How to spend the weekend in Sri Lanka and see Colombo, Galle and the coast

If you’ve only got four days, Jo Caird shows you how to see the best of Sri Lanka

Colombo's Sri Kaileswaram temple (Photos Steve Pretty)

Sri Lanka, with its combination of untouched beaches, ancient ruins, zesty food and famous tea, takes more than a few days to explore. But those who are time-poor can still take in the highlights: here’s how to spend the ultimate four days there.

Day one

If you’ve only got a few hours to get a taste of the Sri Lankan capital – as part of an action-packed long weekend exploring the Indian Ocean island, say – a tour with Tuk Tuk Safari Sri Lanka is a fantastic way to go about it.

There are plenty of pimped out three-wheelers in Colombo but the one that picks me up at my hotel is something else altogether. It’s too hot to drive with the roof off but the coolbox of beer comes in handy and the flower garland that my driver puts around my neck is a charming touch. I tick off the city’s colonial Dutch past with a visit to the 17th-century Old Dutch Hospital, now a swanky shopping and dining precinct, in the historic Fort neighbourhood. Next we whisk past a series of examples of Colombo’s time under British rule, including the grandiose neo-Baroque Old Parliament Building, built in 1930.

Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo (Steve Pretty)

Stops at Colombo’s most important Hindu and Buddhist temples, the colourful Sri Kaileswaram kovil and the brilliantly bonkers Gangaramaya Temple – part holy site, part museum, part curio emporium – give a nod to Sri Lanka’s religious diversity, and the city’s commercial side is represented by a visit to spice and coffee traders at Pettah Market.

I’m back at my hotel, the very comfortable Shangri-La Colombo, in time for a swim, before crossing the road for a sunset walk on Galle Face Green. Kites flutter in the air above the excitable families and canoodling couples who’ve come, like me, to this historic oceanside promenade for a breath of sea air after the heat of the day.

I eschew the tempting snacks on sale along the seafront in favour of a generous plate of kottu – chopped roti, spices and your choice of meat, vegetables or cheese – at The Commons Coffeehouse, a trendy spot not far from Colombo’s pretty Viharamahadevi Park. I don’t intend the evening to end here – Colombo has an up-and-coming bar scene focused mainly around the city’s luxury hotels – but, wiped out after my flight, I find myself nodding off in the three-wheeler and decide to call it a night.

Day two

Hitting the buffet the next morning, I fuel up on a couple of hoppers; bowl-shaped rice and coconut milk pancakes with a whole egg at their centres, served with spicy sambal relishes. The chefs at the Shangri-La have turned the production of this Sri Lankan staple into something of an art and I’m never going to look at a boring old omelette the same way again.

It’s a four and a half hour-drive to Sri Lanka’s south coast but there’s so much to see en route that the morning passes in a flash of bright green paddy fields, Buddhist stupas and towns adorned with posters advertising business degrees and chemistry revision classes.

Walawe river tour (Steve Pretty)

I arrive at the Shangri-La Hambantota Golf Resort and Spa in time for lunch at the excellent Bojunhala restaurant and load up a plate of cinnamon-scented Sri Lankan curries and spicy sambals. The afternoon is for lounging by the adults-only Sunset Pool, listening to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach just over the top of the dunes, before setting off on a local expedition: a boat trip on the nearby Walawe river.

As the boatman steers us slowly down this lush waterway, my guide Palinda Perera is kept busy pointing out a veritable menagerie of animals and birds, from tiny green bee-eaters to exuberant langur monkeys leaping through the treetops.

Day three

There’s more wildlife in store the following day on a morning safari at Udawalawe National Park, 55km inland. It’s still dark when the open-sided jeep pulls up at reception and as dawn gathers I notice the smell of cooking fires mingled with the fresh scent of morning mist over the paddy fields en route to the park.

Surfers at Hikkaduwa beach (Steve Pretty)

There’s a long queue of vehicles pulling in through the gates when we arrive, but it takes just a few minutes for them to disperse once inside. A lot of the beautiful birds I saw on the river trip make an appearance here, plus I spot elephants taking dust baths and crocodiles lounging beside watering holes. The eerie cry of peacocks is the only sound disturbing the peace of the morning.

It’s back to the resort for more R&R, including an ayurvedic massage at the spa, much needed after the morning’s bumpy ride. Then another long drive is in order: down the coast to Galle, at the southernmost tip of the island, for the final leg of my whirlwind Sri Lanka tour.

Day four

I meet Vinitha at Galle’s Dutch Market the next day for an introduction to the weird and wonderful world of Sri Lankan produce, before heading back to her house for a cooking lesson. Vinitha lets me choose the main ingredient of each of the delicious curries she teaches me to make, helpfully providing a list of easy-to-find substitutes for some of my more wildcard choices – I discover on my return to the UK that they don’t stock snake gourd at my local Sainsbury’s.

Vinitha’s kitchen experience (Steve Pretty)

I walk off the resulting lunch on a plantation and factory tour of the nearby Handunugoda Tea Estate. Herman Teas produce dozens of varieties of tea here, including the creme de la creme of tea drinking, virgin white tea, which is made from only the uppermost buds of the tea bush, harvested using gold-plated scissors.

Picking virgin white tea at Herman Teas (Steve Pretty)

Back in the city, I stroll the streets of Galle Fort, a Unesco World Heritage Site laid out by the Portuguese in the 16th century and fortified by the Dutch in the 17th. I shop for souvenirs at the boutiques on Leyn Baan Street and pause to watch a game of street cricket outside the lawyers’ offices of Court Square, before making my way to the imposing ramparts for sunset.

This trip has been something of a mad dash around this beautiful island, and tomorrow morning I’ll be dashing once more, back up the Southern Expressway to Colombo for my flight home, but right now, shoulder to shoulder with other tourists, souvenir hawkers and dolled up couples having their wedding photos taken, I find a moment of calm.

Then the sun disappears for good into the clouds over the Indian Ocean, the wind picks up, and everyone starts the climb back down from the ramparts towards wherever the evening is taking them next. I stay a little longer and start mapping out my return to Sri Lanka.

Travel essentials

Staying there

Doubles at Shangri-La Hotel Colombo start from $180 (£140); doubles at Shangri-La Hambantota Golf Resort & Spa start from $293.

Getting there

SriLankan Airlines flies direct from London Heathrow to Colombo from £550 return.

More information

A half-day Colombo tour with Tuk Tuk Safari Sri Lanka costs $49 per person.

Vinitha’s Kitchen experience is available with specialist operator Essential Escapes as part of its culinary destination itineraries.