9-Day Sri Lanka Highlights Tour with Knuckles Trek and Yala Safari

• Pick up from the airport and drive to Polonnaruwa.

• Visit Polonnaruwa in the morning. It was Sri Lanka's capital for about 200 years before the kingdom was transferred to Dambadeniya, and Polonnaruwa was conquered by the Indian king Kalinga Magha.

• You can visit the archaeological museum, royal palace, audience hall, swimming pool, sacred quadrangle, Shiva Devale, Babalu Vehera, Rankot Vihara, Kiri Vihara, the Buddha statue at Lankatilaka, and the Buddha figures at Gal Vihara.

• Drive to Sigiriya and stay overnight here.

• Start the journey at 7.00 a.m. and visit the eighth wonder of the world, which contains huge walls, water canals, security guard rooms, natural stone arches, mirror stone, and the world-famous Sigiri paintings. It is an isolated rock kingdom more than 200 m in height.

• Your second destination is the Dambulla Cave Temple, the largest and best-preserved cave temple in Sri Lanka. The caves were converted into a temple complex by King Walagamba during the 1st century. There are about 153 Buddha statues and murals covering 2100 square meters. You have to spend around one and a half hours to cover the entire temple complex.

• Travel to Kandy and enjoy a Kandyan dancing event in the evening.

Spend the night in Kandy.

• Begin the journey early in the morning at 7.00 a.m. to Knuckles Valley for hiking. While reaching the peak, you will pass tea estates, waterfalls, panoramic scenery, pygmy rain forest, and cloudy forest. You can also watch many varieties of birds and animals at the same time.

Spend the night in a jungle camp, and you are served BBQ for dinner.

• Start climbing downhill through tea plantations and continue with medium trekking. There are sparkling waterfalls on the way to enjoy.

• Be dropped back at your hotel in Kandy by the evening.

• Visit the Temple of the Tooth Relic, situated in the World Heritage city of Kandy. The Lord Buddha's most sacred molar tooth is placed in seven golden caskets under a golden ceiling.

• See the royal palace of the last king, who ruled Sri Lanka until 1815. There are four Hindu temples, as well as the Buddhist and archaeological museums, also situated on the Maligawa premises.

• Go to the Ambuluwawa Tower, which stands at a height of 48 meters on an isolated mountain.

• Drive to Nuwara Eliya, passing waterfalls, high-grown tea plantations, and world-reputed tea factories.

Stay overnight in Nuwara Eliya.

• Drive to Horton Plains, which is the highest plain and has a 9 km circular walking track that takes more than 3-4 hours. The World's End viewpoint is the most iconic place, where you can see as far as the south coast of Sri Lanka. Baker's Falls is another eye-catching sight, and Horton Plains is a susceptible natural zone in Sri Lanka.

• Drive to the hotel in Ella. When you walk for about 30 minutes towards the train track, you can see Nine Arch Bridge. Little Adam's Peak is an attractive viewpoint to see sunsets.

Stay overnight in Ella.

• Drive to Tissamaharama.

• You can see the wonderful Rawana Ella waterfall soon after passing Ella. Rawana Ella is the widest fall in Sri Lanka, and it is also more attractive.

• Join a Yala safari, an interesting and most popular event among tourists, as Yala is the second-largest wildlife reservoir in Sri Lanka. It contains one of the highest leopard population densities of any national park in the world. If you are lucky, you can spot leopards. Stay overnight in Tissamaharama.

• Drive straight away to see Hummanaya blowhole, which pumps seawater up to 40 feet during the south-west monsoon season.

• See the turtle conservation project at Rekawa.

Drive back to the hotel in Unawatuna or the nearest beach resort.