Journeys
Sri Lanka and the Maldives: a tour, then a boat
Sri Lanka has the temples, the tea and the elephants. The Maldives, a short flight away, have the coral and the empty horizon. Put together, a week of sightseeing and a few days on a traditional boat make one of the most satisfying combinations in Asia.
By Walter Pellow20 October 20264 min read
There is a long tradition of holidays that combine something to see with somewhere to rest: a week of temples followed by a week on a beach. Sri Lanka and the Maldives make one of the best versions of it. The two countries are close neighbours in the Indian Ocean, an hour or two apart by air, and they could hardly be more different. Sri Lanka is a large, mountainous, densely populated island with more than two thousand years of recorded history, eight World Heritage Sites, tea estates, national parks and a long coastline. The Maldives are a scattering of some twelve hundred tiny coral islands across hundreds of kilometres of ocean, few of them more than a metre or two above the sea. On the Maldives, the main attractions are the water, the reefs and the sky.
The tour
A typical first trip to Sri Lanka covers the Cultural Triangle in the dry north-central plains, then the hills and the coast. The ancient capitals of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, the rock fortress of Sigiriya and the cave temples of Dambulla lie in the triangle. Kandy, with its Temple of the Tooth, sits at the edge of the hill country, where tea estates cover the slopes around Nuwara Eliya and Ella. On the south coast stands Galle Fort, the walled town built by the Portuguese and greatly expanded by the Dutch.
It is a busy itinerary, full of early starts, climbs, temples and long drives through beautiful country. By the end of it, a rest is welcome.
The boat
The Maldives are often seen only from a resort island, a private island with one hotel. That is one way to see them. Another is by dhoni, the traditional Maldivian wooden boat, now often fitted out to carry small groups of travellers between the atolls. Days are spent snorkelling on the reefs, swimming from the boat, stopping on sandbanks and uninhabited islands. Some visits are to local islands, where Maldivians live in villages with mosques, schools, small harbours and football pitches. Since the Maldives opened local islands to guesthouses in the late 2000s, it has become much easier for visitors to see this side of the country.
The Maldives are a Muslim country, and on local islands visitors are expected to dress modestly away from the designated beaches, and alcohol is not sold. The reefs are home to turtles, reef sharks, rays and a great variety of fish. In the right season, manta rays and whale sharks can be seen in some atolls.
Life on a dhoni is simple. Cabins are small, the deck is where everyone spends most of the time, and meals of fish, rice and curry are cooked on board by the crew. The rhythm of the day follows the sun and the sea: a swim before breakfast, snorkelling on a reef in the morning, a visit to an island in the afternoon, and a sunset on deck. It is not a luxury experience, but it shows a side of the Maldives that a resort does not.
The weather, and the tours that combine them
Both countries are shaped by the monsoons. In the Maldives, the north-east monsoon, roughly from December to April, is the dry season, with calm seas and clear water. The south-west monsoon, from about May to November, brings more rain and wind, though it is still warm. Sri Lanka's weather is more complicated, but the west and south coasts and the hills are driest from December to March, and the Cultural Triangle is pleasant for much of the year.
Explore Worldwide's Highlights of Sri Lanka with Maldive Dhoni Cruise, thirteen nights, includes Wilpattu, Anuradhapura and Mihintale, Dambulla, Sigiriya, Kandy, Galle Fort and Koggala in Sri Lanka. In the Maldives it includes Malé, the Vaadhoo channel and the South Malé atoll.
Explore Worldwide's Sri Lanka in Depth with Maldive Dhoni Cruise, twenty-one nights, adds more time in Sri Lanka's ancient cities and wildlife parks, with the standing Buddha of Aukana, Polonnaruwa, Minneriya and Kaudulla. For families, Explore Worldwide's Family Sri Lanka and Maldives Adventure, fourteen nights in July and August, includes Colombo, Pidurangala Rock and Sigiriya, Minneriya and Kaudulla, Polonnaruwa, Kandy, Peradeniya, Nuwara Eliya and Ella, as well as the Maldives.
Do the tour first and the boat second. After a week of temples and early starts, a few days of reef and horizon feel well earned.
By Walter Pellow, the name Atlas & Passage’s editorial team writes under. Prices and dates in the trips below come from the operators and can change.
