Indian OceanSri LankaBentota

Beach, Safari & Tea Country

Beach first for once — three days on the sand, then inland for leopards, waterfalls and the hill country in reverse.

From USD 1,615 for 2 guests

Enquire about this tripSee the itinerary

Almost every Sri Lanka itinerary saves the beach for the end. This one puts it first, and it is a better idea than it sounds — you land, drive an hour and a half to Bentota, and have three days to get over the flight before any sightseeing starts. After that the route runs anti-clockwise around the south: Galle Fort and then Yala for a leopard safari, up to Ella for the Nine Arch Bridge and Ravana Falls, on through tea country to Kandy for the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, and finally Colombo and a last night at Negombo by the airport. It is the best value of the four programmes and it suits anyone who wants the beach while they still have the energy to enjoy it.

Tour type
Multi-centre
Duration
9 nights
Visiting
Bentota, Galle, Yala, Ella, Kandy, Colombo, Negombo
Best for
Beach first, Wildlife & 4x4 safari, Best value, Honeymoon, Tea country
Travel period
01 Nov – 19 Dec 2026 & 11 Jan – 30 Apr 2027
Beach extension
USD 325 per room, per night

Itinerary overview

  1. Days 1 to 3Bentota Your chauffeur guide meets you at Bandaranaike International Airport and drives straight down the expressway to Bentota — around an hour and a half, and the shortest transfer of any of our programmes. Then nothing happens for two days, deliberately. Both are entirely free on a half-board basis on a beach where the Bentota river meets the sea, which is why every watersport on the island operates from this stretch of water. Colombo is an easy run north if you want a day in the city, and the Madu Ganga mangroves and the Kosgoda turtle hatchery are both close by, but there is no obligation to do any of it.
  2. Days 4 to 5Yala (via Galle) You follow the southern coast, stopping at Galle Fort — a walled Dutch trading town on a headland with ramparts on three sides, still a working neighbourhood rather than a museum. The stilt fishermen work this stretch of coast if the hour is right. By the afternoon you are at Yala for the first of two nights, and the safari itself is a private open 4x4 with a tracker in the park that has one of the highest leopard densities in the world. Sloth bears, elephants, wild buffalo and crocodiles all live here too, and the tracks run right down to an empty beach where the scrub meets the Indian Ocean.
  3. Days 6 to 7Ella The road north out of the dry zone climbs hard, and Ravana Falls appears at the roadside on the way up — twenty-five metres of water dropping through jungle and boulders, at its fullest in the months after the monsoon. The rest of that day is free in Ella, a single street of cafés wedged between two mountains with a view down the gap that runs to the southern plains. Your full day here covers the town and the Nine Arch Bridge, a 1921 viaduct built without steel, curving out of the jungle on nine stone spans. Get up early on one of the mornings for Little Adam’s Peak — forty-five minutes uphill for the best sunrise in the hill country.
  4. Day 8Kandy This is the tea day. The road from Ella to Kandy runs the length of the hill country through terraced estates, and you break it at a working factory to follow the leaf from the withering lofts through the rollers and the firing ovens to a tasting of grades that mostly never leave the island. You arrive in Kandy for the evening puja at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, where a tooth of the Buddha has been kept — and fought over — for more than a thousand years, and where the drummers still open the inner chamber three times a day.
  5. Day 9Negombo (via Colombo) You come down out of the hills to Colombo for a half-day tour of the commercial capital: the Pettah bazaar and its striped Red Mosque, the colonial Fort quarter and the Old Dutch Hospital, the Gangaramaya temple, and Galle Face Green at the end of the afternoon with the kite sellers out. Then a short run up the coast to Negombo for your final night — a fishing town twenty minutes from the terminal, which makes the next morning considerably less stressful than starting from the city.
  6. Day 10Departure (Negombo to the airport) A last morning by the water, then your chauffeur guide collects you for the transfer to Bandaranaike International Airport, timed around your flight with a comfortable margin for the road. If you have a late departure we can arrange a day room, a final excursion or a lunch stop on the way rather than leaving you waiting at the terminal — just tell us and we will build it into the day.
  7. Extend your holidayOption 1: More time at Bentota Start slower still. Add nights at the front of the trip at the Sheraton Kosgoda Turtle Beach Resort, Cinnamon Bay or Eden Resort & Spa, on the same half-board basis.
  8. Extend your holidayOption 2: Add the Cultural Triangle This route deliberately skips Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa. Add two or three nights north of Kandy and you pick up the rock fortress, Minneriya and Anuradhapura before heading for the airport.
Bentota Water Sports

Highlights of trip

Optional

Bentota Water Sports

The calm water where the Bentota river meets the sea makes this the island’s watersports centre — jet skis, banana boats, windsurfing, diving and deep-sea fishing.

Highlight 1 of 16: Bentota Water Sports

Jump to itinerary

Days 1 to 3

Bentota

Your chauffeur guide meets you at Bandaranaike International Airport and drives straight down the expressway to Bentota — around an hour and a half, and the shortest transfer of any of our programmes. Then nothing happens for two days, deliberately. Both are entirely free on a half-board basis on a beach where the Bentota river meets the sea, which is why every watersport on the island operates from this stretch of water. Colombo is an easy run north if you want a day in the city, and the Madu Ganga mangroves and the Kosgoda turtle hatchery are both close by, but there is no obligation to do any of it.

Bentota

Things to do

  • Bentota Water Sports

    Bentota

    The calm water where the Bentota river meets the sea makes this the island’s watersports centre — jet skis, banana boats, windsurfing, diving and deep-sea fishing.

  • Madu River Boat Safari

    Balapitiya

    A wetland of 64 islands and dense mangrove tunnels behind the coast, explored by motorboat — cinnamon smallholdings, an island temple, monitor lizards and kingfishers.

  • Kosgoda Turtle Hatchery

    Kosgoda

    A conservation hatchery on the beach where eggs bought back from poachers are reburied, protected and the hatchlings released to the sea after dark.

  • Colombo City Tour

    Colombo

    The commercial capital in half a day — the Pettah bazaar, a red-and-white striped mosque, colonial Fort, the Gangaramaya temple and sunset on Galle Face Green.

Recommended hotels

Sheraton Kosgoda Turtle Beach Resort
Included in price

Bentota

A large beachfront resort on a turtle-nesting stretch of sand, with several pools and a long private beach.

Cinnamon Bay
Optional

Bentota

Directly on Bentota beach at the river mouth, a short walk from the watersports centre.

Eden Resort & Spa
Optional

Beruwala

A long-established beach hotel with a big pool and an Ayurveda spa, popular for longer beach stays.

Days 4 to 5

Yala (via Galle)

You follow the southern coast, stopping at Galle Fort — a walled Dutch trading town on a headland with ramparts on three sides, still a working neighbourhood rather than a museum. The stilt fishermen work this stretch of coast if the hour is right. By the afternoon you are at Yala for the first of two nights, and the safari itself is a private open 4x4 with a tracker in the park that has one of the highest leopard densities in the world. Sloth bears, elephants, wild buffalo and crocodiles all live here too, and the tracks run right down to an empty beach where the scrub meets the Indian Ocean.

Yala

Things to do

  • Galle Fort

    Galle

    A walled Dutch trading town on a headland in the Indian Ocean, still lived in, still walkable in an hour — coral-stone ramparts, a lighthouse, and streets of colonnaded villas now full of galleries and cafés.

  • Yala National Park Jeep Safari

    Yala

    Sri Lanka’s flagship reserve holds one of the densest leopard populations in the world, along with sloth bears, elephants and crocodiles — and the only safari on the island that ends at the sea.

  • Koggala Stilt Fishermen

    Koggala

    The single most photographed image of Sri Lanka — fishermen perched on crossbars driven into the seabed, working the shallows at dawn and dusk.

Recommended hotels

Yala Safari Hotel
Included in price

Yala

A straightforward, well-run base minutes from the park gate — early starts are easy from here.

Shangri-La Hambantota
Optional

Hambantota

A full resort on its own beach with a golf course, an hour from the park and the comfortable end of the safari.

Cinnamon Wild Yala
Optional

Yala

Chalets inside the buffer zone where elephants and wild boar genuinely do wander through — the closest you can sleep to the park.

Days 6 to 7

Ella

The road north out of the dry zone climbs hard, and Ravana Falls appears at the roadside on the way up — twenty-five metres of water dropping through jungle and boulders, at its fullest in the months after the monsoon. The rest of that day is free in Ella, a single street of cafés wedged between two mountains with a view down the gap that runs to the southern plains. Your full day here covers the town and the Nine Arch Bridge, a 1921 viaduct built without steel, curving out of the jungle on nine stone spans. Get up early on one of the mornings for Little Adam’s Peak — forty-five minutes uphill for the best sunrise in the hill country.

Ella

Things to do

  • Ravana Falls

    Ella

    A 25-metre cascade tumbling in stages down a rock face right beside the Ella–Wellawaya road, at its most dramatic in the months after the monsoon.

  • Ella Town & Nine Arch Bridge

    Ella

    A hill town that has become the island’s favourite place to do nothing — plus the Nine Arch Bridge, a colonial-era viaduct curving out of the jungle on nine stone spans.

  • Little Adam’s Peak Hike

    Ella

    A gentle 45-minute walk up through tea estates to a ridge with a 360-degree view over Ella Gap — the best sunrise in the hill country for the least effort.

  • Scenic Hill Country Train

    Hill Country

    The Nanu Oya to Ella line is routinely called one of the world’s great rail journeys — three or four hours through tea terraces, tunnels and cloud forest with the doors wide open.

Recommended hotels

Newburgh Tea Factory
Included in price

Ella

A converted tea factory on a working estate, with the original machinery kept in place and valley views from every room.

EKHO Ella
Optional

Ella

Perched right on the edge of Ella Gap, with the best sunrise balcony in town.

Onrock Ella
Optional

Ella

A contemporary hillside hotel with an infinity pool looking straight down the gap towards the plains.

Day 8

Kandy

This is the tea day. The road from Ella to Kandy runs the length of the hill country through terraced estates, and you break it at a working factory to follow the leaf from the withering lofts through the rollers and the firing ovens to a tasting of grades that mostly never leave the island. You arrive in Kandy for the evening puja at the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, where a tooth of the Buddha has been kept — and fought over — for more than a thousand years, and where the drummers still open the inner chamber three times a day.

Kandy

Things to do

  • Tea Factory & Plantation Visit

    Hill Country

    Follow the leaf from the hillside to the cup inside a working highland factory — withering lofts, rolling machines, the firing ovens and a tasting of the grades you will never see exported.

  • Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic

    Kandy

    The most venerated Buddhist site in Sri Lanka, holding a tooth of the Buddha that has been a symbol of sovereignty for over a thousand years — best seen during the drumming of the evening puja.

  • Kandyan Cultural Dance Show

    Kandy

    An hour of drumming, masked dance and fire walking in the hill capital — the ritual dance forms of the Kandyan kingdom performed nightly in the town centre.

  • Royal Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya

    Kandy

    Sixty hectares in a loop of the Mahaweli river, laid out as a royal pleasure garden and now holding four thousand species, an avenue of royal palms and a Javan fig with a canopy the size of a tennis court.

Recommended hotels

Earl’s Regency
Included in price

Kandy

A colonial-style hotel in the Mahaweli valley outside town, with hill views from the pool terrace and a good spa.

Cinnamon Citadel
Optional

Kandy

Riverside rooms on the Mahaweli, ten minutes from the Temple of the Tooth and quiet at night.

The Grand Kandyan
Optional

Kandy

The largest hotel in the hill capital, walking distance from the lake and the temple.

Day 9

Negombo (via Colombo)

You come down out of the hills to Colombo for a half-day tour of the commercial capital: the Pettah bazaar and its striped Red Mosque, the colonial Fort quarter and the Old Dutch Hospital, the Gangaramaya temple, and Galle Face Green at the end of the afternoon with the kite sellers out. Then a short run up the coast to Negombo for your final night — a fishing town twenty minutes from the terminal, which makes the next morning considerably less stressful than starting from the city.

Negombo

Things to do

  • Colombo City Tour

    Colombo

    The commercial capital in half a day — the Pettah bazaar, a red-and-white striped mosque, colonial Fort, the Gangaramaya temple and sunset on Galle Face Green.

  • Negombo Lagoon & Fish Market

    Negombo

    A Catholic fishing town twenty minutes from the airport — Dutch canals, outrigger oruwa boats coming in at dawn, and the biggest fish market on the west coast.

Recommended hotels

Jetwing Beach
Included in price

Negombo

A design-led beach hotel twenty minutes from the airport — the best first or last night on the island.

Gold Sands
Optional

Negombo

A friendly, simpler beachfront option close to the fish market and the town.

Heritance Negombo
Optional

Negombo

A contemporary beachfront hotel with a rooftop pool and sunset views over the Indian Ocean.

Day 10

Departure (Negombo to the airport)

A last morning by the water, then your chauffeur guide collects you for the transfer to Bandaranaike International Airport, timed around your flight with a comfortable margin for the road. If you have a late departure we can arrange a day room, a final excursion or a lunch stop on the way rather than leaving you waiting at the terminal — just tell us and we will build it into the day.

Departure

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Plan your trip

Make Beach, Safari & Tea Country your own

Every price here is a starting point for 9 nights on a half-board basis, travelling between 01 Nov – 19 Dec 2026 & 11 Jan – 30 Apr 2027. Tell us your dates and how you like to travel and we will come back with a costed version — hotels swapped, days added or removed, nothing locked in.

  • From USD 1,615 for 2 guests
  • Beach extension USD 325 per room, per night
  • Private vehicle and chauffeur guide throughout
  • Quoted hotels shown, with optional upgrades at every stop
Talk to our teamBuild a custom trip

At a glance

Duration
10 days · 9 nights
Starts
Bentota
Ends
Negombo
Basis
Half board
Travel period
01 Nov – 19 Dec 2026 & 11 Jan – 30 Apr 2027

Prices are per person sharing and exclude international flights and visa. Final pricing is confirmed by a Serendia specialist against live availability.