Sri Lankan tea and sacred mountains

Trains through the plantations, and a rock with a palace on top.

Sri Lankafrom 9 days16 stops

Free, no account needed. You'll still be able to change dates, travellers and the rest.

Where it goes

Templo del Diente
It holds a tooth relic of the Buddha, and whoever held it ruled the island. There are three ceremonies a day; you go in barefoot with your shoulders covered.
Jardín Botánico de Peradeniya
147 hectares with an avenue of royal palms and a fig tree whose canopy covers 1,600 square metres.
Danza kandiana
Drumming, acrobatics and a closing walk over hot coals. It is performed daily beside the lake.
Estación de tren de Kandy
The train to Ella starts here. Second class with an open window sells out weeks ahead: book before you even reach the country.

Pedro Tea Estate
A plantation working since 1885, with a factory visit where you see the withering, rolling and fermenting.
Mackwoods
The giant white sign on the green hillside. The tasting is free and looks out over the whole plantation.
Horton Plains y el Fin del Mundo
A plateau that drops away vertically for 870 metres. You have to set out before dawn: from nine onwards the mist closes it in.
La Pequeña Inglaterra
The British built their hill station here, with a racecourse, a golf course and a red-brick post office. At 1,900 metres it gets properly cold.

Tren panorámico de Kandy a Ella
Seven hours between plantations and bridges, rated one of the most beautiful rail journeys in the world. It is the reason for the trip, not the transfer.
Puente de los Nueve Arcos
Built in stone without steel during the First World War, when materials stopped arriving. Check the train timetable to catch one crossing.
Little Adam's Peak
Forty minutes of gentle climb and a 360-degree view over the valley. You can do it at sunrise without getting up too early.
Ella Rock
Four hours there and back following the tracks. Harder than the previous one, and with far fewer people at the top.

Roca del León
A fifth-century palace on top of a 200-metre monolith. You climb 1,200 steps between the paws of a stone lion.
Las damas de Sigiriya
The frescoes in a gallery halfway up the rock face, shielded from the sun for fifteen centuries. They cannot be photographed.
Jardines de agua
Fifth-century symmetrical fountains that still run on gravity alone in the rainy season, without a single pump.
Pidurangala
The rock opposite. It is a 45-minute climb and the place the whole of Sigiriya is photographed from: from Sigiriya you cannot see Sigiriya.

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