shelleyk

Hi all,
We are thinking of going to Sri Lanka this Jan. I have come up with this itinerary and was wondering if those Fodorites knowlegeable about Sri Lanka would critique it and tell me if this is reasonable. We don't like a lot of down time, but have tried to respect Fodorite's advice aconcerning how slow travel is in SL.

Day 1-Arrive and overnight in Negombo
Day 2-Transfer to Anuradhapura (5 hrs drive). See Yapahuwa Rock Fortress on the way.
Day3-See ancient city of A-overnight in A
Day 4-Drive to Dambulla. Sightsee Ritigala and Aukana Buddah on the way
Day 5-See cave temple and ancient Polonnawara
Day6-Visit Sigirya Rock Fortress and proceed to Kandy. See Temple of the Tooth in the evening.
Day7-Visit the botanical gardens in the am for 3 hours and drive or take a train to Ella in the afternoon.
Day 8-Visit a tea factory and hike Little Adams Peak
Day 9-Sightsee Ella in the am and drive to Galle (5.5 hours drive)
Day 10-Spend the day at Galle Fort and drive to Negombo in the afternoon
Day 11-Fly home or to India. ( Probably home).

Any thoughts concerning pacing and/ or adding or subtracting sites would be appreciated.

Kathie

Wow - that is fast-paced! You have a lot of driving. I'd spend another night in the Dambulla area, maybe see Polonnawara one day, Sigiriya the next and the Dambulla cave temples the following day before driving to Kandy.

And spend a little time in tea country. It is lovely. And maybe another night in/near Galle.

I'd say this should be a two-week trip, but you have crammed it into 11 days. Just a few more days would make this much more enjoyable.

I'm glad you will finally get to Sri Lanka!

Craig

From everything I've heard about Anuradhapura, and I have not been there - I'd cut out Anuradhapura and spend more time in Tea Country. Otherwise the itinerary would probably work well. Personally, I don't think you need any more time in Galle than you have alotted.

rhkkmk

a nice stop afterwards in kerala might be nice

crellston

I would forget about Anurahadpura. It just did not live up to my expectations and it is a very long drive. Polunurawa, as suggested by Kathie is more impressive and involves less travelling.

Do take the train ride rather than drive to Ella - a great experience!

From what I recall, the drive from Ella to Galle will be significantly more than 5.5 hours.

shelleyk

Thanks for your input.

Based on your comments I am rethinking the itinerary. I probably will leave out Anuradhapura, add an extra day in the cultural triangle and an extra day or 2 in tea country mainly for the train rides crelliston recommended in his TR-Kandy to Hattoon to Haptule to Ella)

Has anyone visited Anuradhapur and thought it was an outstanding use of time? Just curious.

Kathie

I did not get a chance to visit as it was off-limits the days we were in the area due to armed conflict. It is on my list to visit next trip. I know there was flooding while Crellston was there, so I don't know how much that reduced the sightseeing there.

shelleyk

Bob- I'm thinking of a stop in southern India, but not Kerala. When I asked dogster of his take on Kerala he said, "If you've never seen a beach or a palm tree, go to Kerala". I think Kerala has more to offer than that, but I am more interested in seeing the temples in southern India than the backwaters of Kerala. DH does not seem to want to see both on this trip. Actually, he's be happy to skip India altogether.

shelleyk

Hi again. I've decided to skip A to eliminate the long drive to A, so the new itinerary is as follows:
Day 1-overnight in Negombo
Day2-Drive to Dambulla and see cave temple
Day3- Sigiriya in the am and Polonawara in the pm-(see museum and ruins) or S in the am of Day 5
Day 4-See Ritigala and ?Aukana Buddah
Day 5-Sigiriya Rock in the am. Drive to Kandy-See Temple of the Tooth and/ or show
Day6-See Botanical Gardens and Embekke Temple and 2 others which are near the Gardens. See show or Temple of the Tooth if not done on Day 5
Day 7-Train to Ella
Day8-Sightsee Ella and walk up Little Adams Peak
Day 9-Visit a tea factory and walk in the tea fields
Day 10-Train to Haptule-see Adisham, 3 waterfalls in the area, and visit Dambatenne (which I need to research more about)
Day10-Transfer to a beach area near Tissa for beach time and sightseeing in the area, and to break up the trip from tea country to Galle
Day 11- See Galle and overnight in the Fort
Day 12- drive back to Columbo, stop at turtle hatchery, maybe Columbo and fly out at midnight.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Kathie

I'm a little confused about the time in the Dambulla area. You plan for day 2 looks fine; day 3 I'd head to Polonawara in the morning (not Sigiriya). We spent all morning at the site and Museum - buy the book!, had a late lunch then a game drive in the afternoon to see herds of wild elephants. Sigiriya is listed twice, but I'm guessing you really mean to see it on Day 5, then drive to Kandy in the afternoon. That makes sense.

Looks like a wonderful trip!

shelleyk

Kathie-We are going to pass on the elephants. We've been to South Africa, and saw herds of elephants on safari there.

I thought we should climb Sigirya Rock in the am before it gets too hot, on either Day 3 or Day 5. Is there any shade at Polonawara, or is it wide open? From my reading of Fodorite's TRs, I think that Polonawara will be the highlight of the cultural triangle for me, and I do not want to rush through it. However, it seems as if 3-4 hours would cover the museum and ruins. We could alot a whole day for P, but is there enough to see there to keep us interested for a full day?

rhkkmk

shelley---why are you rushing so much??

Kathie

I agree, you want to climb as early in the morning as possible.

There is shade at Polonawara, I think my description was "ruins set in a garden." It's a good hour plus drive to Polonawara from Dambulla and another hour plus to return. I'd allot all day for Polonawara, being aware that you will have some flex time. We spent an hour in the museum there and wished we'd had more time. There are also some things in the surrounding area that we didn't have time for.

shelleyk

One more question Kathie-Did you take Malarone in the cultural triangle. CDC says risk of malaria is low.

Bob-This is not rushed for us imo. We don't like a lot of sitting around time. Remember our Japan itinerary which you thought was rushed. The timing was actually perfect-And DH did have a chance to sit down. lol

Kathie

We did take malarone because at the time, the risk was higher. Given what I've read recently, I probably would not take it.

rhkkmk

yea, but he only sat for 36 seconds

annhig

Hi Shelley,

starting with your last question first, we didn't take anything for malaria and we were fine but we were there in the dry season and saw no mosquitos at all - you need to work out whether when you are going, there is greater risk.

AS for your itinerary, I have only done one trip, but 3 nights at Dambulla is about right [are you going to stay at the Kandalama? - it was recommended to us by Kathie and it's terrific!] we then had 2 nights in Kandy and 3 in the Tea Country - again about right, though I'd have liked another in Ella if possible.

Then we had 2 at Yala [which I would not bother with again or if I did I would do it with a specialist outfit] and 2 in Galle which we loved, and where would like to have stayed longer. I would also avoid the elephants - when we were there the way that the vehicles were being driven was quite dangerous and IMO interfered with the animals to an unacceptable degree.

I would suggest seeing both Sigirya and Polonawarra early in the morning - perhaps it was because it was our first day, we found Polonawarra extremely hot and IMO there is little shelter so take an umbrella to act as a parasol. The museum was interesting and is air-conditioned so do it after you've seen the site. Sigirya requires quite a climb so you need to be there early to do it before it gets too hot.

hope that helps!

Smeagol

We are going to Polonawarra tomorrow.......( after an early a.m visit to Sigirya) went to Dambulla caves temples this afternoon, this can be done late in the afternoon when it's not too hot. ( I liked it there) We stayed in Negombo last night ( The Wallawwa- outstanding place) the drive from there to here was 4 hours, but there was an event on in one of the villages, so traffic was heavy in places but aside from that it was an ok drive..... We have 3 night here', 1 in Kandy, 2 at Tea Trails, 3 in Galle and then 1 in Colombo....so like you we have 11 nights.... I'lll let you know how it works out