Pre and post tours can be tailor made according to delegates preferences. The following is a sample tour.
3 days (2 nights) cultural tour
(Colombo –Pinnawala- Kandy – Dambulla – Polonnaruwa – Sigiriya- Beruwala)
Welcome on arrival at the airport and leave for Pinnawala elephant orphanage where once can watch about 60 elephants including baby elephants. Known as the “Elphas Maximum Maximus” – the Sri Lankan Elephants are a unique breed of Asian Elephants in the world.
Leave for Kandy which is the last citadel of Sinhala Kings. Visit Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. Also watch a Cultural show depicting Sri Lankan folk dance forms culminating with a fire walking ritual.
Dinner and overnight at Topaz Hotel, Kandy, or equivalent.
After breakfast leave for Kandy city tour, visit upper lake drive Market, Hindu Kovil and the Royal Botanical Garden, Peradeniya. In the 17th century, this Botanical Garden consisting of sixty seven hectares of exquisite beauty and botanical treasure was the pleasure garden for the Royal family. The Tropical Flora of this spectacular garden includes a fine collection of orchids, aromatic spices, medicinal herbs, palms and rare, endangered plant species.
Tame working Elephants getting a dip in rivers and streams is another exotic sight in and around Kandy.
Dinner and overnight at Giritale Hotel, Giritale or equivalent.
There are two sight seeing options available on the third day. Guests are free to choose one.
Option 1
After breakfast leave for Polonnaruwa. The ancient city was the 2nd medieval capital of Sri Lanka and one of the most elaborate cultural heritage sites. The highlights of the visit will be to Galviharaya – a complex with colossal granite statues of the sleeping, seated and standing figures of Buddha carved on a single rock.
Some of the other interesting attractions are ancient ruins of the Royal pavilion, Kumara Pokuna (a royal bathing pond) or the “Vatage Relic house” with unique sculpture designs.
Visit the largest of the man made reservoirs, the huge “Parakarama Samudra”. Built by incorporating five minor lakes, this large irrigation tank was the backbone of this agricultural city.
Leave for Barberyn Reef Ayurveda Resort via Colombo.
Option 2
After breakfast climb the Sigiriya-the rock fortress leisurely to visit the palace built by king Kasyapa in the 5th Century A.D. The huge rock –molded in the image of a lion rises almost to a height of 180 meters. The stairway of the rock lies between massive legs of o a lion. On its summit are the Foundations of what was once a great palace and garden. On one of the stairways, and ancient work of Sri Lankan secular paintings of beautiful maidens- popularly known as Sigiriya frescos. Through out the centuries the Poetic graffiti’s describing the beauty of “Sigiriya Frescos’ have been carved on the on the mirror walls of the rock.
Leave for Barberyn Reef Ayurveda Resort Beruwala via Colombo.
For further information, please contact the congress secretariat.
