Sri Lanka.....
Discussion
Looking for a very late deal Honeymoon and Sri Lanka has popped into budget.
However we only have a week.
Is it worth going for just a week?
The deal we've been offered is the Jetwing Sea in Negombo.
Now from my limited research I understand that at least in this area we can go into town and sea a little of the local area.
Is it also feasible to do day trips from this area - particularly to a National Park (I think there is one North of Negombo?) or the elephant sanctuary (although we're not 100% on this it sound VERY commercialised)
I would love to tour but don't think we have the time to do it.
Is it worth travelling to Sigariya to do the Lion Rock?
Some of the properties in the Bentota area are also available however I understand that being in that area involves a long transfer from the airport and also limits what day trips are within strikable distance?
Any other advice?
Cheers
However we only have a week.
Is it worth going for just a week?
The deal we've been offered is the Jetwing Sea in Negombo.
Now from my limited research I understand that at least in this area we can go into town and sea a little of the local area.
Is it also feasible to do day trips from this area - particularly to a National Park (I think there is one North of Negombo?) or the elephant sanctuary (although we're not 100% on this it sound VERY commercialised)
I would love to tour but don't think we have the time to do it.
Is it worth travelling to Sigariya to do the Lion Rock?
Some of the properties in the Bentota area are also available however I understand that being in that area involves a long transfer from the airport and also limits what day trips are within strikable distance?
Any other advice?
Cheers
Dan, we did it for our honeymoon for a week, followed by a few days in the maldives to relax/recover as we spent our time in SL travelling around and seeing places.
It is an amazing country with great scenery, loads of history, lovely people (and great food). I'd highly recommend it if you like to see/experience places but if you want to relax on a beach there are probably better places.
Consider getting a driver for the week and travelling round the island; from memory we did the first and last night in Columbo, and in between did Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, tea country and various other places I can't recall at the moment. We didn't scrimp on hotels but they were superb and very good value.
Good luck (with the wedding too!)
It is an amazing country with great scenery, loads of history, lovely people (and great food). I'd highly recommend it if you like to see/experience places but if you want to relax on a beach there are probably better places.
Consider getting a driver for the week and travelling round the island; from memory we did the first and last night in Columbo, and in between did Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, tea country and various other places I can't recall at the moment. We didn't scrimp on hotels but they were superb and very good value.
Good luck (with the wedding too!)
We stayed at the Jetwing Sea about a month ago, had a brilliant time, very quiet, lovely beach, no stress, weather was pretty good high 20's / low 30's...being right on the beach there's plenty of breeze and natural shade if needed..
We managed 8 nights for £750 B&B
Breakfast and dinner in the Restaurant and seafood restaurant was pretty good, decent selection and not overly expensive, and plenty or restaurants/shops a tuk tuk ride or short walk away...
There's about 3 or 4 Jetwing hotels on the same stretch of road / beach and the Jetwing Sea imo was by far the best.
We managed an evening out in Colombo during the recent Vesak festival which was good fun, very busy and plenty to see in an evening of wandering around soaking in the atmosphere...the festival was spread over 3 days so coincided with the tour that we'd arranged...so all of the attractions were packed with locals on a "pilgrimage" of sorts so made visiting everything a little bit more fun..!
Booked a 3 day / 2 night tour to see the sites via the Kuoni rep in the hotel, got it down to £265 each for a private car, decent hotels for both the nights and a very good driver and an itinerary that covered whatever we could possibly cram in in 3 days...not cheap but we felt we got value for money
I think we saw...
Sigirya
Temple of tooth
Kandy tour
Pollunwara
Anuradapura
Nuwara Elliya / Tea factory..
Things we didn't do as there's only so much you can do in a week!
We were tempted to head to the Maldives for a couple day but we just couldn't stretch the holiday any further, flight are roughly £90 E/W..
We spotted a dive shop in town so that's something else than can be arranged.
Have a great time!
We managed 8 nights for £750 B&B
Breakfast and dinner in the Restaurant and seafood restaurant was pretty good, decent selection and not overly expensive, and plenty or restaurants/shops a tuk tuk ride or short walk away...
There's about 3 or 4 Jetwing hotels on the same stretch of road / beach and the Jetwing Sea imo was by far the best.
We managed an evening out in Colombo during the recent Vesak festival which was good fun, very busy and plenty to see in an evening of wandering around soaking in the atmosphere...the festival was spread over 3 days so coincided with the tour that we'd arranged...so all of the attractions were packed with locals on a "pilgrimage" of sorts so made visiting everything a little bit more fun..!
Booked a 3 day / 2 night tour to see the sites via the Kuoni rep in the hotel, got it down to £265 each for a private car, decent hotels for both the nights and a very good driver and an itinerary that covered whatever we could possibly cram in in 3 days...not cheap but we felt we got value for money
I think we saw...
Sigirya
Temple of tooth
Kandy tour
Pollunwara
Anuradapura
Nuwara Elliya / Tea factory..
Things we didn't do as there's only so much you can do in a week!
We were tempted to head to the Maldives for a couple day but we just couldn't stretch the holiday any further, flight are roughly £90 E/W..
We spotted a dive shop in town so that's something else than can be arranged.
Have a great time!
Negombos ok, but not sure if I could manage a week there because apart from having a nice beach theres not really much else to do.
Its definitely worth getting inland if you can. Kandy is worth a day as is going further into the hill country (Nuwara Eliya / Ella). The tea plantations are impressive and the views can be stunning. We did a walk up to the top of Ella rock which was amazing... starts off with a walk along the railway tracks before climbing through a tea plantation and then up through the forest to the very top.
We got lucky and paid a local farmer a couple of dollars to take us to the top and after he invited us into his hut where his wife made us all tea. That was pretty special.
Colombo is worth a day too just to see the hecticness of it and experience city life in Sri Lanka bombing around in a tuk tuk. It has some nice restaurants and traditional gift shops which are worth a look.
Its definitely worth getting inland if you can. Kandy is worth a day as is going further into the hill country (Nuwara Eliya / Ella). The tea plantations are impressive and the views can be stunning. We did a walk up to the top of Ella rock which was amazing... starts off with a walk along the railway tracks before climbing through a tea plantation and then up through the forest to the very top.
We got lucky and paid a local farmer a couple of dollars to take us to the top and after he invited us into his hut where his wife made us all tea. That was pretty special.
Colombo is worth a day too just to see the hecticness of it and experience city life in Sri Lanka bombing around in a tuk tuk. It has some nice restaurants and traditional gift shops which are worth a look.
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