Cultural Triangle at a private pace
Sigiriya, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa and Kandy still fit in a week — if you stop treating every temple as a box to tick before lunch.
The Cultural Triangle is a map phrase, not a single ticket. Sigiriya Rock, the cave temples at Dambulla, the ruins at Polonnaruwa, and the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy are the stops most travellers mean. A private car and an English-speaking guide make the order flexible. They do not make the staircases shorter or the midday heat kinder.
We price the classic Cultural Triangle sample from the hotels that are free for your dates, which is why that page does not always show a single published figure. Climbing Sigiriya early beats climbing it at noon. Pairing Polonnaruwa on the same afternoon as the rock is how people remember the car more than the carvings.
Kandy usually wants its own night if the Tooth Temple and a lake walk matter to you. Trying to see Kandy as a lunch stop between Dambulla and the tea country is how the day collapses. The tea hills can wait for the next block of the trip.
Dress codes at temples are not optional theatre. Shoulders and knees covered, shoes off, and a little patience in the queue. Your guide will say when a stop is closed for a ceremony. That is better news than a photograph of a locked door.