WHY TRAVEL SRI LANKA WITH US?
There is a little bit of everything in Sri Lanka.
The colour and richness of India, the beaches and rolling seas that would befit any Indian Ocean island, the ancient ruins of Indonesia and cuisine that compares with any in Asia… and it’s all found in one treasure-packed teardrop-shaped gem. Marco Polo called it one of the best islands in the world. Over the centuries, Indians, Portuguese, Dutch and the British have all left their mark with ancient cities, monuments, and colonial architecture. There are unexpected delights everywhere – not least its wildlife. With 15 national parks, conservation is high on the list, along with safaris to see the elusive leopard. And it is one of just a few places where the world’s biggest land and sea mammals (the elephant and blue whale) can both be seen in one day.
KEY THINGS TO KNOW
POPULATION
21.67 M
CURRENCY
RUPEE
(LKR)
CAPITAL
COLOMBO
TIME DIFFERENCE
GMT +5:30
LANGUAGE
TAMIL
SINHALA
BEST TIME TO GO
DEC – MAR /
MAY – SEPT
EXAMPLE ITINERARIES
These are simply suggestions for the kind of holiday you might have. Yours will be tailored, altered, and refined until it matches you completely.
OUR TOP 3
If we were asked to choose our top three places in Sri Lanka, we’d go for these.
GALLE
The most perfectly preserved colonial town in all of Sri Lanka
A historical and multi-cultured melting pot, Galle is acclaimed not only for its Dutch Fort (the slow-beating heart of the town’s history) but also its intricate Galle lace, ebony, wood-carvings, polished gems and steady string of cultural events, particularly the Galle Literary Festival. Gentle strolls will unravel the fort’s unique history and reveal colonial buildings still in use today, a succession of bijou shops and cafés lining the streets and the ramparts and seawall, where locals and visitors alike gather to play cricket, fly kites, or simply inhale the wonders of its maritime legacy.
HATTON
Tea fields and countrysides.
Hatton literally screams with the successes of the pioneering tea-planters who made Ceylon tea a household name after the 1865 coffee blight. Old Ceylon’s upcountry plantations were devastated – but not so the spirits of the quick-witted Brits who threw in a crop of tea and never looked back. Enigmatically surrounded by a tapestry of tea fields, reservoirs and sloping hills, Hatton is living proof that this major industry not only stood the test of time, but also made the countryside a stunning place in the process. Start your day with an adrenaline-fuelled hike up Adam’s Peak, take a tea factory tour, punt on a reservoir and savour high tea atop manicured lawns before a languid croquet match.
KANDY
Perfectly preserved colonial town.
Kandy is one of Sri Lanka’s most scenic cities – once an impenetrable fortress for the Sinhala monarchs, now the capital of the central province and the second-largest city in the country. Frequently visited by Buddhists (especially of the Theravada School), Kandy is famous for being home to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Sri Dalada Maligawa, which houses Sri Lanka’s most important Buddhist relic, the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. Also, worth a visit are the Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya – the Kew of Kandy – which started out as a royal pleasure park in 1747.
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