Would anyone be kind enough to share their Sri Lanka itineraries?

[AgentProvocateur]

Hi, planning a trip to SL within the next 12 months as we can fly there v cheaply (I’m not in the U.K.).

I’d like to spend about 10 days there, and it’s just DH and I. We’re interested in nature, food and wandering about towns. Although a beach day or two would be nice too. TIA.

We’re off next Saturday & I based our trip on a Lonely Planet suggested itinerary. We have one night in Kandy (staying at the Cinammon Red) before going to Kandy for 4 nights. We’ve sat trips booked with companies I found on TripAdvisor to Sigitiya, Dambulla, Minneriya National Park & Nuwara Eliya. We’re staying at the Ozo in Kandy before transferring down to the Lagoon Paradise Hotel in Tangalle on the coast for 4 nights before heading home. While we’re in Tangalle we’re doing a day trip to Udawalwe National Park.
Reading this through it does seem a bit too busy & maybe too much but on the other hand, it’s a long way to go & we rarely re-visit! We’re going to be on the West of the island - weather wise I think the East is better in summer if that’s when you’rd thinking of!

Actually that’s one night in Colombo initially, not Kandy!

Amazing. Thank you. Hope you have a great time. Will you update this post when you get back please?

Hi. I live in Sri Lanka. Just wanted to say Dambulla, Sigiriya and Minneriya are a bit far from Kandy. SJane487 I guess you’ve already booked the hotel in Kandy for 4 nights but AgentProvocateur if you are going to these places book somewhere around there. There’s a lot of hotels around there and you could also go to look for elephants in the night if you are staying close by (if it hasn’t rained for sometime, there’s more chance of spotting elephants on main road at night). The east coast is better from April to September and the west and south coasts are better during December to March. East coast is actually much nicer than west but west coast is easier to get to. Right now we have had very little rain hence we have regular power cuts but don’t worry the hotels will have generators! Apart from elephants, deer, bear etc we also have whale and dolphin watching. If you are interested in history/culture visit Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. Nuwara Eliya has the tea plantations and colder climates depending on time of year. Foodwise, plenty of seafood as well as usual buffets, Chinese (which is sometimes made spicy to suit Sri Lankans depending where you eat from), Indian etc as well as Sri Lankan. Hope you both enjoy your holidays here!

We did 5 days in Sri Lanka as part of a longer trip- stayed in Sigirya for 3 nights at the Sigirya Hotel- not massively fancy but it was comfortable, had great service and food and an amazing view of Lion Rock! We climbed Lion Rock, visited Minneria National Park, Dambulla and Polunawara (sp?). Then 2 nights in Kandy in the Cinnamon Citidel Kandy which was nice but a bit soulless. Visited the Botanical Gardens and The Temple of the Tooth. We also did some very touristy things like spice gardens amd batik factories and slme dance shows which were a bit meh. Visited a tea plantation which I actually really enjoyed! Enjoyed the markets and shopping in Kandy. Really wish we'd gone down to Gaulle or elsewhere on the coast though. Hope this helps!

nav80 - thanks for the info, really interesting & look forward to the power cuts!! We’re doing Sigiriya/Dambulla/ Minneriya in one long day trip - I agree it would have been better to stay up there at least one night but I try to balance my DH’s holiday needs with my own & three location tops is about as much as he can handle!

Ps - after your post I checked the weather and we seem to be bringing 2 weeks of rain with us (hurrah 🙁) so perhaps you’ll get fewer power cuts & I guess I won’t go out & top up on the sun cream in Boots then!

We backpacked so made it up as we went along, but we did the following in 2 weeks:

Sigiriya (Lion Rock, Dambulla, Minneriya NP, Polonnaruwa)
Kandy (temple of the tooth)
Ella (train, tea plantation, hikes)
Tangalle (beach)
Mirissa (whale watching)
Galle Fort (history)
Colombo

I’d def recommend basing yourself in Sigiriya to see the areas around it as well as the lion rock. It’s also a nice little village, plenty of little local places to eat.
Ella is beautiful and has some really nice hikes. Get the train from Kandy to Ella - or at least from Nuwara Eliya, it’s epic.
I preferred Tangalle to Mirissa for the beach and town, but Mirissa has more options for eating out and whale watching tours.
Galle Fort is worth a visit.

The main thing I’d suggest is to stay away from hotel meal plans - the local food is too good to miss and so cheap!

I hate to hijack this post, but @nav80 we are thinking of honeymooning in Sri Lanka in November. Do you have any advice on the best areas that time of year?
Very interested to see people’s suggested itineraries.

Ladylatterly- November- would be better to avoid the east coast. There’s dolphin watching in Kalpitiya which is on the west coast or whale watching in Mirissa which is in the south. The temperature in Nuwara Eliya drops down to around 12c at night (so bring a cardi) but elsewhere it’s still warm or even hot. Don’t forget to bring mosquito repellent and see your GP about injections. As Toothlessreg said the train ride from Nuwara Eliya to Ella is highly recommended by my dad(I still have only been up to Nuwara Eliya on train from Colombo which took the whole day and was a bit tiring). There’s an observation carriage on some trains which you can book. The carriage is at end of train and has glass on three sides. Or you might prefer to book 2nd class(no ac) and hang out of the open doorways which is fun!
SJane485- people over here will definitely be relieved when the rain starts. We have a generator but other people really suffer because it’s so hot and they can’t switch on a fan. But you still need to go to boots for mosquito repellent. Hopefully the rain won’t affect your holiday too much!

Thank you so much!
It looks like an amazing country. I’ve only heard good things about Sri Lanka & it’s people.
We like wildlife, culture and food so I think Sri Lanka ticks all our boxes.

To add to nav80’s post about the train - we just booked third class and did the full journey from Kandy to Ella in a day. It was fine, our carriage wasn’t full so plenty of space to move about, but second might be better just to give a bit more room in the seats. I spent a lot of it sat in a doorway taking photos!
Friends of ours took the observation carriage but actually weren’t so keen as you can’t take photos easily (windows don’t open so all through glass) and you’re more stuck in your seats. You also don’t get all the locals selling snacks through the doors when you stop at a station, and that would be a miss!

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. Time to start planning!