Galle City Tour (FortHandunugoda Tea EstateMoonstone Mines) from Colombo

Galle City Tour (FortHandunugoda Tea EstateMoonstone Mines) from Colombo

This tour generally covers the whole Galle Fort area. This includes amazing views, knowledge on colonial history, interesting back stories, and detailed insights. You also get to know about the modern Sri Lankan culture and its connection with the colonial era. Finally, at the end of the tour you can enjoy the sundown (during the evening tour) in the horizon before you leave the fort premises.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Madu River, Nilwala River Safari, Bridge View, Custom Road, Balapitiya , Sri Lanka, Balapitiya 80550 Sri Lanka

The famous unforgettable river boat safari in Madu Ganga is GOALS! And yes, don’t miss the fish spa! One of the best excursions that can be done while in Sri Lanka, this Boat Ride will give you the comfort of a lifetime and is bound to keep you dazed and amazed at what Sri Lanka has to offer each and every single nature lover.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Turtle Hatchery Hikkaduwa, Galle Road Colombo, Hikkaduwa 80240 Sri Lanka

Turtle hatchery: This is where sea turtles are preserved in Sri Lanka. It is a non-profit organization maintained to preserve sea turtles for the coming generation. Since its establishment in 1986, approximately 500000 sea turtles have been released into the ocean.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Moonstone Mines, Mitiyagoda, Ambalangoda 80300 Sri Lanka

Meetiyagoda, also spelt „Mitiyagoda“, is situated in only 4 km distance from the ocean, 10 km north of Hikkaduwa. Meetiyagoda is famous for its moonstone mines. Although sales of jewellery are the main purpose of it, a guided tour at the main mine in the adjacent village of Domanwila can be recommended, as you will not only be invited to the exhibition rooms. First of all, you will see the pitch of the mine and the filtering out of the precious stones and the workshops of the lapidaries. The guides do not push you to give a tip.

Meetiyagoda is an illustrious name in the world of moonstone mining. It‘s Sri Lanka‘s largest moonstone mine and Sri Lankan moonstones are renowned for their blue shine that makes a difference to Indian moonstones. The finest and rarest moonstones have an almost transparent colourless body with a strong blue shine. Actually, Sri Lankan moonstones are those of highest value due to their dark blue reflections, although Mogok in Myanmar (Birma) has been the world‘s best primary source of highly esteemed blue-shining moonstones. Finds of valuable moonstones have become rarer in recent decades. On average, 50 to 100 rough moonstones of diverse qualites are mined per day in Meetiyagoda, they are from deposits in a depth of about 10 to 40 metres. Some decades ago, they could be found close to surface.

In contrast to gem mining in Ratnapura District, moonstone mining has not a millennia old tradition. Muslim merchants from Galle collecting kaolin from the Meetiyagoda area in 1906 were surprised to find moonstones in abundance. They cut and polished the raw moonstones and kept them in their show rooms along with traditional Sri Lankan gems. Moonstones later on became very popular with European travellers. Indeed it was the tourism sector that boosted the moonstone mining in Sri Lanka.

Moonstones in Meetiyagoda, like other gems in other areas of Sri Lanka, are extracted by shaft mining. Such mines onsist of narrow rectangular shafts lined with a strong frame of coconut wood beams are known as „yati illama“ in Sinhala.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Handunugoda Tea Estate, Handunugoda Rd Tittagalla, Ahangama 80650 Sri Lanka

30 minutes from Galle Fort lies the Handunugoda Tea Estate, perhaps the closest tea plantation in the world to the sea. However, this is not the only thing that makes the Handunugoda Tea Estate special. The estate is known as the Virgin White Tea Factory – it produces a white tea completely untouched by human hands. The process of tea plucking follows an ancient Chinese Ritual where the choicest of teas were cut by virgins who never touched the tea with their bare skin and offered the resulting produce up as a tribute to the Emperor. Handunugoda mimics this tradition, although these days the ‘virgin’ concept only applies to the tea, not the tea pluckers! This white tea is rich in anti-oxidants and is said to be the healthiest tea in the world. Coincidentally it is also one of the most expensive teas in the world fetching at over 1500 USD per kilo. According to the latest testing Virgin White has an anti-oxidant content of 10.11 percent, which is said to be the highest naturally occurring content of anti-oxidants in any beverage. Marriage Freres which is perhaps one of the world’s most exclusive Tea Salons situated at Faubourg Saint Honore in Central Paris offers its exquisite client Handunugoda’s virgin White tea.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Galle Fort, Church Street, Galle 80000 Sri Lanka

The Galle Fort, or Dutch Fort as it is also known, is a fortification first built by the Portugese on the Southwestern coast of Sri Lanka. The initial fortifications, which were built in the late 16th century, were quite basic. However the fort underwent extensive modifications in the 17th century by the Dutch, making it one of the most important archeological, architectural and historic monuments to illutrate the European influence in South East Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. According to a statement by UNESCO the site was recognized as a World Heritage Site for its unique exposition of an urban ensemble which illustrates the interaction of European architecture and South Asian traditions from the 16th to the 19th centuries which is the criteterion number four for such recognition.

Duration: 1 hour

Stop At: Unawatuna Beach, Unawatuna Sri Lanka

Unawatuna is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Sri Lanka and is the most “famous” beach in the country. It is a lovely banana-shaped beach of golden sand and turquoise water, surrounded by green palm trees!


Duration: 2 hours