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Sigiriya Lion Rock rising out of misty jungle at sunrise, Sri Lanka

Private tours of Sri Lanka · One team, airport to airport

Try the whole island.

For a century and a half the world called it Ceylon, and the name still means tea, trains and temples. We plan the whole trip: your own driver, hand-picked hotels, licensed guides and honest shopping. You just turn up.

Plan my trip See tour plans
  • Free ETA for 40 nationalities since May 2026
  • Reply in 24 h with a named-hotel quote
  • SLTDA licensed drivers and guides
01 Sigiriya, the Lion Rock · 5th century AD

Why Sri Lanka, why now

A whole continent's worth of places, on an island you can cross in a day.

Eight UNESCO sites. Leopards, blue whales and 5,000 wild elephants. A train through the clouds. Two thousand years of temples, a Dutch fort you can sleep in, and food that people fly here for. All of it inside a coastline of 1,340 km.

The catch is logistics. Roads are slow, the good hotels are small, the train sells out, and every second shop pays a driver to bring you in. So we do the part that goes wrong: one driver for the whole trip, hotels we have slept in, guides with licences, shops without kickbacks.

UNESCO World Heritage sites
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Visitors in 2025, a record
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Wild elephants, more than any country its size
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Hours by car, coast to hill country
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Blue train crossing the Nine Arch Bridge in Ella through tea plantations
The Kandy to Ella line, 1921
Galle Fort lighthouse and ramparts at sunset with waves on the rocks
Galle Fort at dusk

Where we take you

Places worth the drive.

Keep scrolling. The island slides past. Swipe sideways.

Ten of the 18 places we plan around. Every one has a page with what to do, when to go, and how long to stay.

All destinations
Sigiriya Lion Rock rising out of misty jungle at sunrise, Sri Lanka
01 Cultural Triangle · UNESCO

Sigiriya

A 5th-century palace on top of a 200-metre rock, ringed by water gardens.

2 nights · Best January to April, and July to September
Blue train crossing the Nine Arch Bridge in Ella through tea plantations
02 Hill Country

Ella

The most beautiful train ride in Asia ends here, in a gap in the mountains.

2 nights · Best January to April, and July to September
Galle Fort lighthouse and ramparts at sunset with waves on the rocks
03 South Coast · UNESCO

Galle Fort

Rampart walks at sunset, boutique hotels in 300-year-old villas, good coffee.

2 nights · Best November to April
Sri Lankan leopard lying on a granite boulder in Yala National Park
04 National Parks

Yala

One of the highest leopard densities on Earth, plus elephants, sloth bears and crocs.

2 nights · Best February to July
Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic reflected in Kandy Lake at dusk
05 Hill Country · UNESCO

Kandy

Home of the Sacred Tooth Relic and the biggest festival in Asia.

1 to 2 nights · Best January to April, and July to September
Coconut palms on Coconut Tree Hill above the turquoise bay at Mirissa
06 South Coast

Mirissa

The largest animal that has ever lived, an hour off the coast, from November to April.

2 to 3 nights · Best November to April
Tea pluckers on a hillside tea estate near Nuwara Eliya in morning mist
07 Hill Country

Nuwara Eliya

Tea estates, a 1930s golf course, log fires, and World's End at Horton Plains.

1 to 2 nights · Best January to April
White sand beach and clear water at Nilaveli near Trincomalee
08 East Coast

Trincomalee

Nilaveli's white sand and Pigeon Island reef, at their best when the south is raining.

2 to 3 nights · Best May to September
The golden gopuram of Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna
09 The North

Jaffna

A different Sri Lanka: Hindu temples, palmyra palms, wild ponies, and the best crab curry in the country.

2 nights · Best February to September
Sunlight through the canopy of Sinharaja rainforest
10 National Parks · UNESCO

Sinharaja

Mixed-species bird flocks, purple-faced langurs, and a canopy that has never been logged.

2 nights · Best January to April, and August to September

And a dozen more.

Wilpattu, Knuckles, Kalpitiya, Haputale, Tangalle. Tell us what you like and we route it in.

Plan my trip

The island, region by region

Two monsoons. Seven regions. Always a dry coast.

Scroll and the map follows. Every pin is a real coordinate, so you can see how close things are.

Sigiriya Ella Galle Fort Kandy Yala Mirissa Nuwara Eliya Polonnaruwa Anuradhapura Trincomalee Arugam Bay Jaffna Sinharaja Adam's Peak Dambulla Udawalawe Colombo Bentota
The North
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The North

Tamil, Hindu, hot and sharp. Palmyra palms, island ferries and the best crab curry on the island.

Tour plans

Three routes that work. Or tell us yours.

Every price below is per person, two sharing, with your own driver and mid-range hotels. Your quote will name every hotel and list every entrance fee, so the number you see is the number you pay.

7 days · Cultural Triangle, hills and south coast

Island Essentials

The classic loop for a first visit: Sigiriya at dawn, the Kandy to Ella train, a Yala safari and two nights by the sea at Galle. Fast-paced but not frantic.

  1. Sigiriya
  2. Kandy
  3. Ella
  4. Yala
  5. Galle Fort
US$ 1,140 booked separately from US$ 890 per person · 7 days · about US$ 127 a day
Day by day Ask about dates
Most booked
10 days · The full circuit, at a human pace

The Grand Loop

Our most-booked trip. Everything in Island Essentials, plus Polonnaruwa by bicycle, a night at a tea bungalow, whale watching at Mirissa and an extra day everywhere it matters.

  1. Anuradhapura
  2. Sigiriya
  3. Polonnaruwa
  4. Kandy
  5. Nuwara Eliya
  6. Ella
  7. Yala
  8. Mirissa
  9. Galle Fort
US$ 1,780 booked separately from US$ 1,390 per person · 10 days · about US$ 139 a day
Day by day Ask about dates
14 days · The whole island, including the north and east

Ceylon Complete

For people who want the Sri Lanka most visitors never see. Adds Jaffna and the Tamil north, the east coast at Trincomalee, and Sinharaja rainforest to the full loop. Routed to the season so every beach is in its dry months.

  1. Colombo
  2. Jaffna
  3. Anuradhapura
  4. Trincomalee
  5. Sigiriya
  6. Kandy
  7. Nuwara Eliya
  8. Ella
  9. Yala
  10. Sinharaja
  11. Galle Fort
US$ 2,790 booked separately from US$ 2,150 per person · 14 days · about US$ 154 a day
Day by day Ask about dates

Nothing fits exactly?

Most trips we run are built from scratch. Tell us dates, who is coming and what you like, and you will have a day-by-day plan with named hotels in your inbox within 24 hours. No deposit until you are happy.

Build my own trip WhatsApp a planner

Everything they need

One team does all of it. That is the whole point.

Transport, hotels, guides and shopping are usually four different people with four different incentives. Here they are one phone number, and the incentive is that you come back.

Private van with driver on a winding hill-country road in Sri Lanka
01

Transport

Your own car, your own driver

One driver for the whole trip, who knows where the good hoppers are.

Get a transport quote
Colonial tea-planter bungalow with a pool overlooking tea estates
02

Hotels

Places we have actually slept in

Tea bungalows, fort villas, safari camps and beach houses, chosen by people who check the mattresses.

See hotel options for my dates
Local guide sharing hoppers with travellers at a village kitchen
03

Tour guides

People who make the place make sense

National guides, site guides, naturalists and cooks, all licensed, all local.

Ask for a guide
Ceylon tea tins, blue sapphires and handloom fabric on a market stall
04

Shopping

Buy the real thing, from the people who make it

Ceylon tea, Ratnapura sapphires, Ambalangoda masks, handloom and true cinnamon, without the tourist-trap markup.

Add a shopping day

When to go

There is no bad month. There is only the wrong coast.

The south-west monsoon runs May to September; the north-east one runs roughly November to January. Since they hit opposite sides, we simply route your trip to whichever side is dry.

Quiet-season tip: May and late September sit between monsoons, prices drop, and the Cultural Triangle is empty at dawn.

Full month-by-month guide
Region JFMAMJJASOND
South & west coast Galle, Mirissa, Bentota
Hill country Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Ella
Cultural Triangle Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura
East coast Trincomalee, Arugam Bay
The north Jaffna
Yala & Udawalawe Leopards, elephants
Best Shoulder Wet

How we work

Six things we put in writing.

  1. 01

    Named hotels, itemised fees

    Your quote lists every hotel by name and every entrance fee by amount. Look them up before you pay anything.

  2. 02

    No commission shops, ever

    Our drivers are paid a proper daily rate and are contractually barred from taking shop kickbacks. If one does, tell us and the day is free.

  3. 03

    One person, the whole trip

    The driver who meets you at arrivals is the driver who drops you off. No hand-offs, no strangers with a clipboard.

  4. 04

    A real person at 3 am

    The WhatsApp line is answered by our Colombo office, around the clock, every day of your trip.

  5. 05

    Swap anything, before or during

    Want another night on the beach halfway through? We rebook the hotels and re-route the driver the same day.

  6. 06

    The honest bit

    We are not the cheapest. A licensed driver, a proper wage and hotels we have actually slept in cost a little more than a van from the airport rank. We think that is where the money should go.

Good to know

Questions people ask before they book

Straight answers. If yours is not here, WhatsApp us and a human replies.

Do I need a visa for Sri Lanka?

Most visitors need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before arrival, applied for online at eta.gov.lk. Since May 2026 the fee is waived for citizens of 40 countries including the UK, USA, most of the EU, India, Australia, Canada, China and Japan; other nationalities pay US$ 50. The ETA gives 30 days with double entry. We send you a step-by-step guide when you book.

When is the best time to visit?

Sri Lanka has two monsoons that hit opposite sides of the island, so there is always a dry coast. December to April is best for the south, west and hill country. May to September is best for the east coast (Trincomalee, Arugam Bay) and still fine for the Cultural Triangle. We route every trip around the season, so you are never on the wrong beach.

How much does a trip cost?

A private tour with your own driver and mid-range hotels runs from about US$ 120 to 180 per person per day, two sharing, including breakfast. Boutique and luxury hotels move that up. Our sample itineraries show a from-price; your quote lists every hotel and every entrance fee, so there are no surprises.

Is it safe to travel in Sri Lanka right now?

Yes. Sri Lanka welcomed a record 2.36 million visitors in 2025 and is on track for more in 2026. The roads are the main risk, which is why we use experienced drivers and never drive at night in the hills. We follow Foreign Office and State Department advice and will tell you honestly if anything changes.

Can I change the itinerary?

Every itinerary on this site is a starting point. Add a day at the beach, swap Yala for Wilpattu, skip Kandy, bring the kids: we rebuild the trip and re-quote it, usually within 24 hours.

Coconut palms on Coconut Tree Hill above the turquoise bay at Mirissa

Tell us your dates. We will do the rest.

A day-by-day plan with named hotels, in your inbox within 24 hours. No deposit until you are happy with it.

Plan my trip WhatsApp +94 77 000 0000