Bentota Sri Lanka

 

Bentota is about 2 hours south of Colombo in Sri Lanka. It's a perfect spot for a 3-day weekend. We explored Bawa gardens and houses, went kayaking through the mangroves, and enjoyed the sunsets on the Indian Ocean.

The Farm Resorts Dickoya Sri Lanka

 

Sri Lanka can be hot and humid like any tropical island nation, but the tea country is another story. What a wonderful story it is in the cooler mountains. We spent the latest long weekend having a driver take us about 4-5 hours away to higher elevations. The Farm Resorts is a quiet refuge with comfortable rooms, amazing views, and a delicious little restaurant. It was a great break from the humid seaside city of Colombo.

Dambulla Village Tour & Temples

 

The Dambulla Village Tour is an immersive cultural experience in Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle, highlighting traditional rural life. The tour features a scenic bullock cart ride (cart drawn by oxen), a traditional catamaran boat trip, chena cultivation visits (slash-and-burn cultivation), and a home-cooked Sri Lankan lunch. (Google)

Hurulu Eco Park Sri Lanka

 

Hurulu Eco Park in Habarana, Sri Lanka, is a prominent 10,000-hectare biosphere reserve, famous for hosting jeep safaris that offer intimate, often less-crowded sightings of wild Sri Lankan elephants. As a crucial dry-zone habitat, it provides a crucial, year-round alternative to neighboring parks like Minneriya and Kaudulla. (Google)

Sigiriya Lion Rock Sri Lanka

Sigiriya Lion Rock is a 5th-century ancient rock fortress and palace complex in central Sri Lanka, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and often called the "eighth wonder of the world". It features a 200-meter-high granite monolith topped with ruins, featuring landscaped gardens, ancient frescoes, and colossal carved lion paws. (Google)

Habarana Cultural Centre Dance Show

 

The Habarana Cultural Centre hosts a nightly 1-hour show featuring traditional Sri Lankan Kandyan dancing, drumming, and vibrant, acrobatic, and fire performances. Held in a 700-seat, eco-friendly theatre with a natural grass roof, the show features over 35 performers, including skilled female dancers, and offers an authentic cultural experience near Sigiriya. (Google)

Dambulla Cave Rock Temple Sri Lanka

 

The Dambulla Cave Temple (or Golden Rock Temple) is a 1st-century B.C. UNESCO World Heritage site in Sri Lanka, renowned as the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in the country. Located on a 160-meter high rock, it features five main caves adorned with over 150 Buddha statues, intricate paintings, and 2,100 square meters of murals. (Google)

Ella to Mirissa Sri Lanka

 

We started the day in the cool mountains of Ella. Our trip concluded with a lovely beach sunset in Mirissa. It could have been remarkably hotter, but it was an overcast day with some rain. It didn't end up being that drastic of a change in environments on this tropical island nation.

Train to Ella Sri Lanka

 

That's some other people hanging out at the open door of the train, but it shows a good overview of a magical train ride. We kept hearing about taking a scenic segment of the train line to Ella. This was probably the best day of our trip to the mountain interior of Sri Lanka. It was a great way to start the first day of the new year. We're fortunate to live in this beautiful country.

 

Year's End at World's End - Horton Plains National Park Sri Lanka

 

We spent the last day of the year at the end of the world. We went before dawn to the Horton Plains National Park to arrive when it opened and hike out to the Mini World's End and Greater World End's overlooks before they were obscured by clouds. We succeeded for one by not the other.

Kandy to Nuwara Eliya Sri Lanka

 

This continues our trip through central Sri Lanka. We started with the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. We toured a tea factory and had a tea tasting in the heart of tea country. The day ended in Nuwara Eliya.

Trip to Kandy Sri Lanka

 

We hired a tour company to take us around the popular parts of Sri Lanka for a week. We started by heading to Kandy in the central mountain area for the first night. We saw an elephant sanctuary along the way and a traditional dance show on arrival in Kandy. The amazing view above was from our room after a long day of driving and seeing stuff.

Negombo Sri Lanka

 

Negombo is a town near the airport. It's about an hour drive north of where we live with several beach hotels, which seem to be convenient for people at the airport. We decided to spend two nights at one for an easy get away from the city. It made for a nice little break with very little travel effort.

Galle Sri Lanka

The town of Galle and the old town inside Galle Fort are just two hours from Colombo, so it's an easy trip on a regular weekend. It's going to be good to live in Sri Lanka and see many things. Here's some things from the weekend.

Train to Galle & Sri Lankan Sunset

 

Galle is a 2 hour train or car ride south of Colombo, so we tried both! We took a train down and arrived in time for a lovely sunset from the ramparts around the old town in Galle Fort. We returned in an Uber car. It was a lovely weekend, so I'll break up the pics into two posts.

5th tour is... Colombo!

 Next stop is Colombo, Sri Lanka!

Colombo is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. It's on the west coast of the island nation.

Sri Lanka is in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest.