Sri Lanka

Your chauffeur guide meets you at Colombo, the same trusted name for the whole island, sent to you with his record before you flew. Two nights beside Sigiriya: the climb in the first hour of light, past the mirror wall and the frescoed maidens, whose portraits read rather differently when a woman is doing the reading. Afternoons are the water gardens, the pool, and Polonnaruwa's reclining Buddhas if the group votes for stone.

Sigiriya · 2 nights · Private car (4 hrs, broken) · The rock first

Up into the hills partly by rail, on the stretch that hangs above the green. Two nights in a planter's bungalow, gongs and butler's trays intact. The estate walk here is the point: tea is a trade carried largely by women, and walking the pluckers' rows and the tasting table with a female guide turns scenery into an economy of hands and speed you will not forget. Evenings are fires, mist and the deep quiet of altitude.

The tea country · 2 nights · Rail and car · Cloud height

Down to the coast and inside Galle's walls, where Amangalla has received travellers for three centuries. The fort is made for unhurried company: bobbin lace worked in doorways by women who learned it from grandmothers, gem houses where your guide knows which quote is the first honest one, ramparts at sunset with the ocean on three sides. Dinner tables are small, candlelit and easy to hold for hours.

Galle · 1 & 2 of 3 nights · On foot · Fort life

A day kept empty on purpose: the verandah, the garden pool, a quiet cove along the coast if the sea calls, and a final dinner in the fort as the lamps come up along Church Street. The same number that answered all week is still on.

Galle · 3 of 3 nights · Unscheduled · The exhale

The expressway makes the airport an easy morning, and your driver, by now an old friend, sees you to the door. You are met through departure, and the contact stays on until each of you is home.

Galle · Expressway (2.5 hrs) · Met throughout · A quiet close