Day 1, 2 & 3:
On arrival in Sri Lanka you will be met at the airport
by a Red Dot representative and transferred immediately to Bentota,
one of the most expansive beaches in Asia. Depending on your
time of arrival the journey will take about 2.5 hours. But it
will be well-worth it as you arrive at the magnificent Taru
Villas, the leading boutique hotel on the west coast. Stay for
three nights to unwind and relax.
Accommodation profile: Conceived
by Taru, Sri Lanka’s foremost fashion designer, as a source
of inspiration and a means of escape from the stress and tensions
of contemporary living, Taru Villas is a wonderful addition
to Sri Lanka’s growing choice of boutique hotels. Cool
cement floors, a garden full of frangipani blossoms, a turquoise
pool, individually designed antique-furnished rooms, king size
beds and an uncrowded beach just a few steps out of the garden,
all combine to make Taru Villas a very special hideaway.
Day 4 & 5:
After breakfast one of our chauffeur drivers will pick
you up for the 1.5 hour drive to Galle, a laid-back south coast
town with a magnetic appeal for most visitors. You may prefer
to stay on the beach, but we recommend staying in the UNESCO-protected
Galle Fort and Galle Fort Hotel – an immediate entrant
into Conde Naste’s Top 100 hotels in the world. From here
you can jump in a tri-shaw and travel to a wide selection of
nearby beaches.
Accommodation profile: The renovation of
Galle Fort Hotel is a triumph. The hotel evokes a subtle sense
of colonial grandeur, skillfully updated for the modern age.
The inner courtyard, wit h a tiny garden and 10-metre swimming
pool, offers a tranquil and exclusive area for guests. But a
sense of history does not mean that the Galle Fort’s guests
will gather dust; far from it. The small bar-cum-verandah cafe
is becoming a favoured meeting point, with the two Australian
owners encouraging a convivial atmosphere where intelligent
opinions are to be shared, not hidden. An exciting restaurant
offers classic Asian-West dishes, freshly and locally bought.
The staff ensures a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
Day 6 & 7:
While Sri Lanka’s idyllic palm-fringed beaches
are world-renowned its beautiful interior is equally alluring.
Travel inland from the coast and you enter a different world,
natural and free. We wholeheartedly recommend traveling into
the tea-growing hills and en route stopping for a couple of
nights at Rainforest Edge, a unique eco-boutique hotel close
to the Sinharaja Rainforest – there really is no more
peaceful and harmonious location in the island. The forest itself
is well-worth exploring early one morning as the suns rays start
to penetrate the thick tropical canopy.
Accommodation profile:Rainforest
Edge offers rustic style high above the beautiful rolling hills
of Waddagala, only five miles from the northern entrance to
Sinharajah rain forest. Blessed by one of the most restful panoramas
in Sri Lanka – harmony with nature is the essence of its
appeal. This is an isolated, pollution-free environment without
discomforts. From this appealing new property, a triumph of
designer-rustic, you can gaze upon rolling tea plantations,
whilst absorbing the natural karma of this creatively designed
eco-hotel.
Day 8, 9 & 10:
From Sinharaja you will drive up into Sri Lanka’s famous
tea-country, an area of stirring views, gurgling steams and
gushing waterfalls. While most tourists zero-in on Nuwara Eliya,
a hill-station retreat, we recommend staying in the southern
highlands which are incredibly beautiful. The quality of accommodation
in this region used to be limited but this year a series of
four bungalows, branded the Ceylon Tea Trails, have opened offering
old-world luxury in fabulously renovated planter’s residences.
Spend three nights here and enjoy the “Tea Experience”,
which involves a visit to a plantation to observe first hand
the process, starting from the plucking field where it all begins
with the picking of “two leaves and a bud” to the
factory where the processing begins. The Tea Trails also provides
an excellent base for a variety of adventure activities. There
are a number of mountain bike trails that loop through the surrounding
tea estates and guides are available on-demand. A number of
treks and scenic walks are also available.
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Accommodation profile: Nestled among the
hills of the Dickoya region in central Sri Lanka, at over 5000
feet above sea level, the Ceylon Tea Trails bungalows are exquisite.
In central Sri Lanka, lies the Golden Valley of Tea. This is
home to old Ceylon. Here, four classic colonial bungalows, built
for British tea estate managers in the days of the Raj, have
been caringly restored by Dilmah Tea with the cooperation of
Bogawantalawa Tea Estates. Each bungalow is different in character
and comes with its own manager, chef, butler and houseboys and
between four and six luxurious suites. When Tea Trails say all-inclusive,
they mean it. No properties in Red Dot's extensive portfolio
are more consistently praised for their excellence.
Day 11 & 12:
Today you journey to Sri Lanka's hill capital, the small lakeside
city of Kandy, and check into the Kandy House, a beautiful and
stylishly renovated old colonial 'Walauwe' (ancestral mansion)
located away from the town centre, but close enough to use as
a base for seeing Kandy’s most memorable sights. In the
evening visit the Temple of the Tooth where a sacred tooth relic
of the Lord Buddha is enshrined since 4th Century A.D. The temple
has decorative walls, a golden roof and fine woodwork. Religious
services (pooja) are held daily at dawn, mid-day, and in the
evening where guests can participate. The services are accompanied
with traditional music and drumming.
Accommodation profile: The Kandy
House - added to the Conde Nast US Traveller Hot List in 2006
- is what the hill-country-capital has been waiting for so long:
a brilliant small boutique hotel capable of offering stylish
and private accommodation and attentive personal service in
a beautiful natural setting. The freshwater infinity pool in
the garden provides an irresistible opportunity to unwind and
relax under the shade of tropical trees.
Day 13, 14, & 15:
Your next destination is the Cultural Triangle, an area to the
north with a rich ancient history. Sophisticated civilisations
flourished here thousands of years ago, farming the fertile
lands with remarkably intricate irrigation systems. A climb
up Sigiriya Rock, a rock fortress and palace designed by a playboy
Sinhalese king, is a highlight of any trip to Sri Lanka. Then
there are the bright frescos in Dambulla’s Buddhist Cave
Temples and the ancient capital, Polonnaruwa. You will stay
at Vil Uyana, new lifestyle hotel just minutes away from the
famous Sigiriya rock fortress.
Accommodation profile: Vil Uyana
is a brand new lifestyle hotel located just minutes away from
the Sigiriya rock fortress. Situated on the flatlands immediately
to the west of the Sigiriya rock, the hotel is envisaged as
a natural extension to the efforts of ancient Sinhala kings
who developed and irrigated this area. Vil Uyana, spread over
24 acres of land, also includes a wetland system consisting
of paddy fields, marshes, and waterways newly introduced to
this area by the hotel. Individual dwellings, luxuriously appointed
within, and blending seamlessly into the rural landscape, are
located over lakes, marshes, and paddy fields.
Day 16: You will spend your last night
at Horathapola Estate, a tranquil Colonial-style planter’s
bungalow that offers an ideal haven for relaxing just before
your return flight. Hidden within a vast green coconut belt
of the Western province, Horathapola is an idyllic rural paradise
just 45 mins drive north of the International Airport. Take
a stroll or a bullock cart ride to the nearby village where
life unfolds at a quite pace. Visit the village temple and the
local market where fresh produce grown in village home gardens
can be purchased.
Accommodation profile: Horathopala is a small
five-bedroom British planter's bungalow that was built in the
1920's. The building design follows the traditional architectural
style of columns and verandahs. Ancestral antique furniture,
including four-poster beds lined with handmade lace, gives a
glimpse of this idyllic Planter’s lifestyle. Surrounded
by well-clipped lawns, fruit and spice gardens, and paddy fields,
Horathapola is an experience of rural Sri Lanka. The estate,
which produces coconut, mango, pineapple and spices, is still
run by the Fernando family, Javanah and Pia, who add a friendly,
laid-back but efficient air. The Sri Lankan rice and curries
cooked in traditional clay pots over a hearth are mouth-wateringly
delicious with many of the ingredients grown on the estate.
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This honeymoon has been designed using a small selection of
Sri Lanka’s most chic and intimate hotels. We wanted
to create a truly unforgettable honeymoon. We understand that
after months of planning and preparation you are likely to
be exhausted, ready for some indulgent relaxation. So our
objective was to create a slow-paced itinerary that allows
you time to unwind but also a chance to explore the island.
If you like certain parts of the holiday but would like to
make changes, please don’t hesitate to contact us –
we want you to have the trip of a lifetime.
