Polonnaruwa

Sri Lanka is not a step-free country, and we will not pretend otherwise. Pavements are uneven, many temples have stepped approaches and accessible bathrooms are the exception rather than the rule. What we can do is route around the worst of it: a ramp-equipped van with a tail lift, hotels we check for door widths and roll-in showers before we quote them, and sites chosen because they genuinely work from a chair.

Ten days of touring, then four nights of doing nothing. This is the shape of trip that German and Austrian travellers ask for by name – a Rundreise with a Badeurlaub attached – and it is, for most people, the most satisfying way to use a fortnight in Sri Lanka. You see the whole island while you have the energy, and then you stop.

A scheduled small-group departure, capped at twelve guests in one minibus with one guide – not a forty-seat coach, and not a private tour either. It is the answer for solo travellers who do not want to pay the single-traveller premium of a private tour, and for couples who would rather share the trip and the cost with a few other people.

This is a starting point, not a fixed product. Eight days is the shortest comfortable length for a proper island circuit, and the route below is the one we would suggest if you gave us no other information: Cultural Triangle, Kandy, tea country, the train to Ella, a safari in Yala. Almost every guest who books it changes something.

The best-preserved ancient city in Sri Lanka, seen the way it should be – on a bicycle, on flat shaded lanes between the monuments, at your own pace.

Our signature journey is the complete Sri Lanka experience in two unhurried weeks. You will climb the Sigiriya rock fortress, cycle among the ruins of Polonnaruwa, watch wild elephants gather in Minneriya and attend the evening ceremony at Kandy's Temple of the Tooth.

A private tour built around a slower rhythm. No transfer day involves more than about four and a half hours in the car and most are under three, every hotel is chosen for lift access and ground-floor rooms where possible, and every site has a step-free or short-walk alternative so nothing has to be skipped for the sake of stairs.

Visit the most sacred Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka, including the 'Atamasthana' (eight sacred places) of Anuradhapura, Mihintale, the Dambulla caves, the Temple of the Tooth and Kelaniya. Take part in offerings, a meditation session at a forest monastery and a Poya (full-moon) observance if dates allow.

A curriculum-linked tour for school and university groups, covering history, geography, ecology and global citizenship. Students study ancient water engineering in Polonnaruwa, tea economics in the hill country and elephant conservation in Udawalawe, and spend a day with a partner rural school.

The perfect balance: eight days of culture, tea country and wildlife followed by four nights on the beach to unwind. It suits couples and families who want to see the island but also come home rested.