About this experience
This private 7.5-hour day tour from Galle takes you up the coast to three of the Bentota area's best-loved sights: Lunuganga, the country estate of architect Sir Geoffrey Bawa, the Kosgoda Turtle Hatchery, and a boat safari on the Madu River at Balapitiya. You travel in an air-conditioned vehicle with an English-speaking chauffeur guide. Children aged five and over are welcome.
Your chauffeur picks you up from your hotel in Galle at 9 am, so bring a packed breakfast if you can't eat at the hotel, and you reach Bentota at around 10.30 am. Bawa, the lawyer turned architect, made Lunuganga his country home from 1947 until his death in 1998 and used it as his experimental lab, adding buildings and interiors over the decades. You walk through the beautifully designed gardens, now open to the public; some of the estate's buildings are today a country house hotel. The visit takes about two hours.
Next comes the Kosgoda Turtle Hatchery, where you spend 30 to 40 minutes learning about sea turtles and their conservation. The highlight is the touch pools, deep tubs of seawater with baby turtles swimming in them, and there are also adult turtles of several species being treated for injuries or illness.
From Kosgoda you continue to Balapitiya, stopping for lunch on the way at a place of your choice, and board the boat at around 2 pm. Balapitiya is a small town set in marshy wetlands, a high-biodiversity area that depends on the lagoon the Madu River forms as it meets the Indian Ocean. The boat passes dense mangrove forest and the wildlife living among its roots, and your guide takes you to some of the larger islands, one of them home to an old Buddhist monastery. Cinnamon harvesting is the main livelihood here, and you can buy fresh cinnamon where it is grown. A favourite stop is the fish massage, a hut on stilts in the river where you sit with your feet in a netted pool while the fish go to work. You are back at your hotel in Galle at around 4.30 pm.
The price covers hotel pick-up and drop-off, transport, your chauffeur guide and a bottle of water per person. Entrance tickets are included only in the option with tickets. Food and drinks, personal expenses and gratuities are not included. Comfortable walking shoes are recommended; drive times can change with traffic, and photo stops can be made where there is safe parking.
