Sri Lanka

You are met at Colombo airport by the chauffeur guide who will stay with you for the whole island, which is the single best decision Sri Lankan travel offers. The drive north into the cultural triangle takes the green way, coconut country giving way to dry-zone forest, until Sigiriya's rock appears above the canopy like a moored ship. The Water Garden sits in sight of it; dinner is by the pavilions, the rock floodlit beyond.

Sigiriya · 1 of 2 nights · Private car (4 hrs, broken) · The approach

The climb happens in the first hour of opening, before the heat and the queues arrive together: up past the mirror wall and the frescoed maidens, through the lion's paws, onto the palace platform in the sky with the jungle running to the horizon. It is one of the great arrivals in Asia. After a slow lunch, the afternoon goes to Polonnaruwa, the medieval capital, where stone Buddhas recline among the ruins and langurs run the lawns.

Sigiriya · 2 of 2 nights · Early climb, afternoon drive · The summit

South through spice country, breaking at Dambulla, where five caves hold a hundred and fifty Buddhas under painted rock ceilings. Kandy arrives by mid-afternoon, folded into its hills around the lake. At ceremony hour you enter the Temple of the Tooth as the drums begin, moving with the pilgrims past the golden reliquary chamber; whatever your beliefs, the devotion is contagious. Dinner above the lake, the temple lit below.

Kandy · 1 night · Private car via Dambulla (3 hrs) · The holy city

The climb into the tea country is best done partly by rail, on the stretch where the line hangs above valleys quilted in green; your car meets you at the other end. Two nights follow in a planter's bungalow at Tea Trails, where the butler's tray arrives at dawn and dinner is announced by gong, a life preserved rather than performed. Between meals: a walk through the estate with a tea maker from plucking to tasting, croquet if you must, and mist doing its slow work on the hills.

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

The long descent south trades mist for coconut palms and ends inside the walls of Galle Fort, where Amangalla has kept rooms since 1684. Two days of fort life: the ramparts walked at sunset with the ocean on three sides, the lanes of gem merchants and Dutch gables, a lace maker who learned from her grandmother, long lunches under fans. The fort is small enough to learn by heart and good enough to justify it.

Galle · 1 & 2 of 3 nights · Private car (4.5 hrs, broken well) · Fort life

A day with almost nothing in it, on purpose. The coast east of the fort keeps quiet coves and the stilt fishermen at Koggala; a boat can take you up the Madu Ganga through mangrove tunnels if stillness needs variety. Otherwise the verandah, the pool in the old garden, and a final dinner in the fort as the lamps come on along Church Street.

Galle · 3 of 3 nights · Unscheduled · The exhale

The southern expressway makes Colombo airport a comfortable two and a half hours; your chauffeur guide, by now an old friend, sees you to the door. The island's whole argument, rock to tea to sea, made in nine days without one rushed morning.

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