Sri Lanka holiday

[Tiger401]

Hi,

Has anyone been to Sri Lanka. We are considering it for the coming Easter holidays. Probably 10-14 days total.

Do you stay in one resort and travel around or do you think it’s better to spend a few days at each place?

We want to see what is there and all the natural beauty, but equally we want to just chill / relax and read by the pool.

Any must see things to do?

There is SO much to see in Sri Lanka but internal travel takes a ridiculously long time, so it's better to be selective. My favourite places are:
Sigiraya
Yala
Galle
Kandy
Mirissa
Tangalle
Ella
Trying to fit all of those in two weeks would be a real challenge/borderline impossible. How much travel are you willing to do?

Read the updated FCO advice for travel to Sri Lanka.

I have Sri Lankan friends here in the UK and even they are not going to visit at the moment due to economic disruption - food and fuel shortages and lengthy power cuts. Their families in Sri Lanka are telling them not to come.

A colleague of mine has just returned from Sri Lanka, had a great time. Another colleague is due back tomorrow. I have booked for 10th April. I have been very regularly since 1998.
There are always power cuts.
Personally I have every intention of travelling unless something extremely dramatic happens.
That said, I am going somewhere I have been 5 times before, know the staff and will be doing a fairly intensive Ayurveda programme in-house.

I did a tour for 4 days and then 10 days at a resort. Beautiful country, I would love to go back.

Travel! Don't go to a resort - you might as well be in Spain. Look for a good driver, hire them to take you on a tour and sort the accommodation. We met a chap via friends who spend a lot of time out there - he specialises in animal and bird watching trips, but is a brilliant tour guide, fabulous English and a good safe driver which helps 😂

Lucky Bolonghe - you'll see him referenced in lots of places online.

Have a look at The Fortress Hotel. It's blissful

We went at Xmas - it’s a lovely place

You can get the hotels to organise transport between places as well vs have a full time driver

Loads of great places to stay - note that travelling can be slow where you don’t have the highway, so going up to nura Elia etc can be slow

Jet wing is a good chain of quality local hotels in various locations - would recommend

Also cape weligama and their other hotels, plus fortress as a PP mentioned

Sri Lanka is about the variety so definitely would move around

Also yes they are struggling right now with various issues - but tourism is such a key part of the economy - if you feel safe do go

Been to Sri Lanka a lot as I used to work with a factory out there.

This pretty much covers the things to see...

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/sri-lanka/articles/the-12-most-beautiful-spots-in-sri-lanka/

Definitely hire a driver.

It's the closest thing you're going to get to paradise. Although one massively important thing, don't wait until you're hungry to go eat anywhere, it's not unusual to wait an hour after you've ordered food, before it arrives

We did 14 days - I would definitely recommend travelling around - it would be a shame not to see at the least:

• Sigiraya
• at least one of the big nature reserves
• hill country - Ella/Nuwara Eliya
• The SW coast - Galle/Mirissa/Tangalle not too big a distance between these)
• Polounuawa

Our highlights:

• staying in a tree house near Sigyrana, with fireflies dancing around, and frogs in the outdoor bathroom
• elephants in Udawalawe national park (we decided to skip Yala)
• watching turtles laying their eggs
• whale watching off Marissa
• Monkeys (esp the grey langurs) in Polonuawa - really was like something out of Indiana Jones
• taking the train from Nuwara Eliya to Ella - it really is the best fun hanging out of the train and you get to see loads

Personally, I was less enamoured of Kandy, but overall enjoyed the hill country much more than I expected to. It's a gorgeous country - so much to see and do, and lovely, welcoming hospitality.

We had a driver and he was worth his weight in gold! PM me if you want details. We booked all our own accommodation (mostly airbnbs, a few hotels) but having a driver too was totally worth it.

Thanks everyone. I think the economic issues have made me uncertain. I messaged my Sri Lankan friend who didn’t suggest there’s any problems but I will get her to ask her family as perhaps everyone she communicates with now lives here!

We are deciding between here and Mexico. We travel a lot so it isn’t a case of one over the other, it’s just right now

Loved it, came back the day before the Colombo airport bombing (lucky for us), so def put us off going back.

I have colleagues out there and the economic situation is fine. I wouldn’t be put off going there at all.

I went for an Ayerverdic break there several years ago and did a day trip to Galle which was nice. The food is great and the people are lovely. Will go back and explore more one day.

N/C as outing.

I live in Sri Lanka, and although for some locals its been bad with fuel shortages and prices for food skyrocketing things for tourists have been fine. Yes some places have had power cuts, but most hotels have generators and kicks in when needed (although there is still a problem getting diesel for the generators). You will still see large q's for fuel, some people sleeping out waiting for a tanker to arrive with fuel. Some medicines are in short supply.

The rupee has been floated, which means for tourists at the moment your money goes further, but lots of hotels charge room rates in $.

As a tourist you would not notice and difference in service, items available to buy and so on.

I would visit, but just be aware of the situation in the country as a whole, and note the advice on the UK gov website in case it changes. Sri Lanka needs tourists at the moment and they are doing all they can to keep it all going.

Oh some really good ideas above for places to visit, but it does take time to get to places, even with say the new highway down the coast, if you plan on visiting.

We did a tour with Kouni which was great especially if you are not brave enough to go alone www.kuoni.co.uk/sri-lanka/travel-guide. The hotels they included were lovely and we enjoyed being in a small group of 4 couples. They do also offer a private car and driver option as well. I think the beaches are quite polluted now so I would recommend a week touring Sri Lanka followed by a week in the Maldives if the budget allows.

If you’re under about the economic situation in Sri Lanka, have you considered Kerala in south India? They are fairly similar in terms of landscape and things to do.

Sadly things have changed since March. Sri Lanka is now on the government's No Travel (except essential) list. You would not be covered by any travel insurance if you holiday there.
www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/sri-lanka

This thread is several months old. Current Foreign Office advice is not to travel there.