Opening hours Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

This is our latest video filmed at the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage in Sri Lanka. The orphanage is located in the village Pinnawala which is approx. 40km (25miles) from Kandy and about 90km (55miles) from the capital Colombo.

How to get to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage?

The streets are packed in Sri Lanka and the driving is a little bit crazy. So the best way to travel there is with a driver (from Colombo about 2.5hours+ and from Kandy 40min+). There are also trains running from Colombo to Kandy but we cannot really comment on that because we had a driver.

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage Entrance fee and timings – See below images!

We were there around noon. At first we visited the main Orphanage grounds. This is also the place where you can feed the baby elephants.

Important! The feeding and additions (i.e. when a mahout “the elephant keeper” allows you to touch the elephants) cost extra.

Entrance fees

The best place to watch the elephants going to the river is at the café at the river. When you walk down the road to the river, it is the last café before the river on your left hand side.  Just make sure that you are there a bit earlier to get a good seat.  If you walking along the road to the river, look out for the “POOH Paper” shop/factory. A humorous lady there gave us a detailed tour on how Pooh Paper is made. You can see the video here. Her choice of words was marvellous! The tour of the Pooh Paper factory was free and the products in the shop make for a brilliant souvenir. We were there in May 2014.

Shop & Factory

Our video about the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage and entry/opening hour details are mentioned in our post here