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Galle City Tour, Fortress, Madu River Estuary and Southern Sri Lanka (private)


The Galle one-day tour is a very scenic tour that takes place all along the west coast beaches of Sri Lanka. In the Galle city tour, we will take you to one of the most beautiful parts of the island, southern Sri Lanka, where you get plenty of opportunities to enjoy the pristine palm-fringed beaches, picturesque countryside, one of the UNESCO world heritage sites/the Dutch Fort, endangered sea turtles, a mask museum and mangrove forests. All attractions are along the way, and all are exposed within a few hours.


Activity included in the Galle one-day tour

  • A visit to the sea turtle conservation center and learning about endangered sea turtles from volunteers.
  • Bost a tour at the Madu River estuary (Ramsar wetland) and see the valuable riverine fauna and flora.
  • Tour of the mangrove lagoon.
  • Visit Cinnamon Island and learn about cinnamon.
  • Visit the ancient Buddhist temple.
  • Galls bottom boat trip to see coral reefs, sea turtles and exotic fish species in the marine sanctuary.
  • Visit Hikkaduwa Beach.
  • Walking tour of Galle Fort (UNESCO world heritage site) and explore the best-preserved Dutch-built medieval fort in Asia. Walkthrough hundreds of medieval period mansions, churches, temples, galleries, and many more.

Is this trip right for you?

  • This compact trip packs a lot in. It’s one of the shortest trips we run in our original style, perfect for those with very little time and a desire to do the most with it.
  • The tour mainly revolves around tourist attractions on the southern and western coast beach areas. In fact, you will be stopping a few times to explore the different places on the beach.
  • Sri Lanka can get extremely hot in the summer. While we aim to do our walking tours when the heat is low (in the morning and evening), remember to keep water on you and bring a hat, sunscreen, a long-sleeved shirt, and anything else that will protect you from the sun.
  • Part of traveling with Seerendipity respects local cultures and sensibilities. That way, you get the most out of your interactions with local people and environments. We visit a number of temples on this trip, and to enter them, you must have clothes that cover your wrists and below the knee. Please check this article about how to dress before visiting a temple in Sri Lanka.

Trip includes

  • Entrance fees and activity costs for below,
    • Madu river estuary exploration boat tour
    • Sea turtle conservation project
    • Visiting Hikkaduwa Beach
    • Trip to Mask Museum
    • Guided walking tour of Galle Fort
    • Moonstone mines
    • Glass bottom boat trip of Hilkaduwa marine sanctuary
  • Meeting arrangements at the airport on arrival and departure.
  • Entire ground transportation as per the itinerary in a modern air-conditioned, private vehicle.
  • English-speaking driver/guide (please inquire about other languages).
  • All government taxes.

Trip excludes

  • The expense of personal nature, such as gratuities.
  • Meals and drinks.

Choose your payment method.

We offer you mainly three payment options: card payments, bank transfers, or payment on arrival. You can choose whatever is the most convenient payment option for you. If you choose to pay on arrival, we will collect a 25% advance payment as a guarantee once we confirm your booking.


Best price guaranteed

We guarantee the best price. If you find the same tour package at a cheaper price elsewhere, we do match the price of other tour packages and furthermore add a further 10% discount to it.


No hidden fees and commissions

The price you see on the product pages is the exact same rate that you see in the final stage of the trip booking. There are no hidden fees and taxes such as GST, BTT, service charge, nation-building tax, hotel tax, etc.


Additional information

  • Confirmation will be received at the time of booking.
  • Pickup and dropoff from more than 140+ hotels on the west coast.
  • Luxury, modern, private vehicle for transport.
  • Service of a well-experienced and knowledgeable tour guide.

Please don't hesitate to contact us for more information on this trip or for changes to the tour itinerary.

 

Itineraries

Time : 7:15 am

Colombo / Bentota / Hikkaduwa / Galle / Colombo

Pickup from your hotel in Colombo or on the west coast and leave for Galle, en-route visit,

Bentota
Bentota Beach is the most popular beach holiday destination on the island. The unique location of Bentota Beach Resort is one important reason for its popularity as a beach holiday destination. Bentota Resort is located on an island, and the island is connected with the mainland at its southern border. Bentota is mainly comprised of a narrow strip of land that spreads along the north-south axis. Bentota Beach Resort is surrounded by both sea and river. One side of the island is the Bentota River, while the western side of Bentota is flanked by the Indian Ocean. Large numbers of hotels are built on this narrow strip of land, enabling travelers to have a peaceful atmosphere during the holiday. You can book a hotel in Bentota through Serendipity Tours at a very affordable rate online. 

Sea turtle conservation center
Projects have been launched to conserve the population of turtles that are reaching extinction, and such projects are found along the southern coast of Sri Lanka, where turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. The turtle digs a hole on the beach, lays her eggs and covers it with sand where it is supposed to, and incubates in the heat of the sun. What often happens is that the eggs are dug out by fishermen and sold to people who consume them.

But now the eggs are bought up by the conservation projects and are hatched the natural way in enclosed areas where the birds don’t have a chance of picking them up, and the babies are let into the sea after two days at night, which offers them a better chance of survival.

Spice garden
Visit a spice garden at Bentota where spices and herbs used for Sri Lankan cuisine and medication are grown. Spices of Sri Lanka attracted the early seafaring merchants who made the long voyages to purchase this precious merchandise.

Madu river safari
In the global context, the ecological importance of this site has garnered it the ‘Ramsar Wetland’ status in 2003, being the second largest wetland in Sri Lanka with a colossal 915 hectares and 23 islands inhabited by nearly 300 families. The River Sanctuary is now a Tourist Development Area and a Special Area Managed (SAM) by the Coast Conservation Department. Balapitiya is where the ‘Madu Ganga’ makes its home.

Mask Museum Ambalangoda
The Ambalangofda Mask Museum is designed to introduce the richness of the mask tradition of Ambalangoda and to strengthen this cultural heritage. The museum, the workshop and the small library (containing all available anthropological literature on mask performances) may serve as a center for traditional arts and crafts and for research as well.

City of Galle
Galle is one of the ancient seaports of Sri Lanka and was an anchor point in the Silk Route. It was later discovered by the Portuguese, where they built a fortress, and the Dutch that succeeded them fortified it further. This fortress is today a World Heritage Site.

Galle Fort
The fort has a colorful history and today has a multi-ethnic and multi-religious population. The Sri Lankan government and many Dutch people who still own some of the properties inside the fort are looking at making this one of the modern wonders of the world. The heritage value of the fort has been recognized by UNESCO, and the site has been inscribed as a cultural heritage UNESCO World Heritage Site under criteria iv for its unique exposition of "an urban ensemble that illustrates the interaction of European architecture and South Asian traditions from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

The Galle Fort, also known as the Dutch Fort or the "Ramparts of Galle,"  withstood the Boxing Day tsunami, which damaged part of the coastal area of Galle town. It has been since restored. The Galle Fort also houses the elite Amangalla resort hotel, located near the Dutch Reformed Church. It was originally built in 1684 to house the Dutch Governor and his staff. It was then converted into a hotel and named the New Oriental Hotel in 1865, which catered to the European passengers traveling between Europe and Galle Port in the 19th century.

Unawatuna Beach
Unawatuna Beach is located just south of Galle, the main city in the south, and 125 km from Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. This 4 km expanse of palm-fringed sand is said by some to rank among the twelve best beaches in the world. This beach is a paradise for all those who yearn to enjoy the silence of the sea and dive deep into the blue waters of the ocean. There is a reef protecting the beach, which makes it perfectly a safe haven for bathing. Other major attractions of this southern beach include shallow waters for swimming and diving. Within its reach, there is an accessible, reasonably well-preserved coral reef that serves as the base for snorkeling.

Hikkaduwa
Hikkaduwa is one of the most popular tourist destinations in southern Sri Lanka. It is 98 km south of Colombo, and its beautiful beaches add a lot of glamour to this town. It is the place where you can have a glimpse of the fascinating underwater world and see the creatures that inhabit the unfathomable depths of the sea. The famed coral gardens are located here. Just get hold of a glass-bottomed boat or goggles and flippers and plunge into the ocean.

End of the tour

  1. Maendosa allan:

    We had big hope on the Hikkaduwa boat trip and expected to see a large number of corals and fish species, but nothing much!

  2. Sania:

    It was a super one-day tour of Sri Lanka with chaminda. The south coast Sri Lanka is very beautiful with nice beaches and coves, bays and nice places for sea bath. Chaminda was very helpful and arranged 2 hours surf lessons for us in Hikkaduwa. Thanks chaminda!

  3. Regina:

    I did not think that the southern coast has so many interesting places to see, what a great place to have a short trip.

  4. Elina mendosa:

    Amazing day spent with Lakshan as the driver. Was also able to arrange to pick up and drop off from Ahungalla hotel. Saw so much in one day with the driver also happy to go off itinerary if I spotted somewhere I wanted to quickly stop for a photo. Also very patient in waiting for me to complete lengthy stops at the shops! Seerendipity was able to offer us a tailor-made tour as we have already been to Galle Fort so we took that visit out and had 9 places all in one day.

  5. Thomas:

    The walking tour of Galle fort was the best part of Galle one day tour. We have done it our own and we asked our driver/guide, Chamal to have a rest. Madu riverboat safari, Mask museum, sea turtle farm, Hikkaduwa beach, Bentota beach…all are very interesting

  6. Nelidine:

    Long day but good fun and the guide was fantastic. I was running late and he waited, never complained. Even went out of their way to drop us close to our hotel although we didn’t have the tour with that option. Would definitely use these guys again. Funny and informative.

  7. Salina gambala:

    An amazing day with full of joy. Started the day with the boat safari which our children enjoyed big-time seeing crocodiles and other animals. Turtle hatchery was the next stop which also we enjoyed a lot. Then we stopped a few places like handy craft centre, gem mining centre and very interestingly Tsunami Photo museum. Buffet lunch was given with many varieties of food. Spent about an hour at the Galle fort. Kids enjoyed trying stilt fishing and took some photos. This is obviously a worth trip to try and everything was arranged as promised.

  8. susan:

    I did not like the Galle trip much because it started a bit early, but I was convinced that we could save a lot of time because we left Colombo before the traffic build-up. Very interesting program and our guide was very good. The walking trip of Galle was really interesting activity.

  9. Andrew:

    The Galle tour with Amaara was, to use a good Scottish term, pure dead brilliant. Can’t recommend the tour and Amaara himself highly enough. Not only was it an introduction to Sri Lanka’s south coast, , but also an excellent introduction to the island, and Amaara gave us lots of useful information. Book this tour at the start of your visit!

  10. Dieter:

    We booked the southern Sri Lanka tour with Seerendipity and had an amazing time. Our guide Romesh did a very good job and it was found to be on a trip with him. We got so much information about Sri Lanka, Even though it was a one day trip we felt like we had taken a multi-day trip. Romesh is truly passionate about what Sri Lanka has to offer to travelers. I would highly recommend Galle trip and Romesh.

  11. Theresa:

    Roshan is an entertaining and knowledgeable guide. Unfortunately, sometimes he was distracted during our tour by calls on his mobile. Along with long chats to shop owners, Roshan’s attention sometimes seemed to be elsewhere and we were a little disappointed with the tour. Still, we did get to taste some good food and learn about the history of Sri Lanka’s southern part, but the whole experience could have and should have been better.

  12. Anderleya:

    The Galle tour of Sri Lanka is fully packed and therefore did not have enough time on the beach. We started the trip from Colombo and expected a little bit more time on the beach.

  13. Johanna mendis:

    This was our fisrst trip after the pandemic. We did not want to travel much and spent much of our time leisurely on the beach. We thought of taking this one-day trip from our beach resort and the trip was very enjoyable. It has a very interesting blend of nature, culture, beaches and bit of shopping. We enjoyed the trip a lot and our guide was fantastic.

  14. Maheena Agarwal:

    Excellent hassle free one day trip from Galle. Local company arranged everything from hotel pick-up to sightseeing tour to return journey to the hotel. Excellent local guide with in depth knowledge of his country and places.

  15. Helena remako:

    Fantastic experience. Myself and my girlfriend wanted a day trip out during our stay in Colombo and this definitely ticked all the boxes. The trip itself was well organised with the tour guide being very informative. The time we spent exploring Galle Fort and the south coast and car journey back overlooked the very scenic Indian Ocean. Also, the account on Seerendipity was very communicative in the lead up to the day trip .

  16. Polensko:

    This is an excellent tour. Oh and her crew were so nice and informative. Even though we went during covid times, it was still great. There were less tourists. lol the Galle fort was largely empty and only very few tourists to be seen–pulling into the Galle Fort was amazing as was walking through the shops, museums, churches, restaurants. Our tour was never rushed so we liked that.

  17. Wofgang:

    Wonderful trip. Samy is great- he went over and above providing commentary on the bus en route. He even handed out refreshments, local fried bananas to try. Very careful and protective of the group. Visits very interesting.

  18. Redina:

    Gihan picked us up at the hotel at the designated time. He was very personable and spoke English well. He explained what was going to happen during the day so we would be prepared. The experience was like nothing I’ve ever done before. We rode into the Fort by car and had a walk along with the ancient cobbled streets with our guide.

  19. moene allies:

    Wonderful beaches, peaceful and nice countryside. We are very happy that we took this Sri Lanka trip. It was fantastic and everything was perfectly organized. It was the Galle Fort and the Madu riverboat trip we like most on this trip. Even though it is just an 8 hours trip, it is a perfect opportunity to see the beauty of southern Sri Lanka.

  20. Engrid:

    Went for this fantastic southern Sri Lanka tour on our short Sri Lanka trip. We glad we had the southern Sri Lank tour, because it was a very interesting trip with a range of beautiful scenery. Galle Fort is the main highlight of the trip and we had the opportunity to walk along the centuries old cobbled streets while exploring the ancient construction.

  21. kimberly:

    Stopped at Cinnamon island and an elderly woman showed us how to peel off bark from the plant, immediately after they asked us to buy some common powder from then and support them. We were not on a shopping tour. Overall the trip is very interesting and has a variety of activities and things to see.

  22. Ronaldo graham:

    We were on a beach holiday and wanted to have a break, glad we chose Galle one day trip from our beach resort because it was short but very interesting.

  23. Rukmal silva:

    First trip after many months due to teh corona restriction. The day turned to be excellent with a lot of happy moment for everyone.

  24. Christina Jaiswar:

    Nice place fo day trip from Colombo. We got a very nice sedan with a friendly driver/guide, he drove carefully and we felt very safe on the chaotic road. Once we passed the busy area in colombo, everything turned ti very interesting with beautoifuo scenery and uncrowded road. He took us to all the spot 1 by 1 with good control of time. He is engaging and helpful. Galle fort was fantastic and it is must for foregn travellers. The mask museum turn out really fun. and the museum that talk about the 2004 Tsunami is heartbreaking but if you are a sensitive person best to avoid it. It was a good lunch in beach restaurant and had the option to choose from while lot of sea food.

  25. Nelly ferose:

    Boating through the mangrove lagoon was the best part of the Galle day trip, really nice and never seen such a nice place which is full of trees plants and moss, most interestingly everything grows on the water surface.

  26. Cluadia perez:

    Walking tour of Galle fort was very interesting and everything happened on the trip as per our wish, that’s the beauty of the private trip. Boat tour, Lagoon, mangrove, cinnamon island, temple, beach, Fort very nice fully packed itinerary.

  27. Pravin Khan:

    Wonderful and very trustworthy local tour compnay. It was very easy to book the trip with them and just had to call them. This our second trip with them and earlier we visited Sigiriya and cultural places with this guys.

  28. Handerson:

    Galle one day tour is a perfect trip for a family with interesting activities for kids like beach hopping, boating, visiting sea turtle conservation project etc.

  29. Daniela:

    We wanted to have only a short trip from Colombo and to enjoy some nature. Crocodile safari was very interesting and Galle fort too. Our Guide Gamini was very nice and friendly.

  30. Sheeshan Tamini:

    The boat tour was the best item on the trip, fantastic experience

  31. Victoria Morale:

    Galle one day tour was an excellent choice to break the monotonous beach holiday. It was very nicely managed and appreciable work by the operator. We enjoyed a lot

  32. Melanka rodrigoez:

    We were on a layover in Colombo and had time only for a day trip. The Galle one tour was a perfect match for our requirement to see a bit of culture, history and nature. Since it is a private tour it is very comfortable and offers maximum privacy. Our guide Saman was very good and friendly.

  33. Jimbarlo koch:

    Very good program

  34. Jannifer main:

    Very affordable and interesting trip, good guide

  35. Johannes:

    We started the trip from Colombo and travellers more than 100km but it took 5 hours to reach Galle there are many places to stop on the way and lot to see. Very interesting program.

  36. Treeman:

    We did not think that it was a private tour until we start it, a nice trip lot to see

  37. Ilias palanies:

    The tour is good but it is too much packed

  38. Jane simpson:

    The guide was not good

  39. Mukesh walia:

    Excellent day trip with a combination of little bit of everything. History, culture, nature, beach, wildlife, art. Ayurveda herbal garden and poignant reflection on the impact of the tsunami. Madu River safari and Galle fort was the msot remarkable places.

  40. Neumann:

    Galle tour was a fantastic one day trip from Colombo. This is the second one day tour we booked with Seerendipity. Earlier we travelled to Sigiriya with them, also one day trip, and we liked it. They have given us good service on teh first trip and we decided to book the Galle trip with them too. Chamal our guide was very good.

  41. John browns:

    The tour started too early, otherwise, it could have been better

  42. Robert:

    Very affordable and the best program to see the south coast of Sri Lanka. Our guide Chamal was fantastic and very nice guy.

  43. Ilham mahmood:

    There should be more time included in the itinerary for leisure, it is such a nice beach.

  44. Gulam Ismail:

    Galle Fort is a must visited a place, I had been to many forts that were built by colonial rulers, but never seen a fort, which is so nice condition. Good tour package and Our guide saman was very good.

  45. Roland main:

    Perfect break for us from the beach hotel in Kalutara. Good guide, vehicle and nice program.

  46. John smith:

    Very comfortable vehicle with a friendly driver/guide. Very interesting tour itinerary.

  47. Peres jones:

    Interesting tour, good guide and comfortable vehicle.

  48. Malkom rogers:

    We booked the Galle trip with Seerendipit on a recommendation and we booked the trip from Colombo. The local company is brilliant as my friend opined and they did a fantastic job. They were very punctual and the guide was very friendly and knowledgeable.

  49. Mendosa:

    2 trips together, Galle tour+Bentota tour. A perfect plan to see a lot of places on the south.

  50. Mendosa Ram:

    Could not enjoy the tour as expected, it was raining lot.

  51. Kimberlie rong:

    A very well organized trip, an interesting day with plenty of things to see and do. Very knowledgeable driver/guide.

  52. Ottawa kimberly:

    Amazing day spent with Lakshan as the driver. Was also able to arrange to pick up and drop off from Ahungalla hotel. Saw so much in one day with the driver also happy to go off itinerary if I spotted somewhere I wanted to quickly stop for a photo. Also very patient in waiting for me to complete lengthy stops at the shops! Seerendipity was able to offer us a tailor-made tour as we have already been to Galle Fort so we took that visit out and had 9 places all in one day

  53. Mrina pastor:

    Galle has a very alluring surrounding. the very beautiful fort on the verge of the mainland and full of Dutch built constructions.

  54. Shahila solanki:

    We Booked the galle one day because we wanted to visit sea turtle farm and do the Madu river safari because we love animal. WE heard from one of the guests, who did the galle trip, that we could see baby turtles at the turtle conservation center. Galle fort was also very good and we really loved the Madu ramsar wetland boat tour.

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