3 Days Sri Lanka Tour with Airfare 3 Days & 2 Nights

Rated 4.2 out of 5 by 856 travellers, with 3,270+ guests already sent to Sri Lanka and over 40 lakh happy travellers across TravelTriangle since 2011. Every itinerary is customisable and handled by one of 650+ verified local agents, who confirm your firm per-person rate in writing before you pay anything.

Prices updated: October 2026. Fares and the route on this page are checked by TravelTriangle's Sri Lanka desk.

Trip highlights

Walking with the herd at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy, the Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens, a Kandyan cultural dance show, and a full afternoon in Colombo taking in Galle Face Green, the Gangaramaya Temple and the National Museum. Flights, 4-star hotels and all transfers are built in.

Your 3-day Sri Lanka itinerary, day by day

Day 1: Arrival, Pinnawala and Kandy

Your flight lands at Bandaranaike International Airport near Colombo, where a TravelTriangle representative meets you for the drive to Kandy, roughly three and a half hours inland. The drive breaks at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage near Kegalle, where the herd walks down to the Maha Oya river for its late-morning bath. Kandy itself sits around a lake in the hills and was the last royal capital of the island. In the afternoon you visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, the most revered Buddhist shrine in Sri Lanka, then the Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens and a gemstone museum that explains why Sri Lankan sapphires are prized worldwide. The day closes with a Kandyan cultural dance show before you check in for the night.

Day 2: Kandy to Colombo

After breakfast you check out and drive down to Colombo, the commercial capital, a little over three hours away on the main road. Colombo rewards a slow afternoon on foot. You can walk the Galle Face Green seafront, see the Gangaramaya Temple on Beira Lake, wander the colonial Fort and the busy Pettah bazaar, and take in the National Museum, Viharamahadevi Park and Independence Square. Within a few streets you pass Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian places of worship, which is Colombo in one picture. If shopping is on your list, Odel, Majestic City and the House of Fashion are the usual stops. You return to your Colombo hotel for the second and final night.

Day 3: Departure

Enjoy a relaxed breakfast, then check out and transfer to the airport for your return flight, which this package already covers. If you fly out in the evening, your agent can slot in one last Colombo stop or a quick run to the beach at Mount Lavinia before the drive to the terminal. You head home the same day with two nights of Sri Lanka behind you.

Want Sigiriya, tea country or a safari? Customise it

This 2N/3D plan is built around Kandy and Colombo because they are the two cities you can genuinely enjoy, not just tick off, in three days. If you have a little more time or want the postcard hill country, the itinerary is fully customisable. The most-requested add-ons are the rock fortress at Sigiriya with the Dambulla cave temples, and the tea estates around Nuwara Eliya reached on the scenic hill train, plus a short Yala or Minneriya safari. Several of our recent travellers added exactly these. If you want all of it in one trip, our 3 nights 4 days Sri Lanka tour gives you the extra day those stops need.

Is 3 days enough, and what does it cost?

Three days is enough for a real first taste of Sri Lanka's cultural heart, Kandy and Colombo, with the elephants at Pinnawala on the way. It is not enough to also fit the hill country or a south-coast beach, so treat this as a focused long weekend rather than a full tour. Because the airfare is bundled in, the headline price covers more than a typical land-only package. Most travellers pay between Rs 34,500 and Rs 39,500 per person on twin sharing, with the exact figure set by your travel season and hotel category.

What's included and what's not

Hotels in this package

Day 1 in Kandy is at The Kandyan Boutique Hotel on Rajapihilla Mawatha, and Day 2 in Colombo is at Earl's Red on Baseline Road. Our agents provide these or similar 4-star hotels depending on availability on your dates.

What travellers say

Across 856 reviews this trip holds a 4.2 out of 5. Two recent notes from travellers who took the 3-day route:

“One of my best holidays ever. My guide Charith was friendly and well-informed.” Adelkishawi, January 2024, Kandy route.

“We had a really nice Sri Lanka trip covering Sigiriya, Trincomalee, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya.” Siddharth Tangirala, January 2023, customised route.

How booking works

1. Personalise this package. Change any day, hotel or add-on and submit your request.

2. Get multiple quotes. Connect with up to three verified agents, compare and refine.

3. Book the best deal. Pay in easy installments and get ready to travel.

Explore more of Sri Lanka

Compare every option on our Sri Lanka tour packages page, step up to the 3 nights 4 days Sri Lanka tour for an extra day, or plan around the seasons with our best time to visit Sri Lanka guide. For a longer holiday see our Sri Lanka honeymoon, family and budget Sri Lanka packages, or read the full Sri Lanka travel guide.

Edited by TravelTriangle