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View all Sigiriya toursSigiriya to Kandy Guided Transfer with Dambulla, a Spice Garden and Matale
The Sigiriya to Kandy move with the sites on the road built in: the Dambulla cave temples, a Matale spice garden, a craft workshop and the Hindu temple, ending at your Kandy hotel.
Highlights
- The Sigiriya to Kandy move done as a half day of sightseeing
- The Dambulla cave temples, fifteen minutes from Sigiriya
- A Matale spice garden with cinnamon, cardamom, pepper and nutmeg growing together
- The Sri Muthumariamman Hindu temple and its painted gopuram
- Arrival in Kandy with the evening free for the temple puja
Sigiriya to Kandy Guided Transfer with Dambulla, a Spice Garden and Matale: Key Facts
| Price | From $57.71 per person |
|---|---|
| Duration | 5 hours |
| Languages | English |
| Tour type | Guided Tour |
| Booking | Direct with the local operator — no OTA markup |
Full description
Sigiriya to Kandy is only 90 kilometres, and everything worth stopping for sits directly on the road — which makes doing it as a plain transfer a waste of a morning.
Dambulla is fifteen minutes from Sigiriya and is the obvious first stop: five caves under a granite overhang, painted continuously for two thousand years, holding around 150 Buddha images. The approach path is steep and the caves are cool at the top of it.
Matale, halfway to Kandy, is spice country. The gardens here grow cinnamon, cardamom, pepper, nutmeg and vanilla in the same plot, and a guided walk through one makes the differences obvious in a way no description does. The Sri Muthumariamman temple in the town is a Hindu temple with a gopuram covered in painted figures — unusual on an island where the Buddhist sites take the attention — and the woodcarving and batik workshops nearby have been there for generations.
You arrive in Kandy in the afternoon with the day's sightseeing already done and the evening free for the Temple of the Tooth puja.
Tour Itinerary
The schedule below is a suggested plan and can be adjusted to suit your preferences.
Pickup
From your hotel in Sigiriya, Dambulla or Habarana.
Dambulla cave temples
The five painted caves.
Spice garden
A guided walk through the growing plots.
Matale temple and workshops
The Hindu temple and a craft studio.
Kandy
Drop-off at your hotel.
Detailed Itinerary
[{"time": "08:00", "title": "Hotel pickup", "description": "Travel with your luggage; it stays in the car."}, {"time": "08:30", "title": "Dambulla", "description": "A steep path up, then about an hour in the caves. Shoes off."}, {"time": "10:30", "title": "Spice garden", "description": "Around 30 minutes with a shop at the end and no obligation."}, {"time": "11:30", "title": "Matale", "description": "Shoes off at the temple; shoulders and knees covered."}, {"time": "13:00", "title": "Kandy", "description": "Drop-off at your hotel."}]
Includes
- Private air-conditioned car with an English-speaking driver-guide, hotel pickup in Sigiriya, Dambulla or Habarana, all stops on the route, drop-off at your Kandy hotel, luggage carried throughout.
Excludes
- The Dambulla entrance fee, meals and drinks, spice or craft purchases, gratuities.
Important information
Meeting point
Hotel pickup in Sigiriya, Dambulla or Habarana; confirmed after booking.
Know before you go
- Free cancellation available up to 24 hours before the activity starts