Sri Lanka is a magical island, this tiny island has everything from nature, adventure, history, beach, surfing everything in one little island and you don’t need to travel by plane to get to these parts, it’s all accessible by road.
All right, I got married in 2018 and if you have read about me, I studied in France and my friends came down from all over the world to celebrate my big day.
I wanted to take them around Sri Lanka on a quick getaway because I didn’t have much time with all my wedding plans and honeymoon getaway. Click here to read all about my Maldives island honeymoon getaway.
I hired a tour company to do this short trip. As it was a busy schedule for me during that time, and organizing a trip, the honeymoon and wedding were too overwhelming. Being Sri Lankan, I could have organised the trip on my own but I just wanted an easy path, where I can let the tour company do its thing and book all necessary accommodations and just not worry about it. And I am so glad I did that, as it was just so easy and stress-free.
I used Best of Lanka (Pvt) Ltd to organise my tour and I highly recommend it, they were very professional and was able to customise the trip as I wanted. They didn’t have this specific tour on their list but they were very accommodating to tailor it as I wanted. I wanted to show some highlights of Sri Lanka to my friends so the itinerary included the below destinations which showcase the best of Sri Lanka.
1st day
The driver met us at 7 a.m at our residence and picked us all up. We had breakfast on our way. we just got some short eats. there is plenty of shops in Sri Lanka with short eats, so make sure to get some as these are delicious and great snacks on the go. check out a list of all the Sri Lankan food that you must try in Sri Lanka
Tourist attractions in Sri Lanka
We first visited the Pinnawala elephant orphanage. I have never visited the elephant orphanage before, can u believe it?. it was a beautiful experience because you can see the elephants bathing. we didn’t go into the water to bath them, which you can do, but we went to a restaurant that has a nice view and ordered a chilled beer and just relaxed and watched the elephants.
There is a car park where you need to park the vehicles and walk by foot to see the elephant bathing, there is also a particular time, where all these elephants walk in a parade after they finish their bath. There will be many king coconut vendors on the streets, make sure to drink one, as it is absolutely refreshing and delicious.
I wanted to give a good traditional Sri Lankan lunch to my friends, so we stopped at a lunch spot and had a traditional Sri Lankan rice and curry. My friends from overseas loved it. They even tried to eat with their fingers. they surely failed 
well it does take practice. It was the first time I was travelling with foreigners. and I realised many places we went to even the shops to eat lunch they charged a higher price from the foreigners, at the end of the day, I cannot justify it, but I also understand why they do it. most of these families find it very hard to find a living and the holiday season is the only time they can make money.
Places to visit in Kandy
We arrived at Kandy to our hotel, we stayed at the swiss residence, we left our luggage, refreshed ourselves and then left to the temple of the sacred tooth relic. I have been here before when I was small and it is an iconic place in Kandy that you must visit. There is so much history behind this temple.
The Kandy lake is another iconic attraction, it is very peaceful and beautiful. Please note you cannot wear shorts or sleeveless, you need to cover yourselves, and there is no place to rent any clothes to cover yourself. They are quite strict about this. I had a small tiny sleeve and they didn’t allow me to go in like that, so I had to go back to the vehicle and get my jacket to cover myself.
Tip:
Every year there is a Parade that falls in the month of June called the ‘perehera” which is basically paraded with dancers, elephants, drummers.
This is a celebration which carries the tooth of lord buddha around the city of Kandy.
This festival is so special all the hotels are fully booked during this season and it gets very crowded. It’s a beautiful ceremony. I personally have not seen it in real life but its always telecasted on the television.
Check the Kandy perahara video below. (Credits to Travel with wife youtube Channel )
In the night I wanted my friends to have a kottu night, so I spoke with the driver and organised a hotel balcony to ourselves, where they could make some kottu and I took some alcohol with me, so we opened a few bottles and had a kottu night. it was very helpful to have a driver who knew places and was able to organise this very quickly. oh,
one thing you should definitely do in Sri Lanka is to have some kottu, you will not taste anything like it. Click here to learn more about this Sri Lankan delicacy. There are plenty of street shops that sell kottu, but I wanted somewhere quiet where we can take our own alcohol and have a good conversation.
2nd day
Best things to do in Sri Lanka
We got up the next day, had breakfast in the hotel, and headed out to Sigiriya rock, an iconic rock in Sri Lanka and a must-visit place. This place used to be easy to access but now there are many barriers and before you get to the rock, there is a small walk to get there. The view from the top is beautiful. so make sure to visit this iconic rock when in Sigiriya.
On our way back we stopped at the Dambulla cave just to take some pictures, we didn’t stop for a long time as it was already late. we also made a stop at a herbal and ayurvedic garden, where we were educated about so many ayurvedic treatments and herbal plants, which I thought was very good. that was actually a sudden plan and something we found on the way back to Colombo.
All in all, it was a good trip, the tour company charged USD 195 per person for the entire trip including accommodation, transport and ticket fares to all attractions, the additional money we paid was for lunch and dinner for both days.
If you like to do a quick visit to some iconic places in Sri Lanka, surely check out the above places, and if you are a bride like me that want to have a quick trip to show the best of Sri Lanka to your foreign friends, I highly recommend this quick trip.
You can also check my other top recommendations