Udawalawe National Park

The same idea as our Yala transfer, but to the park we would actually recommend for elephants – Udawalawe, on the direct road from Ella down to the coast.

The wildlife day that works from the west-coast beach resorts: three to four hours among wild elephants at Udawalawe and back to your hotel the same evening.

Udawalawe is only two hours from the south-coast beaches, which makes this the easiest safari day on the island – out before dawn, elephants by sunrise, back for a swim in the afternoon.

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.

Designed with parents and kids in mind: short driving days, hotels with pools, and experiences children love – elephants, bullock carts, trains, tuk-tuks, turtles and beaches. Family rooms or connecting rooms are arranged in every hotel.

Travelling alone doesn't mean being alone. This tour is designed for solo travellers, with a trusted chauffeur-guide, safe and social hotels, and experiences where you meet local people – a cooking class, a village lunch and café evenings in Ella.

Sri Lanka is Asia's best-kept safari secret: leopards, elephants, sloth bears and more than 400 bird species on an island you can cross in a day. This tour visits four national parks – Wilpattu, Minneriya, Udawalawe and Yala – with a naturalist guide and comfortable lodges close to the park gates.

Sri Lanka has 34 endemic bird species, and this tour is designed to find as many as possible. With a specialist birding guide, explore the lowland rainforest of Sinharaja and Kitulgala, the dry-zone parks of Udawalawe and Yala, and the wetland of Bundala.

A tour designed around light, not a checklist. Travel with a photographer-naturalist, use private safari jeeps with beanbags and extra time at sightings, and plan every shoot around golden hour.

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.