Sri Lanka 10-day itinerary: Colombo, Kandy, Ella and Galle

Nine nights, five bases, one direction

The loop runs one way and never doubles back: Colombo for one night, the Sigiriya area for two, Kandy for two, Ella for two and Galle for two, which makes nine nights, with departure on day 10. Four of the five stays last two nights because the move to a new base is a day of its own, and a second night is what turns the move into a visit.

Two legs go by train, Kandy to Ella on day 6 and Galle to Colombo Fort on day 10, and both seats are sold on the railway's own seat-reservation site until 2 hours before departure. The site needs an account and every passenger's passport number, and the transport guide walks through the booking, the refund scale and the cars with drivers that cover the road legs. For overland travel the German Foreign Office (page of 17 October 2026) prefers the train or a hired car with a local driver and strongly advises against renting a vehicle. No official page publishes the road distance or time from Sigiriya to Kandy or from Ella to Galle; ask your driver for both when you book.

The first night: landing and Colombo

A car with a driver booked in advance is the simplest way from Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) into Colombo for the first night. Apply for the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) on eta.gov.lk before you fly: it is free for 30 days for passport holders of 40 countries and for children under 12 of any nationality, most other nationalities pay the fee listed there, and the entry guide has the passport and ticket rules. If you land very late, Negombo, near the airport, is the short first night; the rest of the loop is unchanged.

The night is at Fairway Colombo, No. 07 Hospital Street, a 181-room hotel in Colombo Fort: the coast train brings you back to Colombo Fort station on day 10, and the Dutch Hospital courtyard is in the same district. If you land in the morning, the Colombo National Museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 18:00, and a general ticket costs USD 5 for a foreign adult. Give the evening to Galle Face Green, the city's seafront playground at the end of the day, with some kottu or wade, then dinner in the arcaded Dutch Hospital courtyard at Ministry of Crab, which is open daily from 12 noon to 10.30 PM, with last order at 9.30 PM, and closes on poya days. The German Foreign Office (page of 17 October 2026) advises against eating sea fish and seafood (ciguatera).

Days two and three: the Sigiriya area, with the caves and the rock

Day 2, Colombo to the Sigiriya area: Sri Lanka Tourism gives the distance from Colombo to Sigiriya as 169 km. No official page gives the drive time; ask your driver for it when you book the car.

Spend the late afternoon on the cave temple in the town of Dambulla, about 25 km from Sigiriya by Sri Lanka Tourism's figure: five caves under a rock about 150 m high, with more than 150 Buddha statues and murals dating back 2,000 years, reached by a long flight of granite steps. It is open from 07:00 to 17:00 and foreign tickets are sold at the office near the golden temple. Sri Lanka Tourism gives USD 10 for foreign visitors; pay what the ticket office quotes.

The German Foreign Office (page of 17 October 2026) asks you to cover your shoulders and knees in every temple and never to pose with your back to a Buddha statue, and the UK Foreign Office (page of 17 October 2026) adds that you should not pose for photographs standing in front of one. The night is at Tranquil Trails Sigiriya, which its own page puts about 3 km from the Sigiriya Rock Fortress; its rate includes taxes and a mixed Sri Lankan and English breakfast.

Day 3, Sigiriya: Be at the counter at 07:00 and climb at once, with water, because drinks are sold only at the tourist exit. The rock rises about 200 m above gardens and reservoirs, with the ruins of a fifth-century palace on top, and the summit looks across the plains; the Mirror Wall, the Lion's Paws Terrace and the frescoes are on the way. Photographing the frescoes is forbidden, and the German Foreign Office (page of 17 October 2026) warns of a heavy fine and the seizure of your camera. When we checked on 17 October 2026, a full foreign ticket cost USD 35, payable in rupees at the day's rate. The site is open from 06:30 to 17:30 but the ticket counters only from 07:00 to 17:00, so arrive within the counter hours. The Sigiriya Museum stands outside the gate and takes about an hour; the Central Cultural Fund's tickets page lists it as included with the Sigiriya ticket, while its price table also has a USD 6 row for the museum. Keep it for after the climb and rest through the heat. The Sigiriya and Dambulla guide has the ticket rules and the sunrise climb of Pidurangala, which needs a third night.

Days four and five: Kandy, the temple, the lake and the gardens

Day 4, Sigiriya to Kandy: a road leg with a driver. The night is at The Golden Crown Hotel, 322 Udagama on Ampitiya Road, which stands in Kandy but away from the city hustle, among paddy fields; the lake and the Temple of the Tooth are a ride away, not a walk. If you arrive in time, walk Kandy Lake, which lies south of the Temple of the Tooth, and see the hour-long Kandyan dance show at the Kandy Lake Club, which runs every day from 17.00 to 18.00; book the ticket on the club's site; the budget leaves the show out.

Day 5, temple and gardens: The Temple of the Tooth, beside the lake, is open daily from 5.30 a.m. to 8.00 p.m., with services from 5.30 to 7.00 a.m., from 9.30 to 11.00 a.m. and from 6.30 to 8.00 p.m., so go between services if you want room to look at the building. On the temple's own page, checked on 17 October 2026, a foreign visitor pays LKR 3,000, or LKR 2,500 for visitors from SAARC countries, Thailand and Myanmar; the ticket also covers the Dalada Museum, the World Buddhist Museum, the Tusker Museum and the Royal Elephant Stable, and machines at the temple issue it. The afternoon belongs to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya, less than 5.5 km from Kandy on the Colombo Road: 147 acres with more than 4,000 species and an orchid collection, open 7.30 AM to 6.00 PM with tickets until 5.00 PM, at LKR 3,540 for a foreign adult. The Kandy guide covers the temple's services, the dress rule and the gardens.

If your dates fall in July or August, look up the Esala Perahera before you book rooms: its dates change each year and the temple announces them on sridaladamaligawa.lk.

Days six and seven: the hill-line train and two days in Ella

Day 6, Kandy to Ella by train: The hill line is the reason for the whole loop: 162.63 km through tea country. A reserved second-class seat from Kandy to Ella costs LKR 1,700 per person in the railway's table. The railway's January 2024 leaflet shows reserved second class on the daily Podi Manike (Colombo Fort 05.55 AM, Badulla 03.54 PM), the daily Udarata Manike (08.30 AM to 05.44 PM) and the Ella Odyssey (05.30 AM to 04.01 PM), and none on the 09.45 AM Intercity or the Tikiri Manike. The railway's home page says train services from Badulla to Nanu Oya have resumed after the Ambewela to Nanu Oya section, damaged by Cyclone Ditwah, was restored. For the days of your own trip, the Department of Meteorology publishes the island's forecasts at meteo.gov.lk, and the Disaster Management Centre's site, dmc.gov.lk, carries weather reports and landslide and flood warnings; its hotline is 117 (both sites read on 16 October 2026).

The railway's notice for 20 June 2026 (a Sinhala and Tamil scan) schedules trains between Nanu Oya and Badulla and lists no Colombo or Kandy trains, so check the booking site's train list for your date. The notice gives these Nanu Oya departures and Ella arrivals: train 1005 daily, 09.00 AM to 11.27 AM; train 1015, not on Wednesdays, 02.30 PM to 04.57 PM; and the Ella Odyssey 1043, on Wednesdays only, 01.00 PM to 03.21 PM. If the list shows no through train from Kandy on your date, ride Kandy to Nanu Oya and then Nanu Oya to Ella: two seats at LKR 1,200 each in second class, LKR 2,400 a person against LKR 1,700 for the through seat.

The railway's January 2024 leaflet also shows a daily mixed train, with third class and a first-class observation saloon, leaving Kandy at 03.35 AM and reaching Badulla at 02.28 PM, which is 10 hours 53 minutes, with reserved seats only in the observation saloon; the June 2026 notice does not list it, so check the train list before you plan around it. On board, the UK Foreign Office (page of 17 October 2026) says to stay within the train carriage while the train is moving.

The night is at Ella Flower Garden Resort, 3rd Mile Post, Passara Road, 2 km from the centre of Ella and a 5-minute drive from the station by its own pages, with a free pick-up from the station on request. Go to the Nine Arch Bridge in the late afternoon, 1.5 km from the resort by the same pages, and wait for a train to cross the nine arches. It carries a working railway, so keep clear of the track when a train is due.

Day 7, Little Adam's Peak, the falls and a tea factory: Climb Little Adam's Peak at dawn, about 2.5 km from the town, for a 360-degree view that reaches through the valley toward Wellawaya, and bring water. Back for breakfast, then take a tuk-tuk to Ravana Falls beside the Ella to Wellawaya road, and spend the late morning at the Uva Halpewatte Tea Factory, which takes you through plucking, withering, rolling, fermenting, drying and grading and ends with a tasting. If you want Ella Rock instead, the Uva Provincial Council's page gives 3 to 4 hours each way, advises a start at about 4.00 am to see the sunrise and a local guide, and a third night would be needed. The Ella guide has the walks, the falls and the weather.

Days eight to ten: Galle and the coast train home

Day 8, Ella to Galle: the last road leg, with a driver. The night is at the Galle Holiday Inn, 53/28 Gagaaddarawatte, outside the Fort walls and, in the hotel's own text, 5 minutes from the Fort. No hotel inside the Fort prints a rate on its own page. Walk the Church Street lanes and be on Flag Rock before sunset, when locals and visitors gather to watch the sun go down into the Indian Ocean.

Day 9, the Fort: Galle Fort stands on a promontory over the Indian Ocean, and its walls of coral and granite run for about 3 kilometres with fourteen bastions. Put the museums in Dutch buildings in the morning: the Galle National Museum, in the oldest Dutch building of the Fort, is open Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00 to 16:45, except on public holidays, by the Department of National Museums (Sri Lanka Tourism's page also closes it on Sundays, so check before a Sunday visit), and the Maritime Museum stands in the old Dutch warehouse of 1671 and keeps a whale skeleton. The Department of National Museums lists USD 5 for a foreign adult at both, while the Central Cultural Fund's table lists its Galle museum at USD 6. Walk the rampart towards the lighthouse in the late afternoon. On a Monday or a public holiday, give the day to the ramparts, the Dutch Reformed Church of 1755 and the lanes, or to the beach at Unawatuna, about 5 km south-east of the city centre. Before you swim on this coast, note that France Diplomatie (page of 27 September 2026) says sea swimming is strongly discouraged on the west coast from April to November and that several tourists drown every year on the tourist beaches of the west and the south, in particular at Hikkaduwa, Mirissa and Tangalle, especially in the monsoon months; the UK Foreign Office (page of 17 October 2026) says many beaches have dangerous surf or rip tides at certain times of the year and to get advice from your hotel or tour operator before going in the sea.

Day 10, Galle to Colombo Fort and the flight home: Galle is 113.89 km from Colombo Fort by rail. The railway's January 2024 leaflet shows reserved seats only in air-conditioned first class on the coast trains, at LKR 1,100 from Colombo Fort to Galle; the booking site lists first, second and third class. The leaflet lists four coast trains between Maradana station in Colombo and Matara or Beliatta, 3 hours 12 minutes to 4 hours 22 minutes end to end. Two of them run toward Colombo in the morning: Matara 06.05 AM to Maradana 09.23 AM, and Beliatta 05.25 AM to Maradana 09.47 AM; the two afternoon trains start at Maradana and run away from Colombo. Galle lies between those starting points and Colombo, so the ride from Galle is shorter, and the booking site's train list for your date gives the Galle departure and the classes you can reserve. The alternative is the Southern Expressway bus on route EX 1: the National Transport Commission's fare list effective from 6 July 2026 gives LKR 930 between Galle and Makumbura, which is not Colombo Fort or the airport, and no official page gives the bus's journey time or departures.

Book an evening flight for day 10 when you fix the flights: the morning trains reach Maradana by 09.47 AM, and a car with a driver covers the rest to the airport. The railway's fare table puts its Airport - Katunayake station 33.44 km from Colombo Fort, and no official page gives the drive time from Colombo to the airport, so allow extra time at peak hours. The UK Foreign Office (page updated 21 September 2026) says "Some flights from Colombo to the UK via Middle Eastern hubs may be delayed, postponed, or re-routed", and the German Foreign Office (unchanged since 17 July 2026) says restricted flying at the Gulf hubs affects connections to and from Sri Lanka; confirm the flight with your airline before you travel.

What the trip costs for two people

These are the prices listed when we checked on 17 October 2026, for two adults sharing a room: the hotels' rates for the room named, the railway's seat-reservation table in force since 1 August 2022, and the ticket prices on the sites' own pages. Each room line gives the rate the hotel's own page shows for that room, per night first and then the cost of the whole stay. The hotels quote in different currencies, so the totals stay in two. The German Foreign Office (page of 17 October 2026) warns that crime, sometimes with drugged drinks, occurs especially in very cheap accommodation, and that break-ins occur in hotels and guesthouses.

• Colombo, 1 night: Fairway Colombo, Superior King Room, from USD 55 per night, so USD 55 for the stay.
• Sigiriya area, 2 nights: Tranquil Trails Sigiriya, Double Room with Garden View, USD 50 per night with taxes and a mixed Sri Lankan and English breakfast included, so USD 100 for the stay.
• Kandy, 2 nights: The Golden Crown Hotel, Deluxe Room, from LKR 14,500 per night, so LKR 29,000 for the stay. The hotel's page also lists a Sri Lankan residents' rate and does not say which rate its rupee figure is, so ask which one a guest from abroad pays.
• Ella, 2 nights: Ella Flower Garden Resort, Standard Garden Room, from USD 55 per night, so USD 110 for the stay.
• Galle, 2 nights: Galle Holiday Inn, Deluxe Double Room: the hotel's page lists LKR 6,500 per night, so LKR 13,000 for the stay; its secure page did not open when we checked on 17 October 2026, so confirm the rate at booking. The totals below include it.
• Rooms in all, for the nine nights: USD 265 and LKR 42,000, including the Galle room.
• Tickets, for two adults: Sigiriya USD 35 each, USD 70; Temple of the Tooth LKR 3,000 each, LKR 6,000; Peradeniya gardens LKR 3,540 each, LKR 7,080; the two Galle museums at the Department of National Museums' USD 5 per adult each, USD 20 at both (the Central Cultural Fund lists USD 6 for its Galle museum).
• Trains, for two: Kandy to Ella in reserved second class, LKR 1,700 a seat, LKR 3,400 for two; Galle to Colombo Fort in air-conditioned first class, LKR 1,100 a seat, LKR 2,200 for two. The booking site shows the price for your train, and the two-seat fallback on day 6 would cost more and is not in these figures. The 5% online fee on LKR 5,600 is LKR 280, so LKR 5,880 in all.
• Priced items in all, for the whole stay and not per night: USD 355 and LKR 60,960, including the Galle room. At the Central Cultural Fund's rate of LKR 336 per USD (its table of 14 October 2026) the rupee part is about USD 181, so about USD 536 in all.
• Not in these figures: the car with a driver for the three road legs between bases and the two airport transfers, because no official page publishes a rate for a car with a driver (agree the all-in price when you book), and meals other than the breakfast included in a rate; the Dambulla cave temple and the Kandy dance show; the Colombo museum at USD 5 per foreign adult; hotel taxes and service charges, except at Tranquil Trails; and the ETA fee for nationalities that pay.

Which months suit the loop, and what to add or swap

Choose the second half of January or February if the dates are yours: the central highlands are in their cool, relatively dry months, the Kandy to Ella train runs through them, and the weeks fall between the two peak periods of mid December to mid January and March to April. From June to October the rain is on the south-west, where Galle lies, so the hills and the ancient cities work but the beach does not.

Nuwara Eliya is the one change that suits some trips. It adds two nights between Kandy and Ella and turns the plan into twelve days and eleven nights, because Nanu Oya is the hill-line station for the town, and the railway's table prices a reserved second-class seat from Kandy to Nanu Oya at LKR 1,200 (the ordinary second-class fare is LKR 450). If your trip is ten days, put the time into Ella instead.

Polonnaruwa is the heritage extra, not part of the nine nights. A full ticket costs USD 30 for a foreign visitor (14 October 2026), payable in rupees at the day's rate and including the museum, so two tickets are USD 60 (LKR 20,160 at the Central Cultural Fund's rate) and are not in the totals above. The ruins fill a day, which suits a third night in the Sigiriya area with a driver; the Polonnaruwa guide takes them group by group.

A safari is the other extra. Udawalawe needs a night and a morning of its own on the way from Ella to the coast, and Yala two nights near the park. The Department of Wildlife Conservation sets the fees in Gazette 2292/11, applying from 2 September 2022; that link was dead when we checked on 17 October 2026, and the ePermit shows no amount until you choose a park and date; the charge depends on the park, the group and the vehicle. The ePermit terms call the printed permit mandatory.

Whale boats leave from Mirissa harbour, so whales need a Mirissa night, which this loop does not have; Galle is not a base for them, and Mirissa instead of Galle makes the last two nights a beach stay. Raja & the Whales' own page says its boat leaves Mirissa harbour at 6:30 am with check-in at 6:00 am, and that it runs from November to the end of April or early May if it has at least 10 passengers, which is usually daily; from August to October only if weather and sea conditions are sufficient and it has at least 10 passengers; and not in May, June or July. When we checked on 16 October 2026, it charged LKR 20,000 per adult aged 12 or over and LKR 10,000 per child from 5 to 11.99 years; other operators set their own prices. The south coast beaches guide has the rest.