Island of Endless Horizons

Kandy was the last capital of the Sinhalese kings and still works as the centre of the country. The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic holds the most important Buddhist relic in Sri Lanka, and your visit is timed around the puja, when the shrine is opened and the drummers play.

The rest of the day is yours for the lake path, the market or the forest reserve above the town. Back at the estate there is a waterfall trail with a pool at the end of it.

You walk the estate with the field manager while the pluckers work. The rule is two leaves and a bud, and you follow the crop back to the weighing shed to see what a day actually earns.

In the afternoon you move on to the foothills of the Knuckles range, a cloud forest and World Heritage Site with its own weather and a long list of species found nowhere else. Take the slower road and there are waterfalls on the way.

This is the train day. The upcountry line winds through villages, forest and tea estates, then round high passes with the valleys open below. It is a working service, so it is rarely quiet and rarely on time, and it is still the part of the trip people describe first when they get home.

Afterwards there is Ravana falls and the caves above it, or a rest, depending on what the timetable did to your afternoon.

About five hours of walking that takes in most of what Ella is known for. The Nine Arch Bridge is a stone viaduct built without steel, and trains still cross it several times a day if you time it.

Demodara station below has the only spiral loop in the country, where the line passes under itself to lose height. Little Adam's Peak finishes the day. It is a steady climb rather than a scramble, and the last hour of light is the reason to do it late.

The road from Ella to Wellawaya drops out of the hills fast. You stay in a valley of paddy fields ringed by mountains, where the fields beside the property are farmed by the village rather than staged for guests.

You can learn how the rice year runs and join whichever part of it is happening that week. Later there is a viewpoint for the Diyaluma falls, which you will be climbing in two days.

The morning goes on footpaths between fields and riverbanks, which is how people here actually get from one place to another. Expect to be greeted a great deal, and to be offered tea, a coconut or something sweet from a wayside hut.

There is a stop at the Kirindi Oya for a swim before the walk back through the paddy. After dark you go out again on the jungle trails to look for what only moves at night.

The morning walk follows forest trails to Ella Wala, a waterfall of four or five metres with a natural pool under it. It is shallow, quiet and made for a swim and a picnic.

The afternoon is the hard one. Diyaluma is the second highest waterfall in Sri Lanka, with a main drop of about 220 metres and a chain of pools at the top. The climb is steep and rough underfoot. The pools are the reason people do it anyway.

A drive to the south coast and Galle, the oldest living city in Sri Lanka. The fort is a walled town the Dutch built on Portuguese foundations, and people still live and work inside it.

You walk the ramparts and the cobbled lanes with your guide, past the lighthouse, the old warehouses and the churches, with time left for the cafes, galleries and jewellers. Late afternoon on the wall is the best hour of the day.

Your driver-guide takes you back to the airport. From Galle it is roughly two and a half hours on the southern expressway, and we set off with enough time in hand for the check-in queues. If your flight is late, there is room for one more stop on the way.