Arrived in SL on Christmas Day and spent 4 weeks just travelling around.
I did what I always do-bought a Lonely Planet months in advance, read it cover to cover and organised a rough itinerary. Got hold of the itineraries of various nice guided tours to compare and contrast and make sure we weren't missing anything important (cos lets face it, 'traveller' or tourist, we all want to see the same things!)
We booked the first three nights over the Internet choosing a hotel in Unawatuna (lovely unspoilt beach in the south) and they sent a minibus to Columbo to pick us up from the airport (cost about £30 despite being about a 4 hour drive)
After that, we just moved on every few days-did a safari park,the Highlands (Nurawya Elya-very colonial!), the north with its cultural parts and Kandy (elephant orphanage, Botanical gardens and elephant orphanage)and of course, lounging on the beach in the south.
We stayed in a variety of places-really posh ones sometimes and little guest houses at other times. Didn't stay in 'kids club' type places,although there are loads of those, but often paid a member of staff to look after dd for an hour or so in the evening so we could have a bit of peace eating dinner.
It is so easy to travel around SL. Each hotel would arrange a car/tuk tuk to take us on to the next place. A lot of people hire a car and a driver for their whole trip.
SL has everything-beaches,culture,shopping, great food,lovely people, lack of hassle, reasonable prices.
One of our best holidays yet!