Working with our friends at Sri Lanka In Style, we have designed an enticing travel itinerary for individuals and groups with an affinity for art and culture. Of course, the itinerary can be customised to your exact interests.
Whether you're keen to stop off to visit an artist specialising in digital art or if contemporary mixed media painting is more your thing, Sri Lanka In Style promises to share their 'little black book' of contacts with you to make your journey truly special and unique.
Day 1. Arrival in Colombo. You will be met planeside by VIP staff and taken to the front of immigration and customs, where queues can be severe in high season. You'll stay in the best ocean view suites at the Galle Face Hotel for one night. This will be our meeting point if some of you come in on different flights.
Days 2-3. We drive to Pinawella to the elephant rehabilitation farm for lunch on the river, and then continue on to the Cultural Triangle, where Sri Lanka's best 5th and 10th century Sinhalese cities can be seen: Sigiriya and Polunawara. We stay for two days here in 5 star comfort to explore the best of the Cultural Triangle.
Anoma Wijewardene, Sri-Lankan mixed media artist
Day 4. We drive to Kandy, the beautiful old hill capital which the British took forever to subdue. We'll visit the Temple of Buddha's tooth (he seems to have left his teeth in a number of temples!), the classical Kandy dancers, the fire walkers, and probably the best botanical gardens in Asia, started by the old Sinhalese Kings and continued by the British. We stay at the magnificent home of a 19th century Prime Minister.
Day 5. We take the classic old British train, single gauge, through some of the most beautiful scenery on earth, for which Sri Lanka is justly famous, and end up for two nights in the finely restored Mansion of a 19th century English plantation owner. They lived well and this is real luxury in stunning surroundings. Tea Trails, as it is known, has just won an award for one of the top 5 destinations in the world. We spend two nights here.
Day 7-8. Here is where you have to decide if you want ten or twelve days for the trip. If 12, then we go up to Ella to spend two days in magnificent tea country with walking trails unsurpassed for their beauty. If you are not walkers, then this may not be for you and we can present you with an alternative.
Day 9-10. Time for Sri Lanka's incomparable beaches, so we drive down to the coast at Tangalle where we have a good rest at the Aman. It's right on a private beach and well up to the usual Aman standards. We spend two nights here.
Day 11-12. We drive to colonial Galle, occupied consecutively by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British. A very beautiful World Heritage Site with old forts, narrow lanes and good, inexpensive shopping. We stay at Dutch house, the former residence of the Dutch Governors which I usually take over in its entirety, as the suites are fabulous and the gardens leave the Aman (the only competition in Galle) cold.
On the twelfth night we drive to Colombo as most of the international flights depart around midnight.
We will tour Sri Lanka in a comfortable air-conditioned bus. We will be accompanied throughout by Claude, a wonderful character and gentleman guide from the old school, who is a veritable encyclopedia of Sri Lankan life and history.
The cost will be in the region of USD2500-3500 per person in double sharing rooms (depending on the itinerary you choose and on price hikes between now and 2011) and includes all meals, soft drinks, 5 star accommodation throughout, transport, transfers, entrance fees, and pretty much everything you can think of except for alcohol consumption and tipping (at your discretion).
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