pmichael

Hi, We’re planning a 2 week trip to Sri Lanka and found a travel site called Travablue where you can book tour packages online. They have a package which we like, but are wondering if anyone has any experience traveling with Travablue? The package includes a private car with driver. Is this typical? Anyone have any feedback? Thanks!

thursdaysd

Yes, a car and driver is normal for SL deals. There is public transport, but most posters here use a car and driver. Never heard of the outfit you mention. Many here have used Boutique Sri Lanka with good results.

Kathie

Sorry, never heard of Travablue. Yes, it is typical to include a car and driver in a package - you will need it. (And I'd be suspicious of any package that didn't include it). I'm one of the people who used Boutique Sri Lanka and had a great experience with them. Note that you should book exactly what YOU want. If there is anything about the package that doesn't meet your needs, ask them to change it.

ajay111

This is normal for Sri Lanka tours as now every tour operator includes a car with driver in SL as it is cheap over there. Compare package on Hertz and have a nice journey

CounterClifton

Personally, we would not use Jetwing again.

pmichael

Thanks everybody for your replies. We are looking forward to having a private driver. It will be kind of nice to be chauffeured around and enjoy the good life

We are going to listen to your advice and avoid Jetwing. We are leaning towards using Travablue b/c thus far, they have been the most responsive and their prices seem reasonable. They are offering to send an Uber car and driver to our house in Virginia to take us to the airport!

So far, thumbs up on our trip planning! Appreciate all the feedback and suggestions. Will do a follow up post after our trip to provide feedback on our adventure!

Smeagol

Loved dealing with boutique Sri Lanka! Excellent driver/ car etc.

annhig

another vote for Boutique Sri Lanka here too.

Shiromi

Hi,
Agree with everyone about the driver/car. I haven't tried boutique Sri Lanka but these guys do a good job as well -

http://www.travel-development.com/

pmichael

Well, we have recently returned from an amazing trip to Sri Lanka and I wanted to update my posting. Our trip lasted two weeks and certainly not long enough to see and do everything that the country has to offer. What we did see and do was absolutely stunning! Our travel planner, Tanja, really did an amazing job at matching our itinerary with our interests and she planned the routes accordingly so that we were never in the car driving for long periods of time. It was a great balance and we would not have changed anything. Well, perhaps we would have like to have stayed a few hours longer at the elephant orphanage as we couldn't get enough of feeding the baby elephants milk bottles and scrubbing their bodies with coconut husk. This was certainly a trip highlight and one of those, once in a lifetime, opportunities.

I would not recommend staying shorter than two weeks as there is way too much to see and do.

The food was really amazing but beware because the local foods are really SPICY (even if you ask for non-spicy). I thought that I could handle hot and spicy food but not like this... I was almost in tears as I tried to eat some of the curries that the local children were eating. The kids laughed at me as the sweat poured down my red burning face - it was a good memory and my taste buds were restored a few days later

The local people are very warm and friendly and we felt very safe.

Thanks for all of the tour operator recommendations. We ended up using TravaBlue and will definitely use them again. We give them an A+ across the board.

For anybody that is considering a trip to Sri Lanka, you need to GO! It is a hidden gem in the Indian Ocean which has so much rich culture and heritage, not to mention, a ton of beautiful sites to see and a ton of activities to keep you busy. You will not be bored... I promise you that!!

I'm recovering from a bit of jet lag but will add more trip details later.

Kathie

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Sri Lanka. It is a marvelous place!

annhig

and me. It's one of the places that I'd like to return to - though I'm not sure that we could top the experiences we had on our first trip.

funny what you say about the spiciness of the food, pmichael, my DH had to keep asking them to make it hotter!