SUPER LUXURY A 25-DAY PRIVATE ROUND-TRIP SRI LANKA WITH RELAIS & CHÂTEAUX

There’s more to Ulagalla than just the view. Guests can wake up with the dawn chorus and take a guided walk around the estate and beyond. This leisurely 90-minute ramble includes a walk along the banks of Wannemaduwa ‘tank’, a traditional irrigation reservoir built to a design over two thousand years old.

Guests can take to the waters of Wannemaduwa tank in a kayak at dawn or dusk to experience the wildlife of the forest at its most active. Paddle quietly with friendly staff guide through floating islands of lotus blossom, stands of water bird-haunted reeds and overhanging boughs. The soft light of the rising or setting sun turns the air to honey and touches the dragonflies’ wings with gold.

Guests discover the elegant simplicity of Sri Lankan village life on this two-hour guided bicycle excursion, while keeping an eye open for exotic birds and small wildlife along the route. The destination is Veheragalla, a traditional farming village not far from the hotel. Guests will meet the inhabitants and be welcomed at the home of the village headman.

For the nature-loving foodie, guests can enjoy a guided tour of the organic herb and vegetable garden, during which they can hand-pick fresh, juicy ingredients for their lunch. Ending the walk with a visit to the traditional health kitchen, where the herbs and vegetables they’ve selected will be transformed into delicious Sri Lankan dishes.

Surrounded by green woods at Ulagalla, guests may want to try their hand at being Robin Hood. If so, the hotel can supply the equipment – bows, arrows and targets – as well as expert advice and even some friendly competition from the recreational assistants, who are graduates of the Colombo School of Archery. Or guests can engage in a tournament with their own party or fellow guests.

An expert visiting instructor conducts programmes for guests on request. Sessions vary in duration and intensity depending on guests' preference.

This very special excursion only takes place on Poya (full moon) days, which are holy to the Buddhists of Sri Lanka. A Buddhist guide will take guests to Veheragala Temple, where they can observe and participate in the traditional rites of Sinhalese Buddhism such as lamp lighting, circling the stupa and offering floral tributes.

Kite making and kite-flying are popular traditional pastimes all over South Asia. Guests can come along and learn how to make, launch and fly a bamboo and paper kite of classic Sri Lankan design, such as a nye sarungala.

Guests can enjoy many cultural and heritage tours the area has to offer including the Botanical Peradeniya Gardens, the University of Paradeniya, the British Garrison Cemetery where a guide will bring history to life through stories, the Kandyan Arts Association’s renowned Cultural Show for dance and drumming, and the Ceylon Tea Museum.

Guests can visit The Temple of the Tooth to view ceremonies presided over by resident monks and wander to the Devales Shrines, discover the glass murals in the serene hill-top Trinity College Chapel, or venture a little further to the Dambulla Caves and Temple that date back to the first century BC.

Guests can choose from a variety of wildlife and nature experiences including ambling around Udawattakelle Sanctuary, 270 acres filled with flora and forest birds, porcupines and monkeys, hike or bike The Knuckles Range, with peaks of 1500m and varieties of wildlife in its midst, or wash some elephants at the Pinnawella Elephant Orphanage.

Guests can organise a round of Golf at the world class Victoria Golf Course, 12 miles from Kandy with the Knuckles range as a backdrop, catch a game at Muttiah Muralitharan International Cricket Stadium, recently renamed to commemorate Sri Lanka’s famous bowler, cycle around the countryside, or take a walk through the local village and lush paddy fields and have chat with a chief monk in the local temple.

Guests can embark on a voyage into the southern waters off Sri Lanka, one of the best places in the world to witness blue whales, sperm whales and dolphins in their natural habitat.

Guests can escape to the stunning cliff top resort and improve their fitness level in the balanced 3, 5 and 7-day fitness camps under the expert guidance of a personal trainer. The 3-day programme will get guests back in the fitness mode and enables them to continue their fitness programme at their own level once back home. The 5-day programme is focused on rebooting. This programme is recommended for guests who want a combination of balancing rejuvenation and high-intensity training. The 5-day programme will give guests the opportunity to strike a balance between relaxation and fitness-oriented activities. The 7-day program is the most suitable for those who are looking for body fat reduction and increased fitness levels. If guests are looking to lose weight and get some serious results then this is the programme best suited to them, as they can opt for the more physically demanding training and activities to get some achievable results.

The Cape Ayurveda Experience is an authentic Ayurveda programme designed to introduce Cape Weligama guests to the world’s oldest holistic healing system. While the programmes of treatment will take into account any medical concerns guests may have, the short duration means that it is only an introduction to Ayurveda. The programmes including Ayurveda based lunch will be around 5 hours. Guests can select a programme for 3 days, 5 days or 7 days, and are advised to follow the physician’s instructions on diet during the period of treatment.

Location: Bentota
Duration: 3-4 hours
Host: Lunuganga & Brief guides.
Group size: 1+ (private tour)
What to wear: Cool, lightweight clothing, a sun hat, sun cream and your camera
Other: There are four guided tours of Lunuganga a day (9.30am, 11.30am, 2pm and 3pm)

This inspirational experience takes in Lunuganga and Brief, two houses and gardens created over
a period of many years by a pair of brothers, Geoffrey and Bevis Bawa. They are two of Sri Lanka’s
most famous sons, and their private estates (now held in trust) are superb examples of tropical
modernist architecture and inspirational landscaping. Geoffrey was Sri Lanka’s most famous architect whose inspiration continues to this day, and Bevis, his younger brother, was a landscape architect.

Lunuganga was the holiday home of Geoffrey Bawa. This exceptional estate, crafted out of rubber
plantations on the banks of the Lunu Ganga (salt river), provides telling insights into the life’s work
of this legendary architect. Geoffrey was famous for his tropical modernist style of architecture,
features of which include blurred boundaries between indoor and outdoor areas, linear verandas,
and windows that framed views both inside and outside of a room. The house, at the top of a small
hill, enjoys views of the lake and of Cinnamon Hill, and though you can only peep indoors, it’s enough to get the gist. There are four guided tours a day (though private tours are possible given enough notice), which provide good insights into the creativity and lifestyle of this great man. We’ve included lunch as well as the tour as it’s the best way to really appreciate the house and gardens – as you sit and dine in tranquillity on the front veranda, enjoying a magnificent curry spread, you can take in the lake views.

After visiting Lunuganga, you’ll move on to Bevis Bawa’s former home, Brief Gardens. This estate
is much smaller than Geoffrey’s, though the gardens seem to have more detail. What the garden
lacks in far-reaching views, it makes up for in interesting sculptures, archways and garden features.
The house itself, a low slung cottage, can be toured, and inside is a lot of artwork by friends of
Bevis, including an exceptional mural representing a tapestry of Sri Lankan life, by Australian artist
Donald Friend who came for six days and ended up staying six years. There are also photos of Vivien Leigh and Lawrence Olivier, two other notable house guests who stayed here during the filming of Elephant Walk in 1953.

Location: Lunuganga | Mihiripenna
Host: Eva
Group size: 1+
What to wear: Lightweight sports/yoga clothing or breathable shorts and T-shirts

Southern coast is an emerging yoga destination and full of promise of spiritual renewal and reawakening. If you’d like a yoga session, we can connect you with Eva Priyanka Wegener, one of Galle’s best yoga teachers and a practitioner of Hatha Vinyasa Yoga (certified with Yoga Alliance, E-RYT +500). Eva has practiced yoga and meditation since 2002 when she was first introduced to Buddhist meditation on a retreat in Sri Lanka.

You can choose to enjoy a private one on one session with Eva, either in the hotel’s Garden or at the beautiful purpose-built Sri Yoga Shala, tucked deep into the Mihiripenna hills, a 20-minute drive fromGalle. This centre is a tranquil timber construction that looks out over the palm trees and inland jungle, and also has a swimming pool and (soon-to-open) health food café.

If you prefer to join one of the group classes at the Shala(usually held from 7.30am to 8.30am and again from 9am to 10am), this is also possible. There are also other experienced visiting yogis who come and conduct classes at the Shala, and our Front Office will be able to check for you which practitioners are currently in attendance along with their daily schedules (group classes take place every day except Sunday).

About Eva
Eva holds certificates in Contemporary Dance and Hatha Vinyasa Yoga (Yoga Alliance). She received her education in Sri Lanka (Nilambe Meditation Center), Germany (Yoga Shala Berlin initial
200hour TT), India (Krishnamarchaya Yoga Mandiram Chennai), with David Swenson in Hong Kong (Ashtanga Teacher Training Immersion, 30hrs), with Louisa Sear, Rose Baudin, Lucy Roberts and Stuart Girling in Bali (Yoga Arts Australia 300hrs TT), with Sri Nanda Kumar (Senior Iyengar Teacher) at Dayananda Ashram in Rishikesh, with Sianna Sherman (Anusara‐ inspired) and Sally Kempton (Tantric Philosophy & Meditation) in London. Eva conceived and designed the Sri Yoga Shala, which opened in late 2015.

Location: Bentota
Duration: 3-4 hours
Host: Lunuganga
Group size: 1+ (private tour)
What to wear: Cool, lightweight clothing, a sun hat, sun cream and your camera
Other: There are four guided tours of Lunuganga a day (9.30am, 11.30am, 2pm and 3pm)

Spread over 15 acres, this iconic estate sits at the banks of the Dedduwa Lake in Bentota. Although the name Lunuganga translates to ‘salt river’ in Sinhala, the estate is said to have been used as a cinnamon plantation, followed by a rubber plantation during the Dutch and British period respectively, before being taken over by Bawa in 1949 to develop as his weekend bungalow. The enchanting retreat and fascinating gardens of Lunuganga was often considered a beautifully crafted experimental ground for Bawa, whose extraordinary work can be seen amidst the many architectural charms across the estate.

Now, under the management of Teardrop Hotels, the estate continues to provide telling insights into the life’s work of this prolific architect. Elements of Italian Renaissance gardens, English landscaping, Japanese garden art, and the water gardens of ancient Sri Lanka come together to form Bawa’s most extravagant creation - a mecca for those passionate about landscape design and architectural history.

Geoffrey was famous for his tropical modernist style of architecture, features of which include blurred boundaries between indoor and outdoor areas, linear verandas, and windows that framed views of both, inside and outside a room. His work has had a tremendous impact upon architecture throughout Asia and is unanimously acclaimed by connoisseurs of architecture worldwide.

Lunuganga now also includes the three-bedroom house of Bawa’s dear friend – Ena de Silva. A batik artist based in Colombo, Ena de Silva commissioned Bawa to design her home in 1962- a pivotal project in his life’s work. In 2009, Ena sold the house to The Bawa Trust, which then moved the property brick by brick from its location in Colombo to Lunuganga. The house took three months to disassemble and six years to rebuild, led by architect Amila de Mel and conservation specialist Nilan Cooray. Everything from the frangipani tree in the front courtyard to the slabs of river stone remains just as it was in the original house.

A staff member of Lunuganga will meet you on arrival and introduce you to life and times of the late Geoffrey Bawa whilst taking you on a tour through the magical gardens. Every turn and bend in Lunuganga is an interesting experience - with so many exotic plants, trees and views to take in. The house is also adorned with paintings and photographs that is a marvel in its own right. You will also have the opportunity to visit Ena de Silva’s house, if it isn’t occupied at the time.