The Summer East, Family

Your chauffeur-guide meets you at the airport and drives you to a hotel in Negombo with a pool. Nothing is planned. Swim, eat early, sleep.

We head inland through coconut and paddy country, stopping once for a drink and a stretch. Habarana is a village between the lakes, a quieter base than Sigiriya town and closer to the elephant parks. In the late afternoon we walk to the lake and watch the fishermen come in.

An early start for Sigiriya, or for Pidurangala next door, which is shorter and has the best view of the rock itself; families with small children usually take Pidurangala. Pool in the heat. At about four we take a jeep to Minneriya or Kaudulla, wherever the herds are, for the gathering: in July and August hundreds of elephants come to the shrinking lakes.

A free day. For anyone who is restless there is a morning in a farming village near Hiriwadunna: a bullock cart, a catamaran across the tank and a lunch cooked on a wood fire in the family's kitchen. Or the painted caves at Dambulla. Or the pool.

The medieval city is flat and shaded, which makes it the best place on the island to explore by bicycle, with children's bikes and seats available. Monkeys included. After lunch we drive to the east coast and the bay at Pasikudah.

The bay is the reason we come here: a long curve of sand where the water stays knee-deep for a very long way out. A day for small children to be in the sea and for parents to sit down.

A morning in Batticaloa, which the Dutch held for a century and a half: the fort, the Kallady bridge and the story of the singing fish, and a boat on the lagoon with a local fisherman. Back at the bay for a late lunch and a swim.

A rest day. Snorkelling or a kayak on the bay for those who want it; the fishing boats landing at Kalkudah in the early morning for those who are up.

The longest drive of the trip, down the lagoon coast through Batticaloa and Kalmunai, broken by lunch. Arugam Bay is a small surf town with a wide beach. The afternoon is for the water.

A morning lesson at one of the gentle beginner points nearby, with soft boards and an instructor for each small group; the youngest paddle in the whitewater. In the late afternoon a canoe on the Pottuvil lagoon with the fishermen who work it, through mangroves, with crocodiles and sometimes elephants on the bank.

A morning safari in Kumana, the eastern continuation of Yala with a fraction of its jeeps. It is famous for water birds and has elephants, crocodiles and, now and then, a leopard. Back for lunch and a free afternoon; a second surf lesson for anyone hooked.

We leave the coast and drive into the hills at the edge of the Gal Oya National Park, where the lodge sits in its own forest below the ridge. In the afternoon we walk with guides from the Veddha community at Rathugala, who show how their grandparents read the forest.

Gal Oya is the one national park in Sri Lanka you explore by boat. We go out early on the Senanayake reservoir among its islands; elephants come down to the water and sometimes swim between islands, though we never promise it. The afternoon is for the pool, or a short walk up to a viewpoint.

Through Monaragala and Wellawaya and up into the hills, with the Ravana falls on the roadside as the air cools. The afternoon is free in Ella; the town is small and walkable.

Little Adam's Peak first, an easy hour on a clear path, then the walk along the line to the Nine Arch Bridge, timed for a train to come through. In the afternoon a short ride on the hill train to Demodara and back, where the line is open, or a cooking class that children can join.

The most beautiful stretch of the hill railway, through tea and tunnels, with reserved seats booked ahead; if the train is not running on your date we drive the same valley. Nuwara Eliya is cold and English: pedal boats on Gregory Lake, strawberries, an early night under blankets.

We drop through the tea past the St Clair falls, stopping at a factory to see how the leaves become the tea you drank at breakfast. Kitulgala is a village on the Kelani river in the rainforest. The afternoon is for a swim in the river from the lodge.

A morning of rafting on the Kelani, grade two to three, with licensed operators, helmets and life jackets; the stretch that The Bridge on the River Kwai was filmed on. Younger children take the river walk and natural pools with a guide instead. Afternoon free, or the Belilena cave for the keen.

Breakfast by the river, then the road to the airport timed to your flight.