Travel in Dambulla

Dambulla is a stop on our itineraries, not a base. Four of our six private Sri Lanka trips go there, and all four go for the same thing: the cave temples cut into the rock above the town. On every one of those routes it is the first site visited in the Cultural Triangle, it takes half a day, and the trip then drives on to Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa or the coast.

The caves were a hiding place before they were a temple. A king sheltered here; after he took his throne back he had the rock painted, and his successors kept adding to it. What sits under the overhang now is more than 153 depictions of the Buddha and painted walls from several different periods. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. That is also the whole of what our itineraries schedule in Dambulla — the wholesale vegetable market and the cricket ground the town is otherwise known for are not on any of them.

The four trips reach the caves at very different points. Between culture and jungle (14 days, from EUR 1,380) goes on day two, straight up from Colombo, and names Habarana as the starting point for the region. Breathtaking nature & culture (14 days, from EUR 1,220) also goes on day two, with the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage on the drive — the only one of the four that stops there — then leaves after Sigiriya for the beach at Pasikuda. The wonderful world of Sri Lanka (13 days, from EUR 750) comes up from Kandy on day eight and gives the region four consecutive days, one site a day. Sri Lanka's glory (14 days, from EUR 1,050) saves it for day eleven, after the beach at Nilaveli, and covers the region in the fewest days of the four.

Only one of the four publishes its hotels. Between culture and jungle lists the Sungreen in Dambulla, Deluxe room, three nights — the only property in the town on any of our lists. Its own day-by-day text puts one of those nights in Elkaduwa in the Knuckles instead, so confirm the night count when you enquire rather than assuming three. The other three itineraries name no hotel here at all, and two of them describe Habarana rather than Dambulla as where the region is worked from. The rooms named on these routes are Standard and Deluxe. There is no five-star or luxury tier on anything we sell.

No safari runs from Dambulla on our routes. Minneriya and Kaudulla, the elephant parks closest to the town, are not on any Sri Lanka itinerary in our catalogue; the wildlife days sit at Udawalawe, Sinharaja and Yala instead. The two Sri Lanka trips that skip Dambulla — Culture & nature and Forests, tea plantations & culture — stay in the hill country and the south, around Adam's Peak, Horton Plains and Sinharaja.

Every trip is private and guided. There are no scheduled group departures, so you set the dates. Hotel accommodation, breakfast, a German-speaking guide, a bottle of water on arrival and someone reachable around the clock are included. International flights are not. The Sigiriya page covers the rest of the Cultural Triangle on these same four routes.