The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page,” -St Augustine

Some say the map of Srilanka looks like a jewel , some say it looks like a tear drop (and that’s why there are never ending disputes).All depends upon our views. However it may look on the map, but the country in itself is Beautiful, very very Beautiful 🙂 .Personally i feel srilanka is jeweled Kerala.

Myself and my Brothers family went on a 5 days trip to Srilanka. The return flight fare from Chennai was Rs.9000.In srilanka we took a 9 seater car and traveled all around. We traveled in the month of October , so the climate was good, otherwise srilanka is hot and humid.

Srilanka offers free e-visa for Indian passport holders. It is called as ETA (Electronic Approval Note) , single entry and is valid for 30 days.

Day 1 – Kandy

As soon as we reached Colombo , we started our journey towards Kandy.

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

It is an Orphanage , a nursery and Breeding ground for Wild Asian Elephants.There are about 96 elephants there.Opposite to the Sanctuary there is a river, in the morning time , we can watch elephants bathing in the natural habitat.The entrance fees is 3000 Srilankan rupee(1200 INR Approx).

Herbal & Spice Garden

This was not in our Itinerary, but our driver stopped here.I was little interested in Ayurveda products, so entered with enthu. There will be an attender who introduces them as Doctor, researcher etc and explain about the spice plantations and about the products. He seemed to be very knowledgeable.But in the end its all business tactics.I never do shopping in the places I travel, but this time I was really tempted and got one hair removal cream.I just wanna try whether it works.They said if you apply the cream regularly for six weeks once in a week, the hair will never grow again.I tried , and now the hair growth had exponentially increased such that I wanted to use it on my head instead :p – FAKE PRODUCTS. Visit if you want to see the gardens but CAUTION on the products and sales at the end.

Royal Botanical Gardens – Peradeniya

It is such a vast garden which has more than 4000 species of plants including Orchids, fruits, palm trees, spices, medicinal plants etc,.The lush green trees and acres and acres of lawn , variety of orchids ,definitely gives you a visual treat. Entry fee – 1500 INR.

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Temple of Sacred tooth Relic

This temple is located in the Royal Palace complex, there are a lot of small structures inside the palace.Entry to the Tooth relic temple and its museum costs 1000 INR. You can visit other palace complexes for free. The temple houses the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha(his tooth), is one of the holiest shrines in the entire Buddhist world.And there were lot of politics around this tooth and incessant fight happened to capture the same.The second floor of the museum contains a wide variety of ornaments and artifacts made of gold , silver and precious jewelry gifted to Srilanka by various kings.

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Overnight stay at Ramboda Holiday Villa (near Nuwara Eliya).Its like a hill side country cottage with good views and a waterfall close by. 7000 INR for 8 people.

DAY 2 – Nuwara Eliya

Nuwara Eliya is just awesome, the climate and the views are marvelous.On the way, we got down in few places like waterfalls, tea plantations to click pictures.The climate was too cold (11 degrees) and it was drizzling often.

Shri Bhaktha Hanuman Temple – Views are great from here.

Glennoch Tea factory – They explain the tea powder making process and obviously commercialized.

Gayathri Temple – The Gayathri Peedam here is Founded by Murugesha Sithar, His samadhi resides here as well.He bought 108 shivalingas from Germany and placed here(Initially they were taken from Narmada river).There are few unique religious artifacts preserved in this temple and their stories are hard to believe.
There is a shiva temple in the next complex called Shrilankadheeshwar.It is said that Ravana’s son Meghnaad sat in penance and worshipped shiva here,before going to fight war against Ram.The Big shivaling acts as a roof for this temple.

Sita Temple Aka Ashoka Vanam – Its the place where Hanuman met Sita.There is a stream that runs from the hill and Sita is said to have bathed in this stream. Also we can notice the foot prints of Hanuman in the rock near the stream.

Gregory Lake – We did boating in the lake and cycling around the lake. The cycling path was great and had a good time there.Amsterdam is one of my dream destination and I always used to dream about cycling there.This partially gave that kind of a feel 😛

Did some window shopping in Bale Bazaar.Overnight stay at Mangala Flora Guest house – 1000 INR for 3 persons. This guest house is great value for money.

Day 3 – Ella & Katargama

Flying Ravana Mega Zip Line – Its a Wonderful experience at reasonable price. 20 USD per person for Zip line.You gotta do a small trek on Little Adam’s peak to reach there.

9 Arches Bridge – After finishing the Zip line, You gotta descend down for about 3 Km which is pretty tough compared to little Adam’s peak trek.Or take an auto which charge 300 INR and drop you halfway, from where you gotta descend down and walk in the railway track and reach 9 arch bridge.The railway track is in use and expect to meet the train on your way if you are lucky enough.stay careful as well.

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Katargama

Katargama is very famous Murugan temple in Srilanka which is always flooded with devotees.They sell fruit basket , which we can offer for puja and share it as prasadam with others.Lot of people dressed in white, come in groups dancing with “kaavadi” to worship the Murugan here. In-fact we cannot see the idol inside the sanctum, the sanctum will be covered by a screen with Murugan and his wives picture. We had also visited chella katargama and Lakshmi temple nearby.

On the way from Ella to Katargama, we need to cross the jungle and met a lot of elephants crossing the road.Overnight stay at Katargama.

Day 4 – Matara & Galle

Visited few beaches in Matara and headed to Galle Fort. Galle Fort is the UNESCO World Heritage site.You can spend 2 hours walking through the heritage site that boasts colorful history.There are many sites inside the Fort to observe, like Clock tower, Light house, Bastions, Dutch style houses, a church, new oriental hotel, Marine Museum, etc.

Near the light house, there are many streets , each street had different styled buildings and variety of shops.

Overnight stay at Backpackers Paradise Colombo.

Day 5 – Colombo

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1. Independence Memorial Hall – It is a national monument in Srilanka built in the memory of its independence from British.
2. Viharamahadevi Park – Its located near Memorial Hall
3. Beira lake – excellent views of cityscape from here.
4. Seema Malaka – A Buddhist temple in Beira Lake
5. Gangaramaya Temple – A must visit. This temple is awesome.Like tooth relic, this temple holds the hair of Buddha.
6. Lotus Tower – Tallest tower in South Asia.
7. We also visited Galle Face Beach, four Hindu temples , New Chetty street which is full of jewelry shops, shopping streets.

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If you get two or more days, try to visit Trincomalle and Anuradhapura. Never miss to taste the local Srilankan food ,also the plain cakes here are delicious.We got the ‘aapa kadai’ – a vessel for making aapam ,and coconut oil , since the quality here is too good.

Total Expense per person is 18000 INR which includes Flight ticket (9000 with return) , Food, stay , travel and entrance tickets. Srilanka is really cheap in terms of food , stay , travel except for the entrance tickets.

Spread Joy!! Spread Positiveness!!!