Sri Lanka with kids

Leaf to cup in forty minutes, with a tasting at the end. Most estates near Nuwara Eliya run tours without booking.

Go for an evening puja when the drums start. Shoulders and knees covered, and shoes left at the door.

A stone viaduct in the jungle with a train over it every couple of hours. Ask at the cafe what time the next one is due.

An orphanage on the road up from Colombo, best at the river bathing hour. Observation only — walk away from anywhere offering rides.

A cool-climate park with a playground, a small train and beds of flowers that do not grow anywhere else in the country.

Seven hours through tea country with the doors open. Book reserved seats weeks ahead, or stand and take it in two-hour bites.

Forty-five minutes up a gentle path through tea to a ridge with a view down the Ella Gap. The easiest real walk in the hill country.

Chopped flatbread, egg and vegetables hammered on a hot plate with two blades. The noise is the reason children remember it.

Pick your own at 1,900 metres, then eat them with cream in the cold. Completely unlike the rest of the country, which is the appeal.

A flat, walkable circuit of ramparts with boys jumping into the sea off them. The easiest hour of the trip.

Choose one that releases hatchlings rather than keeping adults in tanks. Ask the question directly before paying.

Men perched on poles in the surf, mostly for photographs now. Agree a price before you point a camera, and take it for what it is.

Reef-protected, shallow and the calmest swimming on the south coast in season.

A small sheltered cove reached down a path through trees. Calmer than the main bay and far less crowded.

Blue whales from December to April, on a boat that leaves at six and rolls a lot. Sea-sickness tablets the night before.

Mangrove tunnels, a cinnamon island and a temple, by motorboat from Balapitiya. Two hours, and calmer water than the sea.

Fish cutlets, egg rolls and vadai from a bakery counter, eaten on the ramparts. The cheapest good meal on the coast.

1,200 steps up a granite plug to a palace on the summit. Start at seven; there is almost no shade.

Five painted caves at the top of a short climb, with monkeys on the path and 150 Buddhas inside.

Wild elephants in herds of dozens on the reservoir grassland. Late afternoon, and a jeep with a roof.

Models and frescoes explaining the rock before you climb it, included in the ticket and skipped by almost everyone. Do it first.

A cart ride, a catamaran across a tank and lunch cooked over a clay stove in a village house. Gentle, and the one thing here that suits under-eights.

A flat, shaded circuit between a thousand-year-old palace, a giant reclining Buddha and a stone lion throne. Hire bikes at the gate.

The rock opposite Sigiriya, half the price and a better view — of Sigiriya. A scramble at the top rather than steps, so shoes matter.

A lake crossing by catamaran, a bullock cart and lunch on a banana leaf. Gentle enough for the ages Sigiriya defeats.

Eight or ten small dishes around a mound of rice. Ask for it mild and there is always dhal, coconut sambol and papadum for a cautious eater.

The roadside places below the caves do it better than anywhere in the hills. Ask for it without chilli and it still works.