The kitchen table
Six days eating where people actually eat
- Length
- 6 days, 5 nights
- Pace
- Gentle
- Bases
- 4
- Best months
- Dec to Apr
- From
- $900 · $150/day
per person, twin share, excluding international flights.
IndicativeThese prices are modelled from market rates and have not been costed yet. We will quote a real figure when you enquire.
When this trip works
Kitchens do not have a monsoon, and this is the trip on the site that cares least about the weather: a market at six, a home kitchen, a tea factory and a covered street-food walk. October and November are wet in the hills and the roads get tiresome in the second inter-monsoon, which is worth knowing rather than worth avoiding. They are also the cheapest months of the year to do this.
October — mixed, worth a conversation
It is October now, and this route reads mixed this month.
- Prime
- Good
- Mixed
- Out of season
The shape of it
Colombo and the westCultural TriangleHill countryColombo and the west
4 bases, 3 changes of hotel. The longest stay is 2 nights in Kandy.
Negombo
1 night, day 1
Dambulla
1 night, day 2
Kandy
2 nights, days 3 to 4
Colombo
1 night, day 5
Fly home
Day by day
Breakfast, lunch and dinner, where they are included that day.
Stop 1 · Colombo and the west
Negombo
Day 1 · 1 night
Travel day · timing to be confirmed
Day 1: Airport → Negombo
Arrive, pick and drop to hotel, leisure, dinner or BB.
- Airport → Negombo
- Meals
- Dinner
- Pace
- Barely moves
Stop 2 · Cultural Triangle
Dambulla
Day 2 · 1 night
Travel day · timing to be confirmed
Day 2: Negombo → Dambulla
Fish market, boat ride, check-in, evening safari.
- Fish market
- Boat ride
- Evening safari
- Meals
- Breakfast, Dinner
- Pace
- Steady
Stop 3 · Hill country
Kandy
Days 3–4 · 2 nights
Travel day · timing to be confirmed
Day 3: Dambulla → Kandy
Sigiriya, village trek (market visit + purchasing), spice garden, check-in, evening leisure.
- Sigiriya
- Village trek (market visit + purchasing)
- Spice garden
- Meals
- Breakfast, Dinner
- Pace
- Gentle
Day 4: Kandy
Morning temple, full Kandy city tour, shopping, evening dance.
- Morning temple
- Full Kandy city tour
- Shopping
- Evening dance
- Meals
- Breakfast, Dinner
- Pace
- Gentle
- Transfer
- No intercity drive planned
Stop 4 · Colombo and the west
Colombo
Days 5–6 · 1 night
Travel day · timing to be confirmed
Day 5: Kandy → Colombo
Tea factory + tea tasting, check-in CMB, evening city tour, Colombo street food.
- Tea factory + tea tasting
- Evening city tour
- Colombo street food
- Meals
- Breakfast
- Pace
- Steady
Travel day · timing to be confirmed
Day 6: Colombo → airport
Colombo → airport.
- Colombo → airport
- Meals
- Breakfast
- Pace
- Barely moves
What it costs
One route, three levels of hotel. The itinerary does not change.
Comfort
$900
$150 a day · single supplement $305
Well-run three-star hotels and family-owned guesthouses, chosen for location and the people who run them rather than the star rating.
- Private air-conditioned vehicle and driver-guide throughout
- Daily breakfast
- All transfers and road tolls
- 24-hour local support line
Boutique
$1,410
$235 a day · single supplement $535
Small boutique hotels, tea-estate bungalows and design-led beach houses. Twelve rooms rather than a hundred.
- Everything in Comfort
- Breakfast and one further meal daily
- Park fees and site entrances as itemised
- A trip designer on WhatsApp for the duration
Luxury
$2,100
$350 a day · single supplement $945
The best rooms on the island: colonial bungalows, private villas and lodges with their own naturalists.
- Everything in Boutique
- All meals, and a private chef where the property allows
- Private guiding at every site rather than shared
- Airport fast-track on arrival and departure
per person, twin share, excluding international flights.
Entrance fees, itemised
Site fees in Sri Lanka are high and rising: Sigiriya alone is thirty-five dollars. Most operators bury them in the exclusions. Here is the whole list, with what we cover and what we do not.
Entrance fees for The kitchen table
Negombo fish marketA working auction with no ticket.
Free
- In the price
- Yes, we cover it
Minneriya or Kaudulla and jeep
$40
- In the price
- Yes, we cover it
Sigiriya rock fortress
$35
- In the price
- Yes, we cover it
Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic
$12
- In the price
- Yes, we cover it
Kandyan dance performance
$10
- In the price
- Yes, we cover it
Tea factory tour and tasting
$8
- In the price
- Yes, we cover it
Colombo street-food walk with a guide
$40
- In the price
- Yes, we cover it
- Covered by us
- $145
Who this is for
- Travellers who plan holidays around what they will eat
- Anyone who wants context rather than a buffet labelled local
- Visitors with under a week who would rather go deep than wide
And who it is not
- Anyone wanting a beach: this trip stays inland and ends in Colombo
Included
- Private vehicle and driver-guide throughout
- Five nights accommodation
- Daily breakfast and four dinners
- Evening safari (day 2)
- Village trek with a market visit and cooking (day 3)
- Tea factory visit and tasting (day 5)
- Guided street-food evening in Colombo (day 5)
- All entrance fees marked included above
Not included
- International flights
- Travel insurance
- Visa or ETA
- Alcohol
Make it yours
This is a starting shape, not a fixed departure. The changes people ask for most:
- Add two nights at Galle for the southern, more Dutch-influenced end of the food
- Add a Jaffna leg for Tamil food, which is a genuinely different cuisine
- Swap the Colombo nights for a fishing village on the west coast
If this one is close but not right
Stone and story
Nine days through two thousand years of capitals
- Length
- 9 days
- Pace
- Steady
- Bases
- 6 bases
From $1,395 · $155/day
Indicative, not yet costed
The triangle in three
One base in the Cultural Triangle, and three sites from it
- Length
- 4 days
- Pace
- Gentle
- Bases
- 2 bases
From $700 · $175/day
Indicative, not yet costed
The rock and the temple
Pidurangala, Dambulla and Kandy in four nights
- Length
- 5 days
- Pace
- Steady
- Bases
- 3 bases
From $875 · $175/day
Indicative, not yet costed