Sri Lanka itinerary - too much?

[RunLyraRun]

Me and DP, and my DS aged 15, next summer. Hoping to book flights soon (which are already a crazy price - thanks Trump). We all like hiking, eating, wildlife, snorkelling, spending most of our time outdoors.

This is my current plan. I've been sending ideas back and forth with Blue Lanka as they seems to be a good halfway house between UK-based tour operators (too expensive) and arranging everything independently (too much faff), but I would love some Mumsnet wisdom. I'm avoiding the south and west with it being monsoon season there.

Nights 1-3: arrive mid-afternoon on day 1 after overnight flight. Meet driver, transfer straight to Sigiriya area (to avoid wasting a night in Negombo). Minneriya for elephants, Lion Rock, Pidurangala Rock, Polonnaruwa.

Nights 4-6: Trincomalee. Pigeon island snorkelling, whale watching trip, chill.

Nights 7&8: Kandy. Temple of the tooth, botanical gardens. I'm a bit concerned that Kandy will be too chaotic for DS, who isn't great with crowded places. But would we be mad to skip it?

Nights 9&10: Nuwara Eliya. Horton Plains hike. Lovers' Leap waterfall.

Nights 11&12: Ella. Train from Nanu Oya to Demodara. Little Adam's Peak hike, Nine Arch Bridge.

Nights 13&14: Udawalawe or Yala safari. My current thinking is that Yala will be too crazy busy. I know it's the best chance of seeing a leopard but I think the crowds would spoil that for me.

Flight home in the late evening of day 15.

DS has never left Europe and I'm conscious of how few years I have until he won't want to travel with me. So it's important to me that this holiday feels like a big adventure, not a slog! Am I trying to squeeze too much in? Specifically, too much driving, and too many short stays? If so, how can I avoid that? Thanks for your help, vipers!

Thanks for all the opinions so far. Would anyone mind telling me roughly how much it cost them (pp) for 2 weeks? I know that’s a “how long is a piece of string” kind of question, but a ball park would be really helpful for our planning.

I think it was roughly £5000 for 2 adults but that included flights which we had to book late on as we need cover for caring responsibilities which were direct, seat reservations, £2400 insurance £200 and short term Heathrow parking £250 which was about £2850 of that. Driver was £483 plus tips so maybe £550. Hotels first one £155 as a very upmarket one to swim, explore tropical gardens and rest from flight with breakfast, ones after that in Yala and Ella more like £30 a night per room and £5 a meal per person but meals were huge so we generally had breakfast and dinner, breakfast often included. Tea place about £10 for 2 including cake. Safaris £50 vehicle Yala, but also entrance fees you pay in cash maybe US$40 for 2 paid in lkr rate on day cash only. Bird park free tuk tuk free Free tour rice fields, cinnamon, fruits, veg etc. Ella Tuk Tuk about US dollars 2, pizza £4 in restaurant, £1 drinks per person. Train £12 for 2 first class. Tea place maybe £10 for 2. Sirigya hotel was more as had pool so maybe £70 a night but were cheaper ones and food there was more like UK prices but think that was just that hotel. Were also cheaper rooms. Lions Rock just entrance fees maybe £20 each as driver took us, temple entrance fees as driver. Last stay villa with several bedrooms, own tropical gardens and own big swimming pool about £70 for night for 2, candlelight dinner about £6 each, and breakfast about £6 each. Kumani hotel about £50 a night for room then safaris were had more expensive option with BBC photographer so £180 for 2 half day safaris though were more like full day. So very cheap over there and all places were immaculate with staff trying to help in any way. Only hotel not keen on was Sirigya one as it was lively and we were too old for that and their influencer photoshoots and cocktails. Rest were some of best places ever said for service, wildlife etc. The Ella one Tantra Ella had a family of giant squirrels and hibiscus trees and the breakfast was the best ever.

Actually Kumana safaris with conservationists were £180 per vehicle each time including entrance fees, bit of food and drinks.

Are you looking at flights from LHR with Sri Lankan? Personally I would not use them at all but look at alternatives ( unless set on direct) poor customer service and flights frequently delayed, planes not the best nor food or entertainment given the cost.

Think you are cramming a lot in and not really giving much rest time never underestimate how tiring travelling around is, distances can look close but dear god at times the traffic can be terrible, even without traffic going relatively short distances can take a long time, except the highway

Please check your vaccinations ( none officially needed to enter Lanka) and bring plenty of deet. Dengue and Chikungunya has been a really bad issue all over the island

Hygiene on the whole is much better than say India but always have toilet paper/ hand wash etc. Never drink tap water, make sure bottled water is sealed , squat toilets are mostly out of city areas but western loos are usually available.

Kandy I hate the place with a passion, but some things are on the tourist tick list, same with Pigeon Island, Galle is somewhere I would add on if you can a total different vibe to everywhere else. Some love Yala others prefer other parks, but be prepared for hot bumpy rides and you may see very little ( some areas of yala are closed off this summer due to droughts)

Food/ drink , you can go from cheap cheap to higher end, but you can easily get "rice and curried " out. Personally I find Sri Lankan food just ok, but if you do not like spicy ask for western hot ( or you will just get given it that way), if not ask for local spice.

Cannot help with drivers but Tripadvisor has quite a bit of info.

Sorry that's all a bit random!

Oh i live in Sri Lanka

Wow that is more detail than I could possibly have hoped for, thank you SO much @OneZanyCat

It's super helpful to hear from someone who lives there! Thanks for all the tips.

We'll be flying from Manchester so most likely to fly with Etihad/Qatar, which requires a quick stop in Abu Dhabi.

I don't feel a burning need to visit Kandy just to tick it off, I'd rather we all have a good time! I will re-plan accordingly...

I only ever use Qatar or Emirates back forth to Colombo from the UK, Sri Lankan airlines are on my never again airlines, had way too much bother with them.

Thanks for starting this OP.

Planning on going at the end of the year, partly to go to Ella, to celebrate our daughter Ella, who we lost two years ago in November.

We are coming from Dubai.

I’d add that with hindsight we would have given Sri Lankan beaches a miss in July/August. There are some fabulous hotels with lovely pools inland in lovely scenery/wildlife which IMO is preferable to a mid beach. I think if beaches are your focus, go at a different time of year so you can go to the south of Sri Lanka, or pick a different destination.

Also please remember to take socks if you visit any temples or risk burning your feet!

We had booked with Emirates initially for Easter but had to cancel when war broke out and so after that we were really keen for direct and Sri Lankan was on time and by that time we weren't too fussed about airline food or entertainment, plane was OK. But does look like financial issues so anyone using them would make sure you have coverage for bankruptcy. Going via Middle East consider the risk of war. It's not covered on insurance unless specialist. In our case Emirates refunded in full and everything was free cancellation. Booking with credit card is safest. Direct I would vere towards BA now but wasn't an option this summer.

We didn't do beaches and the temp was up to 38C in some places so for me that would be far too hot for a beach. It is cooler around hill country, Ella, Nuwara Ella, was about 28C there. So we got air conditioning everywhere apart from one in Ella which had a fan and was higher up.

So sorry about your DD @LoudPlumDog Ella is popular with backpackers as train station so there's lots of cheap places to stay and eat but the centre is lively. The place we stayed Tantra Ella only had two rooms and was peaceful just out of centre and giant squirrel family, you could walk or get tuk tuk in, walk was maybe 10 mins. There's also places further out in the hills. The train we got from Demodera rather than Ella as I love train things and Demodera loop is there and also you go over bridge if start there but loop is only one way and it's other direction.

Thank you so much, much appreciated xx

Was in Sri Lanka last week, I didn’t enjoy Kandy and wouldn’t go for the temple of tooth relic and the botanical gardens unless you want to go to Ella/ Nuwara Eliya.
Three days in Sigiriya is a good plan and we really enjoyed our stay there. Used it as a base and went to Pollunuwara , Minneriya safari.

Safari was ok, there were more jeeps than Elephants and some of the jeeps were not great with elephants- going near them, completely blocking the way.
I have heard Yala is worse than Minneriya.
Wilpattu is better for Safaris apparently.
I can understand why you want to go Trinconomalee as the East coast beaches are supposed to be the best, don’t underestimate the travel times as the roads are quite narrow and has heavy traffic.
Hygiene wise, stick to hotels and tourist attractions for toilets as they tend to be better.
Always have hot piping food, and use bottled water.
Lot of Sri Lankan food is steamed like hoppers, string hoppers. We used Google review and word of mouth for restaurant recommendations, we were asked about what level of spice we want before our food was prepared.

We did a different itinerary but I would say missing Kandy is not terrible, it’s certainly very busy although the botanical gardens were lovely, and Yala for us involved chasing around in a convoy of dozens of jeeps looking for an elusive leopard which we didnt see although some did. We loved the country overall, hope you have a great trip

Yala you need to be by block 5 not the main block. We were also told locally to do afternoon whereas online it says morning. Wasn't busy and we saw a leopard and about 20 other types of wildlife in half day one. Main block is busy.

I don’t think there is a big eating out culture in SL and the food was a bit boring for me - Rice and curry. Fried rice if you don’t want rice and curry!
Not helped by the fact that I am a vegetarian.

We found everywhere offered a Western or Sri Lankan breakfast and we always went for western otherwise you have curry multiple times a day. That always included amazing fresh fruit, fruit juice, toast, eggs, sometimes freshly made pancakes, sometimes yoghurt, butter and jams. Some gave sausages as well but generally I asked for vegetarian ones and sausages were quite basic ones.

Evening meals we mainly ate at the hotels but some places had lots of restaurants around, rural ones didn't. First hotel was expensive so that had amazing food of whatever you liked and had homemade bread, homemade banana cake, homemade muffins also at breakfast with everything else. Dinner was like a posh restaurant serving everything you could want. The cheaper places dinner tended to be Sri Lankan, we always had vegetarian and they offered hoppers either string or a bit like pancakes or rice or noodles with veg curry. Some places had western alternatives like pizza. Ella and by Dambulla had lots of restaurants.

Highly recommend the Heritance Kandalama for the Golden Triangle - amazing food, and a lot of choice. Ask if you can book to sit outside for dinner as it's great.

We missed out Kandy and didn't feel too upset. Build in some downtime! Also, maybe look at some domestic flights. Road travel in SL takes forever and can be a bit hair-raising. As a previous poster said, book via the van and driver link they provided. Ours was fantastic. And I never saw a single squat toilet in 10 days of travel.