Boutique & Unique: 14 Days in Sri Lanka

After breakfast, you’ll be driven into Sri Lanka’s verdant hill country and the ancient city of Kandy. En route, you’ll be able to admire the island’s rolling interior landscapes which lie quilted with lush rainforest and dotted with tropical plantations and tea terraces.

You’ll also stop off at the Dambulla Cave Temples, a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating to the 1st century B.C. which was used as a place of refuge by an exiled king who, on regaining his throne, commissioned a series of magnificent images that were carved into the rock.

The scenic road journey to Kandy will take approximately 2 hrs 45 mins.


Accommodation: The Kandy House.

In the morning, you’ll embark on a scenic three-hour train journey from Kandy to Nanu Oya, winding past sprawling tea plantations and the rolling landscapes of Sri Lanka’s hill country. You’ll travel in a 1st class air-conditioned cabin or a 2nd class reserved cabin. Depending on ticket availability, it is possible that you might travel in the afternoon rather than the morning.

Please note that this train transfer cannot be guaranteed as ticket sales open 21 days before travel. In the event you cannot travel by train, you will instead transfer by private road vehicle.


Accommodation: Goatfell.

The day is yours to relax in the hotel’s tranquil grounds or explore some of the breathtaking surrounding scenery. Goatfell occupies a former estate manager’s bungalow which still resonates with the country charm of a bygone era, its interiors bedecked with beautiful colonial-style touches. You can indulge in gourmet cuisine, enjoy afternoon tea on a covered veranda or on the lawn, sit beside a roaring log fire in the cosy living room, or take in the splendid views of the surrounding tea fields from the outdoor infinity pool.


Accommodation: Goatfell.

Today you can enjoy a variety of activities in Gal Oya National Park that showcase the area’s breathtaking wild landscapes and impressive flora and fauna. These range from enthralling game drives, bicycle tours, bird walks, jungle cooking courses and mountain treks.

There is also the opportunity to meet the Vedda, a forest-dwelling indigenous group who have inhabited the eastern flank of the island for hundreds of years. During this intriguing experience, you’ll be able to meet a village chief who’ll guide you on a walk through the landscape of his ancestors, detailing the tribe’s knowledge and use of medicinal plants, the locations of their ancient hunting grounds and cave dwellings as well as how this hunter-gatherer group has sustained itself over the centuries by relying on the bounties of nature.


Accommodation: Gal Oya Lodge.

For the next four days, you’ll be free to unwind and disconnect along Sri Lanka’s beautiful south coast. At your tranquil boutique hotel, comprising just 10 elegant, ocean-facing rooms, you’ll be right by the beach and will be able to enjoy the hotel’s sumptuous gastronomy as well as its 20-metre outdoor pool.

Should you wish to venture away and explore the area, you can visit Galle Fort, which was first established by Portuguese settlers in 1588 and heavily fortified by Dutch colonists during the 17th century. More than 400 years old, Galle Fort remains in remarkably preserved condition, and its sturdiness was proven when it withstood the catastrophic effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, which devastated much of Sri Lanka’s southern and eastern coastline. Within the fort, you’ll find beautifully preserved Dutch architecture including churches, monuments, ramparts and warehouses used by the Dutch East India Company to store spices. Perhaps its most famous landmark though is the Galle Fort Lighthouse: the current lighthouse was constructed by the British in 1939 some hundred metres away from the site of the original lighthouse, destroyed by a fire in 1936, which had been erected by the British in 1848.


Accommodation: KK Beach Galle.