Sixteen Days for Two

Your chauffeur-guide meets you in arrivals. The first night is a villa with a garden and a pool close to the airport; dinner is there, and the evening is yours.

North-east through coconut and paddy to the Cultural Triangle. After a rest in the heat we climb Pidurangala, the rock next door, and watch the light go off Sigiriya.

We climb the rock when the gates open, before the heat: the frescoes, the mirror wall, the lion's paws and the palace garden on top. The afternoon is a catamaran across the village tank and a slow lunch cooked on a wood fire in a farming home, or the pool.

Nothing planned until four, when we take a jeep to whichever park the elephant herds are using that month, Minneriya, Kaudulla or Hurulu, and watch them come to water. Dinner outside.

The five painted caves at Dambulla first, then a spice garden at Matale on the road south. Kandy by mid-afternoon, and in the evening the drumming and the ceremony at the Temple of the Tooth.

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya while it is cool, with the orchid house and the avenue of palms. The afternoon is yours: the lake, the market, a cooking lesson in a Kandyan home, or a rest before the dance in the evening.

The road climbs through Gampola and Ginigathena into the estates around Hatton. Your bungalow was built for a planter and still runs like one: tea on the lawn, a walk in the tea with the estate's people, a fire in the evening.

A picnic in the tea, a boat on the Castlereagh reservoir, a factory if you are curious, a book if you are not. Between December and May the Adam's Peak pilgrim season is open; we arrange the night climb for anyone who wants it.

A morning in the old hill station, with lunch in a colonial hotel, then the most beautiful stretch of the hill railway to Ella, at walking pace through tea and tunnels. Your chauffeur-guide is on the platform at Ella with the bags.

Little Adam's Peak at first light, an easy hour with the whole gap in front of you, then the Nine Arch Bridge timed for a train. A long lunch and a slow afternoon.

Out of the hills past the Ravana falls and the Buduruwagala Buddhas to the dry plains. The camp by lunch, and the first safari this afternoon, with the lamps lit when you return.

A 5.30am start for the best light and the best chance of leopard, sloth bear and elephant; we never promise a sighting. The middle of the day at the camp, and a sundowner on the dunes.

West along the coast to Tangalle, a string of quiet bays. Your villa is on one of them. The afternoon is for the water and the evening for the terrace.

Nothing planned. After dark, if you like, the turtle project at Rekawa, where the big females still come ashore to lay; whether one comes is up to them.

A boat on the Rekawa lagoon through the mangroves in the early morning, or the whale boat from Mirissa for the early risers. A swim at Hiriketiya's horseshoe bay, and a private dinner on the sand at the villa.

The coast road and the expressway to the airport, timed to the flight. For a morning flight we move the last night to Galle or Negombo.