10 days in Sri Lanka, organising help

[bjonesreborn]

We are looking to go to Sri Lanka in March for 10 days. Just 2 adults. However I have no idea how to go about organising this. Is there a company that would help with an itinerary? I’ve seen threads on here about Sri Lanka but I am worried about doing it all myself.
no idea about budget either, I’ve googled flights so know the cost for that.
appreciate any tips

There was a thread here recently with some good suggestions and people planning trips might have gone by now so hopefully will share their experiences. I too want to go to a Sri Lanka (from Aus) next year and an a bit overwhelmed too. We ended up booking Bali (again) in February as it was just easier but Sri Lanka is still on my wish list.

Not sure if they still exist but we were considering Sri Lanka for our honeymoon and we went to Kuoni in our nearest John Lewis. They put a whole itinerary together for us, including driver, accommodation etc. We chose an alternative destination in the end, but they could be a good start.

Loads of companies will do this for you! Very big companies like Trailfinders or smaller specialist ones - you could try Selective Asia.

Downsides of having someone do it for you, it tends to cost more. Also you generally get an “off the shelf” itinerary suggestion with pre chosen accommodation and activities, rather than picking your own. So depends if you’re the kind of person who likes to read reviews and choose everything yourself, or whether you’re happy to sit back and accept the recommendations. (Some companies will happily make changes if you want a specific hotel or activity though).

I went with Kuoni. cox and King are good, Google tailor made Sri lanka

For tours like this, the real work will be done by a local "incoming" tour company. The company at the UK end just puts together your requirements, sends it off to Colombo, and comes back with a price, which they then mark up.

We went to Sri Lanka about a decade ago and got two prices. One was nearly double the other for essentially the same tour. So make sure you get two or three offers. We ended up with a company based in Germany owned by a German-Sri Lankan couple, and when we got there it turned out our driver knew the Sri Lankan lady in person.

You could also consider going straight to a local company — put inbound tours sri lanka into Google. Obviously check review sites before parting with your money, but these are the companies that Kuoni or Trailfinders will be dealing with anyway.

We loved our tour. We could have been in a small minibus, but because there was just the two of us we ended up in a nice saloon car with a very friendly driver. Only one topic (politics) was off limits.

A fun story: On the first day of our tour we stopped for lunch one day at a roadside buffet place that catered mostly to tourists. The food was local but "adapted" for Western tastes. The driver asked how we liked it, and we said "Fine, but it wasn't very spicy" (we love very spicy food). He thought for a moment and said "Would you like to eat what the drivers eat?". So the next day when we arrived somewhere for lunch, he went off and negotiated, and some "interesting" dishes were brought out from the kitchen just for us. We could see a couple of heads poking round a screen to see how the Europeans were getting on with the fish curry. It was great!

We did it ourselves and it was fine.

I first spoke to a travel agent to get an idea of what the costs were and decided to DIY it. That had the advantage of talking through different itinerary options which was a great starting point to jump off of,
especially as they had sent a detailed itinerary breakdown.

We whittled down what places we wanted to visit then plugged it into https://srilankacaranddriverhire.com/ and booked a driver who took us to all the places. We used booking.com for accommodation. It was honestly not stressful at all and was so much cheaper.

Great recommendations here. The Sri Lankans have been through so much I would be prioritising giving my precious foreign money to them directly via some of these suggestions for a local booking.

I’ve been twice and it’s amazing. Lovely people. Beautiful country. Don’t miss Nuwara Eliya.

I went for two weeks last Autumn. We used Ampersands travel company, they are quite pricey but you could do a similar itinerary on a budget.

Flew with Sri Lankan airlines direct ( LHR 21.30 to Columbo 12.30 ) One night in Negumbo (30 mins from airport).

Flew on a seaplane to a tea plantation in the south central Hatton area, 30 min flight approx. Stayed 4 nights .

Flew on same seaplane to Yala national park, approx 30/40 mins flight and a 45 min drive to park. 3 nights

Drove from Yala to Tangelle beach town, approx 1 hour 40 min. Stay 5 nights.

Drove from Tangelle to Galle about an hours drive (lunch stop and sightseeing/shopping World Heritage sight)

Drove from Galle to Negumbo 2 and half hours approx, and last night back at first hotel close to airport for flight home which left at Lunchtime.

We wanted to do a safari, tea plantation and beach with no early morning starts and definitely no early morning flights. This worked well.

@nottaotter really helpful, this isn’t my thread but thank you for that.

Thank you so much everyone. All most helpful. Let the planning commence!!

We used Trailfinders for our Sri Lanka trip a few years back and they were excellent - also used them a couple of times since then for Southern India and New Zealand.

I absolutely loved Sri Lanka, it's such a beautiful place.

Highlights for us were the Jetwing Vil Uyana Eco Hotel in Sigirya.
The Elephant Stables in Kandy.
Ceylon Tea Trails Bungalows in Hatton.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I've been in the tourism industry for the past 10 years, I can help make your trip memorable.Please let me know if you need any help