Tailormade tour Flavours of Sri Lanka touring holiday Sri Lanka

Arrive at Bandaranaike International Airport where you will be met by your private chauffeur-guide. Transfer to your hotel in Colombo. Transfer time from the airport to your hotel is about 50 minutes. Enjoy the rest of the day is at leisure to relax by the sea and to enjoy the charm of the hotel. The iconic Galle Face Hotel, overlooking the Indian Ocean, blends colonial elegance with modern comforts, offering guests a timeless Sri Lankan seaside experience in the heart of Colombo. You stay here for two nights. 

After breakfast in the hotel this morning, enjoy a guided experience through the capital’s street food and culinary heritage. Stroll through its energetic streets, sampling fragrant spices, street-side snacks, and local favourites on an immersive food walk that captures the true essence of the city’s culinary soul. You will get to taste isso vade (crispy lentil cakes topped with spicy prawns), freshly folded kottu roti sizzling on hot iron griddles, and sweet treats like curd and treacle. This immersive experience introduces you to the heart of Sri Lankan Street food culture, full of spice, sound, and stories. The rest of the day is at leisure to explore the city. 

Today after breakfast, you embark on a scenic drive to the cultural capital of Sri Lanka, Kandy, about four hours away. Leave the coast behind as you journey inland towards the misty hills of Kandy. En route, pass paddy fields, coconut plantations, and bustling roadside fruit stalls. About half way to Kandy, you make a fascinating stop at a Spice Garden in Matale, a region famed for its spice cultivation. Here you can walk through fragrant plots of cardamom, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla, and learn how these spices are grown and processed. You’ll also see how they’re used in Ayurvedic healing and traditional Sri Lankan cooking. Arrive in Kandy at about lunch time and check in at Earl’s Regency, nestled against a backdrop of lush greenery. Enjoy the rest of the day settling in to your hotel or perhaps venture into the ancient capital of the country for some individual sightseeing.

After breakfast, you are taken to visit the revered Temple of the Tooth Relic, Sri Lanka’s most sacred Buddhist shrine. Then enjoy a stroll around Kandy Lake, shaded by ancient trees and watched over by the whitewashed temple walls. Next you head to the vibrant Kandy Market, a bustling hub of local life. The market and its narrow lanes lined with stalls is a treasure trove of authentic Sri Lankan flavours and crafts: fruits, spices such as cinnamon and cardamom, local snacks (murukku, thala guli), and traditional cookware and brassware used in Sri Lankan kitchens, handwoven batiks and carvings, and local sweets such as jaggery and aluwa. In the afternoon, you are free to relax. Then at 5.30 pm, you are taken back into Kandy for an evening food walk which lasts up to three hours. Accompanied by a local host who will regale you with stories about Kandy, the evening starts at the iconic Royal Bar, where you try the local arrack and bites to set the tone. On the walk around the town, you’ll be able to sample egg rotis, fresh hoppers and the best Kottu.

After breakfast, you are transferred to the Kandy Railway Station to board one of the world’s most iconic train journeys, a scenic ride into Sri Lanka’s central highlands. The train journey lasts about four hours. As you wind through emerald-green tea plantations, pine forests, and colonial-era stations, the train offers a slow, immersive experience into the changing geography and climate of the island. Along the way, local vendors hop aboard selling snacks unique to the region: boiled peanuts and chickpeas, still warm in paper cones, slices of pineapple with salt and chili, Isso Wade (shrimp fritters) wrapped in newspaper, Mung kavum (sweet mung bean cakes). On arrival at Nanu Oya, your chauffeur-guide meets you and drives you to Nuwara Eliya, often called “Little England” for its colonial architecture and cool climate. Before heading to your hotel, you are driven about 15 minutes to Nanu Oya’s local market. Here you can taste and learn about hill country produce such as red carrots, leeks, and radishes (fresher and sweeter than in the lowlands), fresh strawberries and homemade jams, baked goods like butter cake, ginger beer, and scones from colonial-era cafés, spices and dried tea leaves sourced straight from nearby estates. Then after the exploration of the market, you are driven about 45 minutes to Stafford Bungalow, a beautifully restored planter’s residence located within a working tea estate. As the evening mist gently settles over the hills, filling the air with the calming scent of eucalyptus and fresh tea leaves, unwind in true Highland elegance with a beautifully arranged high tea at your hotel, the perfect end to a day in the heart of Sri Lanka’s tea country. 

Begin your day with a visit to a tea factory, where you learn about the delicate process of plucking, drying, rolling the tea, followed by a tasting. Sample the nuanced flavours of different grades of tea. You also get a chance to take part in a local, host-led tea estate walk for an authentic feel of Nuwara Eliya. In the afternoon, join an intimate cooking class at Stafford Bungalow, a hands-on culinary adventure in the heart of nature. The cooking class begins by exploring the hotel’s organic herb garden, where you'll pick fresh, aromatic ingredients under the guidance of the expert chef. The focus of this fun and educational cooking class is a discovery of the traditional techniques and flavours unique to Sri Lankan cuisine, under the chef’s expert tutelage. Learn to prepare a selection of authentic local dishes using the finest produce harvested straight from the bungalow’s garden and master the art of balancing spices and creating delectable, fragrant dishes. After the class, savour the delicious dishes you've created in a relaxed, scenic setting, surrounded by the lush greenery of the bungalow's estate. This experience not only enriches your culinary skills but also deepens your appreciation for fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Spend your rest of the day enjoying the hotel and its surroundings.

After breakfast at Stafford Bungalow, check-out and start the drive from Tea Country to the south coast. Begin your descent from the cool hills of Nuwara Eliya, travelling through lush tea plantations, pine forests, and misty valleys. After about one and a half hours, make a stop in Ella, a relaxed highland town beloved for its dramatic scenery and easy-going charm. Here, near the base of the cascading Ravana Falls, enjoy a simple yet flavourful local meal. Tuck into freshly made coconut roti served with fiery katta sambol, paired with a warm cup of plain Ceylon tea, a true roadside experience that captures the soul of hill country cuisine. Take a moment to admire Ravana Falls, named after the legendary king of the Ramayana. The water plunges down from a height of over 80 feet, creating a spectacular curtain of mist and spray against the verdant landscape. Following this scenic break, continue your journey southwards. As you leave the highlands behind, watch how the surroundings transition into lush lowlands and coastal plains dotted with paddy fields and cinnamon plantations. The journey time from Ella to Galle is about three and a half hours and by late afternoon you arrive in Galle. Check in to the stylish Fort Bazaar, located within the historic walls of Galle Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The evening is at leisure in the Galle Fort. 

This morning, wake up to the sound of the sea and enjoy a relaxed breakfast at Fort Bazaar, where tropical fruits, Ceylon tea, and warm pastries welcome your day. Then head out for an immersive cooking class at Karuna’s home kitchen in nearby Unawatuna. Karuna, a passionate home cook, will guide you through her family recipes passed down through the generations. She’ll cook handpicked fresh seafood, jackfruit, spices, and greens such as gotukola and mukunuwenna. You learn to cook an array of southern Sri Lankan dishes: perhaps a creamy ambul thiyal (sour fish curry), jackfruit curry, pol sambol, and her famous coconut milk rice. Enjoy the meal you’ve helped to prepare, sharing stories and flavours in a warm, authentic home setting. Return to Galle in the afternoon and take time to explore the Galle Fort, a centuries-old bastion built by the Portuguese and expanded by the Dutch. Wander through cobbled streets lined with colonial buildings, art galleries, boutiques, and spice shops. Visit the lighthouse, watch the sunset from the ramparts, and sip on a fresh lime soda or enjoy an artisan gelato as locals go about their evening. 

Enjoy a final breakfast in Galle before bidding farewell to the southern coast. Your private chauffeur-guide will drive you north along the scenic Southern Expressway, passing salt pans, fishing villages, and fields of swaying coconut palms. It’s a drive of about two hours from Galle to Bandaranaike International Airport. Take home memories of misty hills, fragrant curries, market spices, and the warm smiles of the people you have met in Sri Lanka.