You will be picked up around 6 am from your hotel and then proceed to Kandy, en route visit Spice Garden in Mawanella For centuries, spices have been one of Sri Lanka’s most celebrated exports and are used for medicines and cosmetics as well as to flavor foods. You will sample scents and flavors such as cinnamon, ginger, pepper, vanilla and cardamom. Batik is the ancient art of mixing colors using wax as the main component and Sri Lanka is one of the world’s leading exponents. Examples range from simple, single-colored designs to multi-colored masterpieces.
On arrival at Giragama, you will visit a tea plantation 1,673 feet (510 meters) above sea level. Tea was first planted in Sri Lanka in 1824 at the Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya, when a few plants were brought from China. Your will spend an hour exploring the the plantation and factory before leaving for Kandy which is approximately 30 minutes away.
Visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa) in Kandy, one of Sri Lanka’s most sacred Buddhist sites. Explore its stunning architecture, witness daily rituals, and learn about the rich history and cultural significance of the relic.
Kandy, the scenic hill capital of Sri Lanka, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the last stronghold of the Sinhalese Kings before it was ceded to the British in 1815. Today, it is a vibrant hub of Buddhism, arts, crafts, dance, music, and culture. Explore the city on a guided tour that includes the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, a drive around the Upper Lake, a visit to the bustling Market Square, and stops at a Gem Lapidary and Wood Carving Center.
Tour and arrangements are perfectly fine but as per my experience its overpriced for what I got. This tour more to shopping I'm suggesting to avoid Spice shop. Thanks kuma for drive me
Awesome experience. Driver and the guide were very friendly. HIs name was Kumar . The drive was very tiring for us and well as for the drivers. I would certainly suggest using this company for the trip. Worth the money spent.
This tour included many stops and is well worth the money! I encourage anyone to ask questions, as there will be lots to see and experience. I was able to purchase tea, items from the spice garden and enjoy a local meal. I was amazed at the beauty I witnessed when visiting the temple. Our drive was punctual and on time. I would do another tour with this company for sure!
Excellent but long day trip Good driver and guide and amended itinerary to suit our requirements Kandy great small city
<p>This tour was ok but the journey is far too long to do in one day. Spent most of the time on the road in pretty heavy traffiic. Kandy is quite an interesting town with an attractive lake. Palace and temple visit was interesting. From start to finish the tour seemed to be one long sales trip.</p>
<p>The trip was very disappointing. The guide was more of a driver than a guide and although answered some of the questions that we asked of him, he didn't volunteer any information, at least for the first part of the day. The tour was one of commercial enterprises/shops with tips demanded in most places regardless of the performance or enthusiasm of the local shop guides. The guide asked us what our itinerary was and as we didn't have one printed out we couldn't tell him. As he didn't have one, and didn't volunteer any information we found out which factory we were going to only after arriving there. In Kandy we were stuck in traffic for an hour so only saw the main temple. The guide simply showed us the door, and didn't offer any explanation for the temple or what it's history or significance was except to tell us it dated from the last king, which meant nothing to us. The provided lunch was average.</p> <p>The driver was courteous at all times and at the end of the day went out of his way to show us several gem shops which resulted in a good purchase. However, unless you are happy to see only spice, tea, batik etc shops and nothing of Kandy, best to avoid this commercial tour. It is long - 6am start and we got back to Colombo at 10.30pm.</p>
Nearly a 3hr drive from Colombo. I think this is the only main attraction to see in Kandy, and the temple with the Buddha on the Hill... again, foreigners must pay 1500, were the locals enter for free. The main temple idol was closed-apparently it only opens on certain days. It is however beautiful, scenic and calm.
I would call this less of a guided tour, and more of a chauffeur to various attractions and shopping opportunities. The process that occurred was that the driver would take us to a location and hand us off to one of the employees at the place. While the employees were more or less informative and helpful, I was expecting to have a guided tour by a single person, not being handed off to multiple people throughout the day. Our driver was very nice and friendly, but I'm not sure that it was worth the ~7-8 hours of driving just for a few nice sights.The spice factory, tea factory, gem museum, wood carving store, and Buddhist temple were all nice, but it just seemed like too little payout for a whole lot of driving on slow, twisty, one lane roads for the entire day. If you do end up booking this tour, I would suggest calling the driver the night before to confirm the pickup time. When I called, the driver had a different pickup time than what was stated by the tour company in the confirmation email.
<p>Your tour guide is less of a guide and more of a driver/wise guy shuffling you from one tourist trap to the next for his kick backs. Initially I was quite naive to this but toward the end of the day when taken to a tourist trap for traditional clothing that should have been inexpensive, I became alarmed and enlightenedno pun intended. The temple of the tooth is brilliant and I wish we had more time there. We ended up there toward the end of the day since we were delayed by all the traps and were too exhausted to enjoy it. The tea factory was actually just a shop and not a factory at all. The wood carving place was beautiful but also mainly a warehouse for shopping. The gem museum was also more store than museum. The buffet we were taken to was delicious. Our driver told us it was really cheap at 1000 rupees. If he only knew that our guide from the day before took us to a buffet for 200 rupees a person. After this tour my husband and I regretted traveling to Kandy at all and realized we actually did better shopping and touring on the days that we set out on our own or with the help of a local tuktuk driver. In fact, I probably won't use Viator again after this tour.</p>
<p>Quite average. You get what is mentioned in the package. as you should, this is not a cheap tour. All very nice and delivered as expected. The only thing is the driver suggesting more tours only one hour into this one. It was ok and I am going to leave it with that.</p>
<p>Lovely trip and would recommend.Its a long drive but worth it. A highlight for us was the elephant orphanage, but lunch was terrific and the sights fantastic. The Temple of the Tooth was excellent and we also really enjoyed the spice garden. We were on a cruise so we only had one day, so we saw a huge amount on this trip.</p>
<p>The Buddhist temple is worth the long drive. We had lunch at Helga's Folly - a very unusual hotel/restaurant up the mountain. The chicken curry lunch was really great, and the atmosphere is beyond description.</p>
<p>Great spot, exactly as explained - we thoroughly enjoyed it and our driver / resident expert was fantastic!</p>
<p>Loved this tour!!! Our tour guide, Damitha, was wonderful. He took us everywhere we wanted to see. The elephant sactuary was not part of the tour but after I requested it, he took us. Loved the elephants! The temples were gorgeous. The jewlery store we went to was so friendly and offered gorgeous items. The lunch provided was fabulous.</p>
<p>Temple of the tooth is a must see. Excellent buffet, and shopping. Elephant orphanage was good, never seen so many. Our driver was great, local to Kandy so he knew so shopping places to go to, very good driver. Scenery was great.</p>
<p>Fun day. Filled with numerous activities. Elephant orphanage was great. Kandy is a long but beautiful drive. Our driver, Savi, was great. We had him for all of our tours and looked after us very well. Lovely person. Our next trip to Sri Lanka from Australia will assure us to use the same driver.</p>
<p>Very very long day. Guide was ok just. It was the holiday there so we were stuck in traffic in Kandy for hours so missed a lot of the tour. So overall disappointing for us, check you dates before booking because there are a lot of religious days in Dubai where things shut down.</p>
<p>The tour was really worthwhile and we enjoyed much. The highlight was the elephant orphanage set in a beautiful natural surrounding. The guide was excellent and on time. The drive was a bit dangerous but the guide drove well and safe.</p>
Monday through Friday 9 am to 7 pm EST
Reach us by phone
Reach us by email