Sri Lanka is a amazing island and it certainly packs a holiday punch.
On an island about the size of Tasmanina, lives the population of Australia (22M) and it offers everything you could want from a holiday destination. You can be walking along a deserted beach one moment, relaxing in the cool climes of tea hills the next. Visit a world heritage listed ancient city or safari through untouched rain forests in search of an elusive leopard.
Looking for a little adventure, look no further than Sri Lanka.
Most blogs or travel articles I've read infer that the holiday
experience is slanted towards, if not solely for, backpackers. They discuss hostel accommodation at $20 a night and 100 ruppee (80c) rides on often crowded and rickety buses. By all means you can see the sites on the cheap but it‘s not the only option.
Great Affordable Hotels With my backpacking days well behind me, my holiday wish list comes with the desire for privacy, comfort and a little luxury, at prices that wont break the bank. And Sri Lanka has that in spades!
The term 'affordable luxury' comes to mind. You can book a 4 star hotel for around AUD85.00 - 100 a night including breakfast and taxes (3 star are even less - perhaps not so luxurious). Better still there are fabulous boutique hotels, B&B's and home stays popping up all over the island. These are smaller more intimate and less commercial places, with great hosts and service and they can be found for as little as AUD135.
Tip: if you go direct to the hotel you will almost always find they will offer a better rate than the booking sites (agoda, expedia, trivago and such ) These sites charge a whopping 25-30% commission. If the hotel receives a booking direct they save that commission and will often pass some of that saving onto you. It requires a little more admin and planning, but it is certainly worth it in the long run.
Comfortable Chauffeur Driven Transport So we've established you can stay at a really nice hotel for a reasonable price; what about getting around? Here in Sri Lanka, you don’t have to worry about public transport or sticking to someone else's schedule. A chauffeur driven car is well and truly affordable. At AUD60-70 per day, you can relax and enjoy the view and let someone else worry about the driving and directions. Book a car for the entire trip and you'll no doubt be able to negotiate a good deal. The flexibility (and luxury) of having the car and driver on call means your holiday can run at your own pace and deviate as you please. Check out my blog www.srilankahiddentreasureswww.srilankahiddentreasures.com/blog
for more information on car hire and what to expect.
Indulgent Itineraries
8-14 day itineraries that are typically suggested by travel agents, in my opinion, try and pack in too much. As I said earlier - Sri Lanka has a myriad of things to see and do ; just don't try and do it all in one visit. A hectic schedule means you'll spend more time on the road rather than enjoying the sights. Distances between sights or hotels are short; however travel time is longer than you'd expect. The roads
whilst good, are single carriage way - so you're sharing the road with buses, tuk-tuks, tractors, cows, motorbikes and more - making travel slower. When you build or review an itinerary, keep travel times between hotels (according to Google) to around 2.5 hours. There is only one person I know who can actually achieve Google's estimated travel times (and sometimes beat them) - my husband - and tourist
drivers like take it a lot slower to ensure a comfortable drive. 2.5 hours on Google translates 3+ in reality depending on the time of day you travel and where you are; add in a pit stop and some sightseeing and you're looking at 4 to 4.5 hours on the road. Thus, where possible, I'd recommend a minimum 2 nights in any one place; you can spend your arrival evening at leisure, sightsee the following day and
have a leisurly breakfast on your day of check-out (most hotels have a 10 or 11am check out time) before traveling to your next destination.
An alternative is to fly, using a local light or sea-plane service, cutting travel time down considerably and giving you the chance to see the island from the air. Cinnamon Air
has reasonably priced scheduled flights (eg Colombo to Kandy is around AUD225 per person) and slightly more expensive charter flights. Consider including one or two on your trip.
There are a few ways to design your itinerary, one way to plan is to first decide what 'type' of holiday you want.
Romantic, relaxing, adventure;
Slow, medium or fast paced;
Culture, Beach, mountains, safari
Use the questionairre www.srilankahiddentreasures.com
(from the itineraries menu) I've developed to help you narrow it down.
Once you've determined your choices, then you can start to design your trip. It really is impossible to do everything on your first visit. I've lived here for 7 years and we are still uncovering places to go. If you only have a couple of weeks then I'd suggest picking two options, three at a stretch. Say beaches, culture and mountains, or culture, safari and beach.
Many hotels are destination hotels, where the property itself has something more to offer than a just a bed and
a buffet breakfast. Lets face it, one of the most expensive items on your holiday budget is hotel accommodation, so you want to make it count. Enhance your holiday by choosing hotels that encapsulate your destination; a house on the beach, a houseboat on the lake or a lodge
inside the safari park. They are all available and all affordable.
I've put together some sample itineraries which I will be sharing over the next few blogs, that flow well and although not personalised, will give you a taste of Sri Lanka
should you choose to follow one of them.
Of course, if you want help to create a truly unique experience, I’d love to help. Head to www.srilankahiddentreasires.com, choose your itinerary length and answer the questionnaire and we'll take it from there.
Comments are always welcome!
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