This was an unforgettable journey for me and my wife as we spend this vacation with our little princess. We planned this for 5 days by locating Nuwaraeliya and we rented a house via contact of our friend Madusanka. And the most wanted experience is the train journey at Expo Rail and Rajadhani Express. Hence we booked Expo Rail to reach Nanuoya and on our return journey, we booked Rajadhani Express. Unfortunately, this luxury train service is not functioning now.

Hadurukkanda (794 m) is considered as the second highest peak of North Western Province. It is an easy hike and we had coupled it with the visit of nearby Thampana reservoir.

Sambuwatta Lake is a beautiful man-made reservoir located in Elkaduwa, Matale. The lake is bordered by Cambell’s Land forest reserve and situated at an elevation of 1,140 m. The misty and chilly atmosphere with pine trees and tea-covered slopes surrounding the lake make visitors feel relaxed and tranquil.

What puts the lake at the top as a leisure and family travel destination is the plethora of adventure activities available such as zip-lining, swan/motorboat riding, canoeing and hiking. Bathing and swimming in the lake, however, is not allowed since the lake is fairly deep (30 – 40 ft), there is a separate pool built for that purpose.

The 60-meter Miyunu Ella waterfall is one of the two large waterfalls lying in the Kukulugala Forest (KF) is situated within the Western boundary of the Ratnapura district, Sabaragamuwa Province; and is located 15 km away from Bulathsinhala town. This forest ecosystem, which covers an area of 6000 acres within the Ayagama secretariat division, can be categorized as a low land evergreen rain forest. The dominant tree species are Dipterocarpus sp., Mesua sp., Doona sp., Schumacheria castaneifolia, Artocarpus Nobilis, Calophyllum inophyllum, Mangifera zeylanica, Humboldtia laurifolia, Oncosperma fasciculatum and Canarium zeylanicum species. Kukulugala mountain, also known as “Horanae Kanda (හොරණෑ කන්ද)” in Sinhala, is 705m above sea level.

Nuwera Eliya has number of places to visit though many visitors go to common places. This is another set of places around Nuwera Eliya.

We had a relaxing drive to the southern province as we received an invitation from our friend to visit his village as well as we need to have a drive to Matara via the Southern Expressway. Since my other members didn’t see Andahelena Fall I marked it at the first thing on our trip. I visited Andahelena Falls in May, 2013 while on a Funeral of an office mate’s cousin. However, we were able to visit Madol Duwa, Martin Wickremasinghe House, and the Museum and finally stopped at Dondra Light House which is closed to that friend’s home.

Gammaduwa is a famous destination in the northern side of the Knuckles forest reserve. I had an opportunity to visit Gammaduwa with Nirosh’s office crew as they have direct access to the transmission towers for business purposes. Karagahatenna is the nearest peak of Gammaduwa and both peaks are reserved for telecommunication transmission towers, hence entering the premises is not open to the public.

It was very easy to find Pahanthudawa fall as it is the main attraction of this road. So far many hotels and guest houses in this area was based on this fall. This is a very small waterfall and beautiful and too dangerous. Many of people were died over there due to flash floods and falling to the deep pool. Reaching to the closer of the fall is much difficult since we need to walk along the rocks and it might be slippery. Hence please avoid of visiting this fall during rainy season and soon after the raining.

Thalpe Beach is a beach situated in the Southern province of Sri Lanka, close to the city of Galle. It is a popular destination among both locals and foreigners. There are vibrant shops, restaurant and various water sports related activities to do in the surrounding area of Thalpe.

Nayabedda Mountain is on our list for a long time as we have seen it on our Wangedigala hike. This mountain is marked in Metric Map as “St. Catherines 2” and the 1 should be St. Catherine’s Seat which is also marked in the Metric Map without the word “Seat”. When I explore this location in Metric map I realized the name given in here and the name we currently use. Actually we are using the estate name for this mountain. But the real name is “St. Catherines 2”.

Deanstone Mini World’s End is the official World’s End in Knuckles Kandy side. This is located at Meemure road son after the Nawangala village. There is the Deanstone Forest Office and the footpath will begin from there. People should buy a ticket and walk along the established footpath. The footpath is a circular path which is established through a pines forest as to feel the nature.

I and Malith were planning a hike on a Saturday and we came through Hatton to Nawalapitiya for a hike but unfortunately, we couldn’t go to the destination due to some bicycle issue. Then we thought to go to Peacock since Malith wasn’t there before. But I went Peacock about 4 years ago but couldn’t capture a single photograph due to heavy mist and rain. Hence I also agreed with Malith to go to Peacock via a different road which shows in the Google Map.