Itinerary and guide advice for Sri Lanka
 

Hello fellow fodorites,

Looking for some words of wisdom about itinerary order and driver/guide suggestions.
As well as any guesthouse and must dos along the way. You've all given great advice and I'm hoping for some on this trip to get things just right.

We'll be arriving after spending 9 days in Thailand.
Here's our itinerary for 13 nights in Sri Lanka:

June 20- pm arrival, overnight in Columbo
June 21- go to Ella in AM (please suggest train or driver)
June 21-22- 2 nights in Ella, tea factories
June 23- train from Ella to Kandy
June 23-24- 2 nights Kandy, Temple of the Tooth, Dance performance and Shopping.
Stay at Helga's Folly
June 25-27- 3 nights cultural triangle; Dambulla, Sigiriya, Minneriya Park (need suggestion for $100 night or less accommodation)
June 28-30- 3 nights, travel to Trincomalee; whale watching, Pigeon Island snorkeling
July 1-3- 2 nights in Columbo; shop, eat and fly out the morning of the 3rd

Here's my questions:
ELLA: Can I take a train from Columbo to Ella or should I get a driver? Is this the right place to start our trip? Does anyone have a hotel/guesthouse reco for $100 a night or less that's near town.

DAMBULLA/SIGIRIYA: I like a little bit of town life, eat at local restaurants and shop. Which town would be better to stay in. Any recos for hotel/guesthouse $100 a night or less.

TRINCO: Any suggestion for best whale watching outfit?

IN GENERAL: I'd like a driver/guide for Kandy, Cultural Triangle and drive to Trincomalee. But not sensing I'll need one once I'm in Trincomalee,Columbo or Ella. Opinions please. And of course I'm hoping for driver recos and how to book this.

Any suggestions for Ayuveda massage, must eat restaurants , yoga studios, and high quality shopping is much appreciated. You guys haven't steered me wrong in the past.

I found Sri Lanka to be a place where using a local agency was very helpful. We used Boutique Sri Lanka. You want an agency to arrange your car and drive so you have recourse if something goes wrong with the vehicle or if the driver doesn't work out for you.

Your first night you really don't want to be in Colombo, but closer to Negombo, which is where the airport is located. Indeed, assess carefully whether or not you want time in Colombo at all.

The Cultural Triangle area was a highlight for us. We especially loved Polonnaruwa. We opted for four nights in this area. But none of the small towns will give you "town life" or local restaurants unless things have changed a lot since I was there.

We ate at the places where we stayed - and the food was exceptionally good, but we saw very few free-standing restaurants anywhere (We didn't go to Colombo)

We did go to the odd restaurant which was not attached to a hotel - I remember one on the way from the airport to Dambulla, and another in a town near Yala. oh yes, the cafe at the park in Nurwara Eliya was exceptionally good.

but like Kathie, we normally ate dinner in the hotel or on occasions in the restaurant of another hotel like the Cinnamon Grand in Colombo, which was doing a special Pakistan night.

Unless you have a particular reason to go there, I think a day in Colombo is probably quite enough; the Ministry of Crab gets consistently good reviews, though we didn't go there ourselves.

http://www.ministryofcrab.com/images/MOCMenu.pdf

Hi Kathie, thanks for the tip about our 1st night in Sri Lanka.
Definitely will look for a hotel right by the airport.

And I'm guessing all Ayuveda must be at hotels as well.

I'll reach out to Boutique Sri Lanka. I was holding back as I'm on a bit of a tighter budget this year and was looking to save $$ and stay in guesthouses instead of specialty resorts. But I'll look at the prices and see.

I'll only be in Columbo 1 full day and 2 nights. Even though it's not a great city, I'm a city girl and always like to poke around a city no matter what.Besides, Anthony Bourdain did a segment on Columbo and the food. I can eat my way through the town in one day. And yes Ann, already checked out ministry of Crab :)

I can put in a recommendation for Camlo Lanka Tours for a driver and tour recommendations. The owner, Kanchana will work with you for whatever budget you have. I spent 10 days in Feb. with one of his drivers, Terrance, and it was wonderful. Some of the hotels were booked by Camlo Lanka, some by me. We stayed in mostly guesthouses and small hotels. He suggested an outline of a tour and then it was fine tuned over the course of a few months prior to our arrival.
camlolanka.com

I sent an email to boutique Sri Lanka 3 days ago and I haven't received a response. Not a good first impression. I'm going to reach out to Camlo Lanka.
Susie...when you say you booked some of your hotels yourself, was it because you had gotten a better price via the internet?

For excellent shopping in Colombo try Barefoot. Colourful handicrafts, books, fabrics, clothes etc. Primarily "make work" projects for locals, particularly women. There are at least 2 outlets that I know of- try to visit the largest store as the range is considerably greater. Your hotel should be able to direct you to the store(s. Enjoy your visit- it is a marvellous country

More shopping tips - there are some terrific shops in Galle [in the town within the Fort] and nice markets in the new town.

And most surprisingly, reasonably priced and very good shops airside at the airport - the cafes are ludicrously expensive but the shops were excellent for last minute souvenir shopping.

debnyc: Initially, Kanchana the owner of Camlo Lanka, had hotel suggestions for each location. He has negotiated special rates and they all have driver accommodation. There were places I wanted to stay that I found on TA and I got better rates than he did. Also, I wanted a pool in some cities and not all Kanchana's hotels had them. We used hirs hotel in Kandy, Thilanka Hotel. Got a room upgrade from regular rates.

When you contact him be sure and tell him Susie and Bob from Kansas City referred you.I had initially contacted BSL and they never responded to me either so I went with Camlo Lanka based on a FB friend's past experience with using them on 4 prior visits.

I too thought that some of the shopping great in Galle fort. We bought some fab vintage travel poster.
For your first night try the Wallawaa Negombo, it's a really lovely hotel, the food was also fantastic.

Sounds like Sri Lanka really might be a fun shopping place. Like the rest of you guys, I've travelled quite a bit in SEA and love buying high quality crafts and antiques to decorate my very global looking home. Actually I do quite a bit of research on shopping before I go. That being said, Barefoot is on my list and glad to have the reco/confirmation. That's a definite must do. The other places on my list in Columbo are:
-Paradise Road
-Hermitage.
Any feedback is very welcome.

About guides and hotels....
Looking through my spam box for something else, I found BSL had replied. So I take back what I said about them. But I was very disappointed to see when I had requested guesthouses and moderate pricing $80-$100, there was not one hotel they suggested in that price range. Actually they suggest hotels that some were more than double the price. And the hotel's that I suggested to them were over the online booking price.In any case, I think I will book the hotels myself and look for a guide/driver. Still waiting to hear from Camlo Lanka and yes, checking the spam folder these days.

Smeagol..If I'm not wrong...I'm guessing it was you that recommended the Adelphi Suites in Bangkok something like 5 years ago. We stayed there and it was great. So sounds like Galle Fort is another shopping place I'd love.

So next steps...book hotels online. Based on your recos and lonely planet here's what I'm thinking:
Ella- Zion View
Kandy- Helga's Folly
Dambulla- Thailanka resort
Trincomalee- Nilaveli Beach Hotel
Columbo (end stay for shopping)- Columbo Courtyard

Thank you all so much for your help!

deb - I've not stayed at any of those places, but I remember reading some very "interesting" reviews of Helga's folly.

In Kandy you have the choice of staying in the centre and being able to walk everywhere or in the hills in one of the many boutique hotels. That's not as bad as it sounds as your driver will take you down into town and wait for you while you shop, eat, sightsee, etc.

we stayed here:

the rooms were very nice even in the standard room we had, and the food was really excellent - some of the best we had in Sri Lanka and that's saying something. the website price is a bit over your budget but you might be able to find it cheaper elsewhere.

Don't miss the Botanical gardens in Kandy - they were a highlight of our trip.

oops!

http://www.theva-residency-kandy-sri-lanka.en.ww.lk

Debnyc, no it wasn't me red Adelphi that's Simpson (Carol) who would have recommended three in BKK.
SL for shopping is not a patch on places like Bangkok etc but Galle Fort really is a lovely place to meander, shop and eat

Ann we too stayed at Theva, food was lovely for us too. I liked this place, quirky little place with owners who care about service. We had a room with an enormous panoramic window and a magnificent view!

funny co-incidence, smeagol, or perhaps you also booked through Boutique SL?

one place that really surprised us in Kandy was the Queen's Hotel down in town - we went there just for a look round and found ourselves entranced by it's colonial feel, the wonderful old photos of visiting royalty and [beleive it or not] the food. if you want a great club sandwich and a cup of tea, the Queen's the place.

talking about shopping, we somehow got hijacked in a men's wear shop where DH was looking for short-sleeved shirts into going to the market with a local - at the time we thought that we'd been done a bit, but in fact the shirts DH bought in the stall we were taken through were excellent quality, launder very well and they still look good as new.

Keep in mind that BSL's hotel quotes include all taxes. We're using them for our December trip to Sri Lanka and I was initially confused when it seemed all their hotel quotes were more than the online price. But when you factor in taxes and fees, they actually netted out slightly cheaper than going with online booking.

Now I remember, it was Simpson for the Adelphi suites. That was a good find. Thank you! We'll be overnighting in Bangkok and debating between that and Chatrium Hotel. (We've been to both places before). But the big news is...I just looked up the Queen's Hotel and that seems more like my taste in terms of location. I really enjoy shopping, eating at local restaurants and just puttering around a town no matter the size. Helga's Folly really sounded cool to me, but I might enjoy my time better at Queen's Hotel. And the "funkiness" really doesn't bother me.
It's Sri Lanka, not NYC. That being said, now I'm rethinking where we're staying in Dambulla. Looking at the map and knowing my taste for puttering, I'm thinking Habarana might be a better location for our 3 night stay in the cultural triangle. Any recos for restaurants, hotels/guesthouses?

following a recommendation here [Cathie I think] we stayed at the Kandalama in Dambulla and absolutely loved it and the food was excellent.

No chances for "puttering" though - it's out in the middle of nowhere. In fact we got so fed up with places in the middle of nowhere that when we got to Galle we rebelled and cancelled the place that was booked for us and went to find our own place in the Fort. Great decision.

Yes, I did recommend the Kandalama - we loved it too. And the location is central for the places you will want to see.

There is nowhere I saw in the Cultural Triangle that would appeal to your desire to "putter." We visited several hotels and all were out in the middle of nowhere.

sorry for misspelling your name, Kathie.

Galle and Kandy are places that we thought were best placed for "puttering", or even NE perhaps [great botanical gardens there, BTW with a lovely cafe at the entrance].