Culture Tours in Sri Lanka

Walk With Jith’s "Culture Holidays in Sri Lanka" is a tour with a great selection of all the major archeological sites declared as World Heritage Sites and offers a comprehensive overview of Sri Lankan culture and heritage. Throughout the tour, you will have a variety of comfortable accommodation and taste delicious Sri Lankan food. You will encounter leopards and elephants as well as numerous birds, when you go on wildlife safari at Yala National Park, and experience the floral diversity in Kandy Botanical Gardens and Horton Plains in the highlands of Sri Lanka. In the last part of the tour, you will relax and enjoy in a tropical beach in the Southern Coast of this Paradise Island.

Sri Lanka’s first inhabitants arrived more than 10, 000 years ago and one known to have engaged in trade in gems, metals and spices with people as distant as China. Visits to some of our most important sites will whet your appetite, and provide some appreciation of one of Asia’s great and vibrant cultures. Sri Lanka’s recorded history begins in the 3rd century B.C. It is a history full of colorful characters, such as King Kassapa, who after killing his father to take his throne built a castle on top of the rock plateau, now known as the World Heritage Site ‘Sigiriya’. In this trip, we will visit sites ranging from the 2nd Century B.C., to the 18th Century A.D., including the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. 

Here is a sample itinerary for Culture Tours in Sri Lanka

Day 1:

Arrival and tour of Colombo city including visit to the National Museum of Sri Lanka, a treasure trove of articles depicting Sri Lanka's historical and cultural past & present

Day 2:

Visit to historic Kelaniya Buddhist temple. Visit to Dambulla World Heritage Cave Temple, one of the most impressive sites in Sri Lanka with colourful and well preserved frescoes and statues of the Buddha inside the caves, which date back to the 1st century BC.

Day 3:

Visit to archaeological sites in the ruined city of Anuradhapura, birth place of Sinhala royalty, home to the oldest historical recorded tree in the world and capital city from 3rd century B.C. to the 10th century A.D. Visit to famous Aukana Buddhist statue (04th Cen. AD).

Day 4:

Visit to Sigiriya ancient rock fortress, the pleasure palace of a single king Kashyapa in the 5th century A.D. Visit to Polonnaruwa archaeological site and Museum.

Day 5-6:

Visit to places in Kandy - Royal Botanical Gardens / Tooth Relic Palace / Cultural Dance and traditional fire walking show in the evening / walking in the Kandy city.

Day 7:

Visit to a tea plantation and a tea factory on the drive to Nuwara Eliya highlands, a ruggedly picturesque location with a soft English spring climate. Afternoon leisure walks in Hakgala Botanical Gardens, where you will find the highland race of the endemic Purple faced Leaf Monkey.

Day 8:

Morning walk in beautiful Horton Plains National Park, a highland plateau comprising mountain grassland and cloud forest where you can see wild orchids, plants and birds

Day 9:

Visit to Kataragama ancient Hindu Temple, one of the holiest places on the Island.

Day 10:

Leopard & elephant watching jeep safari in Yala National Park, comprising a diversity of habitats including scrub jungles, water reservoirs, brackish lagoons and river habitats.

Day 11:

Drive along beautiful southern coastal areas of Tangalle, Matara, Unawatuna, to Galle and visiting the famous Galle Dutch Fort, a world heritage city.

Day 12-13:

Leisure at the luxury beach resort. / visit to marine turtle hatchery.

Day 14:

Departure.

Main cultural sites you can visit

• Anuradhapura world heritage ruined city
• Polonnaruwa world heritage ruined city
• Dambulla world heritage cave temple
• Sigiriya world heritage rock fortress
• Kandy sacred Tooth Relic Palace
• Kataragama holy city and Hindu temple
• Galle world heritage Dutch fort

Anuradhapura - Flourished more than Two Thousand years ago. Greatest of the islands three most famous ruined cities, birth place of Sinhala royalty and national capital from the third century B.C. to the 10 th Century A.D. Countless fascinating ruins including Sri Maha Bodhi Bo tree - The oldest historical recorded tree in the world. Anuradhapura is in the heart of the tank country in which was developed distinctive Sinhala irrigation system and hence the distinctive Sinhala economy and culture.

Polonnaruwa- The medieval capital of Sri Lanka , more than one thousand years old. Polonnaruwa peaked during the reign of king Parakramabahu the great, when Sri Lanka had an empire extending into India . See its places and Public Hall, Shrines and temple, the massive but exquisite Gal Vihare sculptures, carved in living granite and the mammoth Sea of Parakrama.

Sigiriya- This is the rock fortress, which was the pleasure palace of the a single King called Kashyapa in the 5^th century A.D. In a pocket of the giant rock are the famous frescoes of the heavenly maidens of Sigiriya.

Dambulla Cave Temple- A vast isolated rock mass like Sigiriya was one of the retreats chosen by a Sinhala King, when he was driven by South Indian King in the 1 st Century B.C. On re-gaining his throne, he turned caves which had sheltered him into a rock temple.

Kandy - This is the capital of the Hill Country and is a World Heritage City. Home to the famous Temple of The Tooth, remains the Sinhalese cultural and spiritual Centrex, one of the top attractions in Sri Lanka.

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