Before travelling to Sri Lanka my thoughts on the country was that it would be a little like India, having travelled many times to India I was prepared for poverty. How wrong could I be? This country often gets over looked for the likes of the Middle East or Caribbean, Sri Lanka has so much to offer from beautiful beaches, amazing temples, wildlife and safari’s, beautiful cities not to mention the stunning scenery of the tea plantations.

The best way to see Sri Lanka is to tour in a minivan as coaches really can’t get to the best areas. They will take small groups 4 – 6 people around the Island ending on one of the amazing beaches. Tours will typically start in Negombo beach which is the lively resort great for a couple of nights to get over your jet lag. The hotel I would recommend here is the Jetwing beach or Jetwing blue 4**** (they are hotels that share facilities).

From Negombo you will have the options of cultural tours, beach tours or wildlife tours or a mixture of all. To get the most out of Sri lank I would recommend a visit to Dambullia (Cave temple) & head over to Sigiriya (Lion’s rock) staying in the heritance Kandalama 4**** a very impressive hotel built into the rock face.  You can either head further north to the national park at wilpattu or I would travel to the beautiful city of Kandy, Kandy is a diverse city with an impressive temple in the centre ‘temple of the tooth’. Staying in the Cinnamon citadel 4**** or for something a little different Kandy house.

From Kandy I would head to the tea plantations staying in the tea factory on the way with impressive views and a very quaint take on the English countryside. The hotels to stay here is either the working Tea factory 4**** or one of the traditional tea trail properties with a feel of the English country side.

From the tea plantations I would travel south taking in Yala National park, Yala is a unique location with the breathtaking beaches and the nature reserve. You can head on safari and see amazing wildlife you can stay in the reserve with the possibility of being woken up by money’s , elephants etc staying in a villa or going back to nature in a tent in the amazing Leopard Safari tents. If you want more luxury I would recommend the Jetwing Yala.

Recommendations:

From Yala I would recommend heading to the coast taking in the beautiful city of Galle with its impressive fort. I would recommend a stop in the Fortress hotel with its unique location and a lovely feel with both beach and impressive property you can get into the town from here with hidden gems such as turtle sanctuary and many local shops and bars. Heading back to Colombo there is real hidden gem of a hotel with only 6 rooms called the Reef Villas in the resort of Wadduwa, this is only a tuk tuk ride to the town with many shops bars and restaurants.

Sri Lanka as a great beach holiday that would work well with a second centre in the Maldives or combination of Tour & beach or Safari and beach.

From
Daniel
The Andrew Earle Team