Spice Garden & Nalanda Gedige Tour

Overview

Discover the green heart of the island on our private spice garden tour in Sri Lanka, an easy half day south of Dambulla. Your English-speaking driver picks you up from your hotel in Sigiriya, Dambulla or Habarana at 8:00 am and takes you to three very different places: an ancient stone temple, a working spice garden and a cave monastery.

The price covers your private transport and waiting time: US$45 for 1 to 3 people in a car, or US$60 for 4 to 7 people in a van. Entry to the spice garden is free; small entrance fees are paid at the temples.

Nalanda Gedige

Standing alone beside a lake, Nalanda Gedige is a small stone temple built between the 8th and 10th centuries. It mixes Hindu and Buddhist styles, with carvings that look more like a temple in South India than anything else in Sri Lanka, and it sits almost exactly in the centre of the island.

Spice garden tour Sri Lanka: the Matale spice garden

The hills around Matale are famous for spices. In a Matale spice garden, a local gardener shows you cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla and cocoa growing, explains how each is used in cooking and Ayurvedic medicine, and offers you a cup of herbal tea. Entry is free, and buying anything from the shop is entirely up to you.

Aluvihare Rock Temple

Just north of Matale, the Aluvihare Rock Temple is a monastery among giant boulders where, in the 1st century BC, monks first wrote down the teachings of the Buddha on palm leaves. Explore the painted caves and climb to the top for a view over the valley.

More day tours from Sigiriya and Dambulla

This is one of our private day tours from Dambulla and Sigiriya. Going all the way to Kandy? Our Sigiriya to Kandy day trip stops at a spice garden too.

Further southSigiriya to Kandy Day TripTemple of the Tooth · From US$85Half dayDambulla Cave Temple TourPainted caves · From US$35With lunchSigiriya Village TourCooking class · US$16 per person

See all day tours from Dambulla and Sigiriya →