North & East Coast Explorer
The island most visitors never see — Kalpitiya, Jaffna and the east coast.
Your journey at a glance
Designed as a starting point, never a fixed package.
For travellers who've done a Sri Lanka trip before, or simply want to start somewhere different: dolphins off Kalpitiya, the Tamil Hindu culture of the Jaffna peninsula, snorkelling reefs on the east coast, and a highland finish most coach tours never reach.
The journey
Day by day
Follow the route as a guide, then tell us what you'd like to change. We can adjust the pace, hotels, experiences and time in each place around you.
- 01
Negombo
Arrival — Negombo
Your driver-guide meets you at the airport and takes you to Negombo for the night — close enough to the runway that there's no need to rush anywhere on day one.
- 02
Kalpitiya
Negombo — Kalpitiya
Head up the coast to the Kalpitiya peninsula, a quiet stretch of lagoon and dune that most itineraries skip entirely. Settle in before an afternoon by the water.
- 03
Kalpitiya
Kalpitiya
An early boat out into the lagoon to look for spinner dolphins — pods here can run into the hundreds. The afternoon is yours: kite surfing lessons, a lagoon birdwatching trip, or simply the beach.
- 04
Jaffna
Kalpitiya — Jaffna
A long but easy drive north into the Jaffna peninsula, culturally and visually unlike anywhere else on the island — Tamil Hindu temples, palmyrah palms, and a coastline that still feels rarely visited by outsiders.
- 05
Jaffna
Jaffna
Visit Nallur Kovil, one of the island's most significant Hindu temples, then take a boat out to Delft Island for a slower look at the peninsula's most remote corner — wild ponies, coral-stone walls, and a Dutch-era fort in ruins.
- 06
Trincomalee
Jaffna — Trincomalee
Drive across to the east coast. Trincomalee's natural harbour has drawn traders and navies for centuries — Fort Frederick, built by the Portuguese and expanded by the Dutch and British, still looks out over it.
- 07
Trincomalee
Trincomalee
A boat out to Pigeon Island Marine National Park for snorkelling over reef sharks and turtles, then an easy afternoon on Marble Beach — one of the calmer, less-visited stretches of coast on this side of the island.
- 08
Mahiyangana
Trincomalee — Mahiyangana
Head inland towards Mahiyangana, and visit a Vedda community — Sri Lanka's original indigenous inhabitants, whose language and way of life predate the island's Sinhalese and Tamil settlement by thousands of years.
- 09
Haputale
Mahiyangana — Haputale
Climb back into the hills to Haputale, quieter and less developed than Ella or Nuwara Eliya. Visit Lipton's Seat, the viewpoint where Sir Thomas Lipton once surveyed his tea empire, and a working factory still processing leaf the traditional way.
- 10
Colombo
Haputale — Colombo
A stop at Diyaluma Falls, one of the island's tallest, before the drive back down to Colombo. Spend the evening around the Dutch Hospital precinct and Galle Face Green with the city's street-food stalls.
- 11
Colombo
Colombo — Departure
A relaxed final morning before transferring to the airport for your departure flight.
Not quite the right fit?
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