Kathie

I know there are others on this bopard who are considering going to Sri Lanka this year or next. (We're still debating whether to go to Bhutan or Sri Lanka or ??? in November.)

I'd be interested in what others are planning. I have been looking at www.boutiquesrilanka.com which was recommended by ccc

Anyone willing to share their thoughts on itineraries, agencies or websites for making arrangements, etc?

Craig

Well Kathie, I am glad you asked. Although I thought we might have a chance to compare notes at the LA GTG, now is as good a time as any. I have just started to look at it. We will have the miles for our flight tickets shortly but do not want to start negotiating with tour operators, etc. until that is in place. We will probably be flying direct to Bangkok from NYC on Thai and continuing on Thai to SL after a 3-4 hour layover. Once there, we would head to Hideaway, a villa that is fairly close to the airport but inland and spend two nights. Then we would spend three nights in the area of the ancient cities (possibly split between Kandy and another location). We are looking at Ceylon Tea Trails for our next stop in the hill country (3 nights) - pretty expensive but all-inclusive and lots of opportunities to get "out there" and visit local villages, etc. From there we would like to do a 3 night safari at Yala National Park - there is a company, Kulu Safaris that does customized safaris where they set up a tent for you, prepare meals etc. I sent an e-mail to them yesterday for more info but have not heard back yet. Our last stop would be somewhere on the coast, probably Tangalla for a couple of nights (Dikwella Resort or Lansiya villa). We would do a long drive up the coast via Galle and Negombo to the airport for our 1 AM flight back to Bangkok from there. I really have no interest in visiting Colombo from the descriptions that I have heard and read.

The itinerary sounds exhausting and it probably is. At some point (soon) I will have to decide what is realistic. Driving times are really slow, especially in the hill country.

As I see it there are 3 major tour operators that deal with the higher-end places:
srilanka.com
reddottours.com and
boutiquessrilanka.com

Red Dot Tours has a really good web page on driving times. The Tea Trails site (www.teatrails.com) has lots of information as well if you are interested in that.

So, what have you found?

Kathie

Craig, yes, let's talk more at the gtg in Pasadena.

We have our tickets in and out of Bangkok in November. We would plan to spend a few days in Bangkok, then fly on Thai to Columbo. We would like 10 days in Sri Lanka. I was also taken with ccc's description of the Hideway and we'd also like to spend two nights there. We haven't figured out the order, but we'd like several days (3-4) in the ancient cities area, haven't decided where to stay. We'd also like two nights in the rainforest, staying at the Boulders (just can't resist those leeches!), we'd like a couple of nights at a tea plantation, and we'd like a couple of nights in Galle or nearby.

If you are doing the math, I'm already over the 10 days! So our problem (like yours) will be in figuring out what to cut. I'd rather visit fewer places and have more time in each place. We do have some flexibility in our scheduling and could possibly add a day or two to our time in Sri Lanka.

I have found the boutiquesrilanka site helpful, and have looked at the reddot site. I'll have to check out the srilanka.com site.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's useful to know that we have similar ideas. We're really having a terrible time deciding where to go this year, but I figure that all of my research will be helpful in the future. If we don't go this year, we'll likely go next year.

Craig

Kathie, I think we are fairly certain that we will go to Sri Lanka next year. I can appreciate that you will probably want to spend more time in the ancient cities area than us. The rainforest is also intriguing - it seems you really do have to stay there unless you want to do a really long day trip from either hill country or the coast. If we go, I know that Laurie on this board has a pair of leech socks that she is no longer using!

No matter what you decide, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Burma or whatever, I am sure you will have a great trip.

Craig

One more thing, Kathie - we are looking at Kandalama, very centrally located amongst the ancient cities and Kandy House in Kandy as places to stay.

Kathie

Craig, thanks for the tip on places in the ancient cities area. There are so many places, I'm still sorting through them.

I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time wherever we decide to go. And you are correct about the front runners - Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Burma.

I'm sure Laurie would be glad to loan you her leech socks. I never thought we'd have a use for ours again!

rhkkmk

you two make me sick....you are so organized!!!

i would love sri lanka in the future so i will look to the four of you to blaze a path....

jrruff

Kathie: My wife and I will be visiting Sri Lanka in Sept. 2007. Only for 3 nights however, after a 1 mo. stay in India and Bhutan. Due to the brevity of our stay in Sri Lanka, I doubt if our itinerary will have any meaning to you. We opted to have RedDot Tours attend to the details of our Sri Lanka arrangments. We fly into CMB from BOM, and then overland to Kandy for 2 nights. We return overland to Colombo for 1 night, and then back to DEL (India) for our flight home.

Kathie

Thanks for the input, jrruff. It's useful to know that you are using red dot. Someone else on this board used them and had good things to say.

Dr_Ralph

Hi,
We're were planning on visiting Sri Lanka in May for about two weeks. We decided yesterday to extend it to four weeks. If it is too much time or the shells start landing too close for comfort, we'll fly to the Maldives! We are debating on how to tackle Sri Lanka, tour or on our own with a driver most of the time. We figure we should get a real good flavor of Sri Lanka in a month. Any thoughts whether a month is too long?
Thanks,
Doc

Craig

If we were lucky enough to have a whole month at one time to travel, we would not spend it all in Sri Lanka. Depending on whether we were arriving from Bangkok or Singapore, we would spend some extra time at one of those locations. Also Kerala is only one hour away by air and is worth several days.

chimani

The answer, of course, is people who have suddenly discovered it as a destination.

Gorgeous country - has everything.

Dr Ralph. Four weeks? why not? Great decision. But you give only two options - tour, or car and driver. There is a third way.

You can travel around independently quite easily using public transport.
Restricting yourselves to travel by road means you won't get to sample some of the wonderful train journeys there. They are of short duration - we are not talking Indian adventures of 12 hours plus.

Your choice, of course. But with four weeks I most certainly wouldn't take a tour - that's for the must see it all in 5 days sort of trip. And i wouldn't plug myself in to any fixed itineray either. Go with the flow and hire a car and driver if you need one to get somewhere specific.

I think you will miss out hugely if you isolate yourselves by travelling in a private car all the time.

Kathie

Dr Ralph, I'd be interested in hearing where you are going in Sri Lanka, what interests you most. The ancient cities? the rainforest? the beaches? Of course, with four weeks I suppose you can "do it all."

Kathie

Oh, by the way, if you are interested in "winging it" there was a nice report by Lyndie (an old regular here) on a month or so in Sri Lanka. Ther report was titled something liek "Better than Bali." You should be able to find it by search for Sri Lanka and Lyndie.

rhkkmk

"ccc" also had a very nice report last year...

Kathie

Yes, ccc's report is the one that Craig and I have been consulting - lots of great places to stay in that report!

Tere

I have emailed several agencies for a tour in India, chose my hotels and the nights I wanted to stay. Redottours.com gave me the most expensive quote, 40% more than the other tour operators. besides that, they didn't include the sightseeing, it was added as extras. I wouldn't book with them.

Craig

Teresa, I certainly wouldn't book with them for Kerala - they probably use local tour operators and mark it up. I think they concentrate on Sri Lanka - I haven't asked for quotes but the prices on their website for Sri Lanka seem competitive.

Tere

Craig, also be aware that they send their prices in GBP, not in USD. At least they sent it to me that way.

Tere

One more thing: they are also specialists in Kerala. Take a look here: www.reddottours.com/India/index.php