release a baby turtle for $2. We recommend you do this only during sunrise or sunset where there are not many predators to maximize its survival rate
You can go on a mangrove river safari along Madu river. Independently negotiate with boat drivers and be ready to act like walking away to another provider. We hired a boat for $20 for 3 people vs. the first ask rate of $75. There are island stops where you can see how cinnamon products are made. Buying spices here is not recommended, they are overpriced
We were lucky to witness Bentota Perahera. There were dancers on the street with a procession of elephants with colored lights. It is typically on full moon day towards end December
Where we stayed
- Colombo: Leighton resort. The beach is about 10-15 minute walk from the hotel
- Sigiriya: Hotel Wewa Addara
- Kandy: Randholi Resort & Spa
- Ella: Sky Green Resort
- Bentota: Riverside Fuji Inn. Our favorite among all places in Sri Lanka Nice homestay run by a friendly middle aged couple. The husband had worked in Japan for a few years, you can see Japanese touch in the presentation of dishes. His wife prepared nice, hot rice roti for us in the mornings for breakfast with sweet-spicy onion masala
There are river monitor lizards lazing around in the sun. We had a cat host “Sarani” (refugee in Sinhalese) that climbed upto first floor to greet and stay with us. The beach is about 10-15 minute walk from the hotel