marshacarlin

Regretfully my husband and I only have a total of 4-5 days to spend in Sri Lanka on our way to Cape Town from Australia. We have just decided to try to get to this special place instead of going straight to Cape Town so haven't had much time to research so any help would be much appreciated.
Please share thoughts on exactly which two areas (we're thinking maybe Galle or beachy and a tea plantation). Because this will be from Dec 19-24 or 25 and we know it's a busy time to get reservations recommendations for places to stay would also be greatly appreciated. Want to spend two nights in each place so we can relax and not spend too much time moving......but my husband might want to climb Adams Peak!
Would like to stay in B and B type places versus hotels and can spend about$150-200/night
Should we get a driver, or could we take a train between places?
Thanks in advance for specific recommendations and should we book these places through BSL or can we book it ourselves? If we're going to try to do two places should we still get a local tour operator to get the most out of our time? Thanks!

annhig

Hi Marsha,

great idea to go to Sri Lanka, but 4-5 days is a very short amount of time, especially if you want to do something like Adam's Peak.

I can thoroughly recommend BSL who can organise a car and driver as well as book hotels for you. you can of course book hotels yourselves, but we found it very nice to have the "security blanket" of BSL on our first trip.

as for what's possible in the time you've got, I can only suggest that you use the facility of the BSL website to work out a few itineraries to see how they could work out.

If you decide to go into the hill country and then Galle, [or vv] you need to factor in driving times, which are VERY long; though the new road between Galle and Colombo has really cut driving times down between them, you need to allow another 1-2 hours to get from Colombo to the airport.

another factor is the time at which your flights arrive and leave - that may effect what you can do on your arrival and leaving days.

good luck with your planning!

Kathie

With 4 or 5 days I'd suggest you choose one place so you have some time to explore. For me, it would be the cultural triangle, but you may have different priorities. You will need a car and driver.

Approach_Guides

I agree with Kathie -- we would spend that time in the cultural triangle.
As for a driver, we used Jagath Wijesiri (http://www.jagathtours.com/) and had a very enjoyable experience.

Kathie

I always recommend that people use an agency to hire a driver. That way, you are covered if the driver doesn't work for you or if the car is a problem. The agency will trade either the vehicle or the driver or both as needed. When you employ an individual driver, you have no recourse.

annhig

what Kathie said. we were very pleased with the guide that BSL provided for us, but it was nice to know that if we'd had a problem with him or the vehicle, we had someone to turn to.

BSL do not provide just guides though, you need to book other service through them; i don't know if booking just one hotel [out of a tour using several] would count!

annhig

don't know why i wrote "guide", i meant driver.

RJames

With such a short visit forget the train, hire a car and driver and travel on your own schedule. I also recommend the Cultural Triangle sights.

crellston

Another vote for the Cultural Triangle. We did the Adams Peak climb at night which was a great experience bit it is quite tough. we started at midnight and returned to pur guesthouse in time for breakfastand. I needed a day tongetvover it and I don't think you really have enough time.