Published on Mar, 2025
I would highly recommend Aaliya Tours for anyone wanting to do a day trip out of Kandy! We went on the Minneriya, Sigiriya, and Dambulla day tour in March 2025, with Irfan as our guide. Irfan went above and beyond our expectations for the tour, adding various other interesting stops on our way including a Hindu temple in Matale (Sri Muthumari Amman Kovil) and a medicinal plant garden. He also stopped to get us food at several locations, including tasty local snacks and fresh mango.
Of the three main locations, our first stop was Dambulla cave temple. This was an incredible site primarily containing a massive amount of statues and murals depicting Gautama Buddha and his life, as well as a few other figures including a handful of Hindu deities. This site is over two thousand years old and still functions as an important site for Buddhists, many of whom we saw paying their respects.
Our next stop was Sigiriya. The entire complex was astoundingly beautiful, and the pictures you see online truly cannot capture how it feels being there in person. The grounds around the actual rock plateau are very beautiful in their own right, featuring the remnants of gardens and pools built in a very impressive geometric fashion, and were very nice to walk around. The view of the rock from this area is incredible, and the way it rises up out of the trees is quite surreal. The hike to the top is very nice itself, and there are more ruins and several spots with wonderful views of the surrounding area that can be seen on the way up, as well as the enormous and impressive lion paws carved into the stone. At the summit, the foundations of the palace remain, along with some more pools. It was very nice to walk around, and also afforded amazing views of the entire region and surrounding mountains extending very far.
After Sigiriya we made our way to Hurulu Eco Park, as Aaliya Tours had informed us in advance that we would not be able to see the elephants as Minneriya due to flooding. This had no negative impact on our experience, and the tour of the eco park was amazing, where we saw much Sri Lankan wildlife and beautiful scenery.
Overall, this was a truly unforgettable adventure, and a highlight of our time in the Kandy region. Irfan is a wonderful guide, who is very friendly to talk with and extremely knowledgeable about all of the locations and sights along the way, as well as providing a smooth and comfortable driving experience for his passengers. Thank you Irfan and Aaliya Tours!
Non Refundable
