Sri Lanka...

[OllyBJolly]

Lots of positive posts about Sri Lanka here.

I've had a quote in from Trailfinders. It's quite a bit more than I wanted to pay. Flights are quite reasonable at the moment. How easy would it be to DIY - ie book flights, arrange accommodation directly and book private tour?

Trailfinders do get great reviews but I haven't used a travel agent for years.

Very easy. Book transfers through hotel, we used a Tuk Tuk driver we met on the first day as a tour guide, paid him extra at the end of the week to take us all over. It was one of our best holidays ever. Great memories.

We booked each bit separately. Not difficult at all.

We've booked to go at easter all DIY- mix of airbnb and small hotels - reasonably straightforward, although we had some great suggestions from the driver we booked which helped in terms of arranging itinerary.

We’re off to Sri Lanka in the summer. It was cheaper getting connecting flights with Oman air, than directly going there. We were also offered Turkish airlines as an option.
We booked through a company destination2.

Also found it very easy. Booked a driver, planned an itinerary and booked accommodation on Booking.com. Mainly stayed at small home stays and B&Bs which were very inexpensive. It cost a fraction of the quote we had from Kuoni.

Thanks everyone- really appreciate the replies. I'm quite comfortable booking flights and hotels myself. How do you find a driver?

We did this 3 years ago - completely hassle free. Booked accommodation through booking.com, private transfers between locations and tours of attractions are cheap and really easy to arrange when you get there.

The trip adviser forum had lists of recommended drivers, and hotels can always recommend someone.

We used Kuoni for our Sri Lankan tour which was easy and excellent value

We booked a driver on the recommendation of someone on TA. Communication was excellent, and I had quite specific requests which he was able to accommodate. He arranged for his cousin to pick us up at the airport with him. So we turned up, they were both there, and cousin did all the talking. The next day we went on our merry way with the driver. It quickly occurred to me that driver didn't speak a word of English. He was lovely enough, took us to great places, was brilliant with the kids, a safe driver etc. But he wasn't what we wanted. We wanted someone who we could make ad hoc requests to, come out with us to dinner, etc. It was very hard to communicate.
So just be sure you know what you are getting. I was more frustrated by the sheer duplicity from the original driver, but it was fine in the end. Not brilliant, but fine.

We backpacked - just booked our hotels on route, very cheap and easy. Also check out the trains, cheap and beautiful views - the website Seat61 has great tips.