Walking Trails of Sri Lanka

The group flight arrives at Colombo's Katunayake Airport and we transfer to our hotel at Dambulla (100mi/160km, four hours' drive). Those not flying with the group can meet us at the hotel or the airport in time for the transfer. Please be aware, if you are meeting th...

After breakfast, we visit the magnificent Cave Temple at Dambulla, one of the most impressive sights in Sri Lanka. There are colourful, well-preserved paintings and statues of Buddha inside, dating to the first century BCE. We then have a short, gentle, warm-up walk t...

The next two days takes us across the Knuckles Mountain Range. We start early with a three-hour drive to the start of our walk, where we begin with an easy descent past paddies and through the villages of Pitawala Patana and Etanwala. Descending to the river, we cross...

We begin with a half-hour drive to the Narangamuwa Temple at Ranamuregama. Starting our walk, we pass paddies and coconut groves before we enter a heavily forested area. The trail climbs gently for an hour and then levels out before undulating though this lush forest....

We enjoy a relaxing morning in the hotel garden and pool. Mid-morning, we have an 11mi (18km) drive to Kandy and the afternoon to explore. The town is located around a small lake and we can walk round to look for water birds and large water monitors. Later, we visit t...

This morning, we drive to Dickoya (three hours), where we stay for two nights in a simple summer house with a wonderful view of the Castlereagh Reservoir. On a clear day, we can see the outline of Adam’s Peak in the distance. In the pilgrim season (December to May), ...

This morning, we have a wonderful drive through tea plantation districts to Nuwara Eliya. This was the favourite hill station during the British era, situated in the cool highland air. Known locally as Little England, it is dotted with British-style houses, hotels and...

Today we drive to Horton Plains, a large plateau more than 6,560ft (2,000m) above sea level, overlooked by the second and third highest peaks in Sri Lanka. The scenery is beautiful and best explored on foot. We trek through the rolling grasslands, seeing forest and un...

This morning, we set out to ascend the iconic Ella Rock, the highest point in Ella standing 3,743ft (1,140m). The round trip to Ella Rock takes about four to five hours. Starting off gently with flat trail where you walk through farm land, passing by locals as they ge...

We now head south of the hills to Tissamaharama down the plains. On the way, we stop at Ella Gap where the most of the southern part of the island is in view and the shimmering silver of the ocean is visible on a clear day . We continue on our journey visiting the spe...

We drive along the coastal road to the historic port of Galle, which dates to the 17th century and is now a Unesco World Heritage site. On the way, we stop at a small folk museum inspired by the local writer Martin Wickramasinghe. The museum is a typical house from th...