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Sri Lanka travel guides

The south coast

Fort-town streets, surf beaches and the wildlife parks of the south-east.

Destination guides

04
The Galle Fort clock tower rising above a grass-topped rampart wall under a blue sky
Southern Province · 2 nights (1 if you arrive by early afternoon)

Galle

How long Galle needs, the Fort ramparts at sunset, its Dutch heritage and museums, the train from Colombo, where to eat and where to sleep.

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A wild elephant walking on the shore of a lagoon in Yala National Park
Southern Province · 2 nights near the park

Yala

How long to give Yala, how to book the Day Visitor ePermit, which base suits you, what to see nearby and how to get there.

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A sandy beach at Unawatuna under a partly cloudy sky, with palms and a low headland at the far end
Southern Province · 3 nights: 2 in Mirissa, 1 in Unawatuna

Mirissa, Weligama and Unawatuna

How to split a few nights between Mirissa, Weligama and Unawatuna: the whale boats and their season, a surf lesson, what they cost and the coast train.

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An adult Sri Lankan elephant and a calf grazing beside a pool in Udawalawe National Park
Sabaragamuwa and Uva · 1 night near the park, with a first-light safari the next morning

Udawalawe

Udawalawe for elephants in open country: the Day Visitor ePermit, the officer in your vehicle, the Elephant Transit Home and the road in by car with a driver.

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Itineraries

01
The white Kiri Vehera stupa at Polonnaruwa under a blue sky
Sri Lanka · 14 days / 13 nights

Sri Lanka in 14 days

Thirteen nights from Colombo to Galle via Polonnaruwa, Kandy, Ella, Udawalawe and Mirissa, with the Nanu Oya to Ella train, one hotel per stop and a dated budget for two.

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