annhig

being a regular on the europe and lounge forums, i knew that I should come here for some reliable preliminary advice on a possible trip to Sri Lanka in June 2010.

the trip would cover 10/11 nights [depends on flight times] in June for me, DH and our two grown-up kids, we would use a driver/guide, and like a mixture of wild-life and sightseeing.

my questions are:

is June a good time to travel in Sri Lanka?

is it easy to organise this type of tour oneself, or would it be better to use a tour company ? [I found reddot for example on another thread] can anyone recommend a reliable tour company?

is 10-11 days long enough to see a reasonable amount? - most tours seem to take 14 days to go from the airport, to the "cultural triangle", down to Galle, and back up to Colombo. what could we miss out but still have a worthwhile trip?

can we fit a trip to Yala into this length of trip? how long should we stay there to make the most of it?

thanks so much for any help you can give me.

regards, ann

PS - I'm hoping to limit our travel and accommodation costs to £1000 per person. is that too little/excessively lavish? we don't need luxury, but don't want to slum it either.

Kathie

Have you read my trip report? Just click on my name and you'll find a list of my trip reports. There is also a link to our photos.

Drive times in Sri Lanka are long due to twisty roads and people/animals/"landmasters"/other odd vehicles on the roads, so you'll want to be aware of this as you figure out an itinerary. In 10-11 days you can see/do/experience at lot in Sri Lanka, but choose your locations carefully. For instance, we opted not to visit Galle or Yala, in part due to drive times. If you aren't familiar with traveling in Asia, you'll need to slow down to experience these places. It's not Europe where you can quickly and easily hop from one place to another.

We used an agent, Boutique Sri Lanka, to book our trip. Many of the small properties are best booked through an agent. We also had them book us a car and driver, but no guide. We used local guides where we wanted them.

BTW, we looked at Red Dot and found them more expensive that BSL, but do yoru own price comparisons.

Craig

Read my trip report and then come back with questions. The more time the better, obviously. With 10-11 days you will probably have to sort out what is important to you: cultural sites, hiking (tea country), beach, safari etc. You can pretty much customize your trip with reddot, boutiquesrilanka etc. I think you can do just fine with your budget if you skip Tea Trails or cut way back somewhere else.

http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...eport-2008.cfm

Mohammed

10-11 days is a good duration.

Suggest you to use an independent travel agent in Sri Lanka to oragnise your car and tour.

June is not the best time of year to visit, South West monsoon season and southern/western coast/beaches are fully out of season, also no winter migrant birds on the wildlife side. Yala/leopards can still be good in June and if your really keen on the beach Nilaveli/East coast os fabulous as it does not get affected by the SW Monsoon.

Mohammed

BTW Stg 100 pppd is workable.

thursdaysd

Hi ann - nice to see you on the Asia board. Looking forward to following this - Sri Lanka is well up my with list.

annhig

hi craig, mohammed, thursdays - thanks for all the help/advice.

not sure if this trip is going to come off, at least not this year, but it's an idea that's been about 25 years in the making so one year more or less won't make a lot of difference; we'll get there in the end.

BTW Mohammed - if you had a free choice, and wanted to see animals/culture, what time of year would you visit sri lanka?

Mohammed

Jan-March is probably best.

ranmalie

Hi, I was born and raised in Sri Lanka and visit family every year. When I travel with my husband we make it a vacation. Some of the major reputable tour companies in Sri Lanka are John Keels and Aitken Spence. They own lot of hotels, do tours, rent cars etc.

www.johnkeellshotels.com

www.aitkenspencetravels.com

I would recommend you do a tour or plan your own trip and rent a car and dirver. Driving in Sri Lanka is not easy, lot of traffic, roads are not very good and it takes hours to reach places! Don't be deceived by the mileage! During rush hour traffic it could take you an hour to travel 10 miles in Colombo city!! Once you are out of Colombo, it is much better.

The Cultural triangle is a must, a few days at the beaches in the south and maybe a trip to the hill country to see the tea plantations around Nuwara Eliya. On your way to the tea plantations you can stop in Kandy. Since the war is over people are going to the beaches in the East which are more beautiful tham the sounth, but it is kind of far and I don't believe there are many hotels there yet! A visit to the Elephant orphanage in "Pinnawala" (on your way to Kandy)is a must to see the baby elephants being fed!

Tourist hotels are plenty in Sri Lanka, and I have not been to many of them. There are a lot of up market boutique hotels which are amazing, but there are also some lovely affordable ones. One of our favourites are the "Kandalama hotel" in the Cultural triangle (5 star)which won the "green award" several years ago. It is in the middle of the jungle and built in to a huge rock. In the morning you are awakened to the monkeys in your balcony! For your time in Colombo, you may want to consider the "Mt.Lavinia" hotel which is in the outskirts of Colombo and is one of the oldest hotels and has a interesting history and story behind it. The main attraction of the hotel is the huge patio overlooking the sea, where you can watch the sunset and have a cocktail or dinner. The only downside to this hotel is that there are lots of weddings held in the hotel and the lobby is always crowded with brides and their wedding parties!!! If you want to see a Sri Lankan wedding you are bound to see several here!!

You may want to think about going in August, just to see the "Kandy Perehara" It is a religious pagent in Kandy and is awesome. There are over 75 elephants in the pagent all dressed up and lit up, lots of dancers, etc. and it goes every night for 7 days around the Kandy lake. I am sure you must have read about it.

Sri lankan are friendly people and will always be ready to assist you!

The last time I was there with my husband we rented a car and driver from Malkey.

www.malkey.lk

I believe they are cheaper than bigger car rental companies. The car was in pretty good condition and the driver was great!

Hope you have a great trip to Sri Lanka !

annhig

hi ranmalie,

thank you so much for posting. [you too mohammed!] so much to think about.I need to start some serious research!

regards, ann