Two nights on the sand

Bentota, the Madu river, Galle Fort and a day in Sinharaja

Length: 4 days, 3 nights
Pace: Barely moves
Bases: 1
Best months: Dec to Apr
From: $525 · $131/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

The west coast beach season is December to April and genuinely nothing else. From May the southwest monsoon puts a swell on this beach that is not swimmable, and a beach trip you cannot swim on is not a trip.

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

West and south coast

One base for the whole stay: 3 nights in Bentota.

Bentota
3 nights, days 1 to 3
Fly home

Day by day

Breakfast, lunch and dinner, where they are included that day.

Stop 1 · West and south coast

Bentota

Days 1–4 · 3 nights

Day1
Travel day · timing to be confirmed
Day 1: Airport → Bentota
Arrive CMB, pick and drop, leisure.
- Airport → Bentota
Meals
Dinner
Pace
Barely moves
Day2
Day 2: Bentota
Madu River, turtle hatchery, Galle Fort, evening leisure.
- Madu River
- Turtle hatchery
- Galle Fort
Meals
Breakfast, Dinner
Pace
Gentle
Transfer
No intercity drive planned
Day3
Day 3: Bentota → Sinharaja → Bentota
Full-day Sinharaja excursion.
- Full-day Sinharaja excursion
Meals
Breakfast, Dinner
Pace
Barely moves
Transfer
No intercity drive planned
Day4
Travel day · timing to be confirmed
Day 4: Bentota → airport
Bentota → airport.
- Bentota → airport
Meals
Breakfast
Pace
Barely moves

What it costs

One route, three levels of hotel. The itinerary does not change.

Comfort

$525

$131 a day · single supplement $180

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

$780

$195 a day · single supplement $295

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

$1,140

$285 a day · single supplement $515

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.