Sri Lanka Real Food Adventure

Ayubowan! Welcome to Sri Lanka. Living up to its nickname of the ‘Pearl of the Indian Ocean’, this country is peppered with palm beaches and fascinating ancient sites. It’s also a food lover’s paradise – with Indian, Portuguese, Malay, English, Arab and Dutch influences. Your adventure begins in the seaside city of Negombo, where you’ll meet your local leader and fellow travellers at a 6 pm welcome meeting. Spend your first night on the coastline, getting to know your fellow travellers and watching the fishing boats float by.

Wake early this morning to catch the action at the Negombo fish market. Situated at the northern end of a lagoon, the market is renowned for lobsters, crabs and prawns. Continue to a coconut plantation to discover why this super food is so central to life in Sri Lanka. Learn how all parts of the tree play an important role in daily life, sip the water of a king coconut, watch ‘toddy tappers’ extract the palm wine from the coconut sap and taste the results. Enjoy a Sri Lankan rice and curry lunch before heading inland to Dambulla, home to ornate cave temples and surrounded by natural wonders and historic sites. Your evening is free to explore. You may like to join your leader on an optional street food crawl for an introduction to some staple Sri Lankan 'short eats' (snack food), including famous hoppers (bowl-shaped savoury pancakes).

Rise early and make the short drive to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Sigiriya. Here, you can climb to the top of Lion Rock and visit the ancient fortress complex. The 200 m high ancient remains of a defensive capital, Lion Rock houses fifth-century frescos, terraced gardens and fountains. Then return to the hotel to fuel up on some breakfast.

Located high on a cliff face are the impressive Dambulla Cave Temples. You’ll have time to explore these this morning and admire the many Buddha images, frescoes and paintings. On the way to the physical and spiritual heart of the country and the former home of the last Sri Lankan king, stop for lunch at a spice garden in the renowned spice-growing region of Matale. Sri Lankans are the masters of spice and here you can learn how spices aren’t just used in food, but also cosmetics and ayurvedic medicine. Smell the cumin, cinnamon and curry leaves before tasting pumpkin curry flavoured with aromatic fenugreek, with a side of dry chilli sambol and the uniquely Sri Lankan coconut roti. Continue to Kandy, home to a lake, old shops, a bustling market and some great restaurants. This evening, observe locals worshipping in Kandy’s Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth), one of Sri Lanka’s most sacred shrines that houses a tooth relic of the Lord Buddha. With your free evening, perhaps follow the sound of rhythmic chopping to watch a chef transform a ball of dough into a huge sheet of wafer-thin roti, skilfully slice, griddle, mix with vegetables and spices and create kottu roti.

Kick off the day with a guided walk around Kandy's busy city centre, then visit a tea factory. After, take a tour of the Central Market and samples of local fresh fruits. The rest of the day is free for you to explore. Kandy is home to a National Museum and several monasteries, and there are many scenic walks around town. In the early evening, join a Sinhalese family to get your sugar fix with a Kandyan sweet-filled Sri Lankan dinner and cooking class. Try your hand at crafting string hoppers, pressing a smooth rice dough into noodle-thin strands to form perfect discs (this is an art that takes some practice to master!), try a chicken curry made with spice-infused coconut milk, closer to a Thai curry than a North Indian one. Then fill up on specialty sweets inspired by Dutch and Portuguese dessert traditions.

Have your camera at the ready and take a scenic journey into the highlands to Bandarawela. Journey past waterfalls, villages and up through the mountains on the way to this town in the cool highlands, once popular with British plantation managers. Look down over the bright green tea bushes and vegetable gardens. Tonight, take a look behind closed doors and experience a slice of local life when you’re invited into a local home for a cooking demonstration followed by a traditional dinner.

Rise early and head to the region's tea plantations. Take a hike through the tea fields, learning about the country’s most important export and meet local tea pickers who will show you their craft and let you have a go at picking and weighing tea. After, travel out to the town of Haputale for a home-cooked lunch with a Tamil family. Tear into traditional Tamil cuisine with dosa (a crispy rice pancake) and idli (a savoury steamed rice cake served with curry sauces or chutneys). Return to Bandarawela in the late afternoon and soak up the rural charm of the town and the beautiful surrounding landscapes.