A Luxury Getaway to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

Spend your days soaking up the unique atmosphere of Galle, a stunning town at the southern edge of Sri Lanka with fascinating colonial history evident at every turn through its eclectic assemblage of architecture. It's walls and everything inside them are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with beautiful Dutch fusion architecture, a commanding Victorian lighthouse, grand churches and mosques, all in a sultry tropical setting.

Take a walk with a local resident from the spot where the first Portuguese boats landed to where the English left off, learning about tales of legendary past battles for the Fort, alliances that were forged and destroyed and insider knowledge of the Fort’s unique urban ensemble, a melting pot of culture, styles and traditions spanning over three centuries. Stroll through fortifications, public administration buildings, warehouses, underground cells and business houses of the past and present interspersed with churches, temples and mosques.

Your host’s Moorish ancestors first arrived on the shores of Galle in the mid-17th century in one of the earliest waves of spice traders and gem merchants. Having being based in different parts of the island in the past, he now resides in Galle, exploring news ways to help people connect with Sri Lanka.

Occupying the south-eastern corner of the island, the vast Yala National Park is Sri Lanka’s second largest national park and also its most popular. The park itself is divided into five blocks, two of which, Ruhuna and Kumana, can be explored on guided game drives, and stretches from the sea inland, encompassing some 979 square kilometres (378 square miles) of forest, wetlands and savannah. This varied landscapes provides a vital home for hundreds of Sri Lankan elephant, sloth bear, crocodile and rare wild water buffalo, as well over 200 bird species.

But it is the leopard that are iconic of the park, found here in perhaps the highest concentration in the world. Their secretive nature means spotting Sri Lanka’s top predator is still a challenge, but accompanied by a skilled guide and a little luck, there a few better places in the world to find these enigmatic cats.

Undulating hills blanketed in green plantations, Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) is the world’s fourth largest producer of tea. You'll see the hills dotted with women quickly but meticulously harvesting leaves by hand, baskets slung across their backs. Skilful workers deftly pluck the most flavoursome and aromatic parts of the bushes – the topmost leaves and buds – which are then sent to nearby factories to be dried and processed.

The first tea plantations were established in Kandy in the 1860s and now most of the scenic central region’s elevated slopes are covered in contoured rows of painstakingly maintained plants.

A guided tour of the Dunkeld Tea Factory is a quintessential tea experience for those visiting Sri Lanka. The resident Tea Planter delves passionately into all aspects of tea in just the right amount of detail – from a look back to the early days of “planting” and the lifestyles of the early colonial settlers, to the manufacturing process, to how flavours are created to suit various palates – he’s got it covered. What went into creating the perfect cup of refreshing Ceylon tea in 1867 were equal parts science, art, sleight of hand, and a spot of luck, and little has changed since. With some of the methodology and machinery dating to more than century old, we strongly believe that Ceylon Tea is part of the world’s living heritage.

Spend your days relaxing on the picture-perfect islands of the Maldives. While away the hours on the powder soft sand or take to the sparkling waters to discover the wealth of marine life that teems beneath the surface. Your luxury accommodation is the perfect place to simply switch off and enjoy the fine dining and impeccable service, but as soon as you want to take it up a gear and explore, the Maldives are one of the world's most beautiful destinations in which to do so.