So if you follow me on instagram, you will have maybe noticed I went to Sri Lanka last month (yes, that's because I took it upon myself to spam you all as much as possible!). It was one of the most incredible trips with everything from safaris, beaches, hikes, amazing (and super cheap!) food, easy transport links and incredibly friendly people!
I've outlined an itinerary for you all below, but with added tips of what we would do in hindsight - so you don't make some of the same mistakes we did!
Also, you may have noticed that this blog post was jointly written by myself and Aaron (my wonderful boyfriend and the best travel companion *cringe*), because this was a joint trip and we both wanted to add in our thoughts - so it would have been unfair of me to take all the credit!
THE ITINERARY
Day 0 - TRAVEL DAY
We were flying from 12:00 GMT, and landed in Sri Lanka 08:30 IST, 2 days later. In total it was an 18 hours flight.
TIP: You can get a local bus from the airport to the city centre bus station for equivalent of 50p and it takes approx 30 minutes. These are situated just opposite the airport entrance.
Day 1 - COLOMBO/NEGOMBO
In quest to not give into jetlag, after arriving at 08:30 IST, we made sure to stay awake for as long as possible. We walked through Colombo old town from the bus station to the hotel. Here you can get an easy glimpse of what Colombo is like. We were not very keen on Colombo as it was very busy and dirty, so after having freshened up, we hopped on a local bus to Negombo (about 30 mins away from Colombo by bus).
Negombo's city is very similar to Colombo, but we headed straight to the beach. As a beach, it was very quiet and quite deserted and there was an unfortunate amount of litter on the beach which really spoiled the natural beauty. We spent the rest of the day walking along the beach, having a beer at one of the beach bars and then getting food before heading back to Colombo and being asleep by 18:00!
TIP: Bypass Colombo and Negombo all together, you are best to head to Pinnawalla or one of the other destinations on your itinerary.
DAY 2 - HABARANA (MINNERIYA NATIONAL PARK)
Get up nice and early and get the 06:05 train from Colombo to Habarana. It is a direct train and is approx a 5-6 hour journey. We stayed at Le Grand Meaulnes - which I would highly recommend! They offered us lunch, before arranging a safari to Minneriya National Park between 2-5pm - which worked perfectly with our schedule! Minneriya national park is known for it's abundance of elephants and it did not disappoint! We saw over 100 elephants (including 2 day year old baby elephants!), as well as interesting birds, monkeys and reptiles. You can expect to pay around £30-40 each for all transport/entrance fee/taxes for this trip.
TIP: You can't predict exact train times in Sri Lanka - always allow extra time! If you want to plan excursions, it is best to book with your hotel prior to arrival and they can recommend best times and often will combine your trips with other people to make it cheaper.
DAY 3 - HABARANA (SIGIRIYA ROCK, PIDURANGALA ROCK, DAMBULLA)
Pidurangala Rock - We got picked up (transport arranged with our hotel) at 04:30 and drove 20 minutes to Pidurangala Rock to start the 1 hour hike in the dark to the top, just in time for sunrise! The hike is fairly easy, however involves some boulder scrambling at the top! This rock provides an amazing view of the famous Sigiriya rock - so it is a must do in your itinerary. The entrance fee costs equivalent to £2.50.
Sigiriya Rock - Our transport then drove 10 minutes down the road after our Pidurangala hike, to Sigiriya Rock. We started our hike around 07:45. The hike takes approx 1-1.5 hours to complete (depending on how fast you walk). It is very clearly signposted the correct way to go, and there is a lot of stairs! I found this hike easier than the Pidurangala Rock. At the top - allow time to enjoy the view and temple ruins! This costs approx £25 per person.
TIP: There will be a lot of locals saying that you need to pay for a guide - you don't! It is very easy to complete the hike independently.
Dambulla - Dambulla is only a 25 minute drive away from Sigiriya Rock, so we visited Dambulla Cave Temple. This costs approx £7 per person.
TIP: If you have not visited many temples, then this one is quite cool as you are literally in a cave! However, if you have visited multiple temples in your travelling time - I would suggest it is a little overrated and in hindsight, we would not do it again.
The rest of the day we wandered round the very small town of Habarana and tried some yummy fruit juice and just relaxed after a super busy morning/early afternoon! TIP: If you are feeling particularly energetic, you could visit Polonuwarra Archaeological Ruins in this gap - however we were quite tired and it was going to cost quite a lot to arrange private transport there and the entrance fee is approx £25.
DAY 4 - PINAWALLA
To get to Pinawalla from Habarana, we experienced the local buses (3 to be exact) which is easy enough to do as our hotel told us what stops we needed to get off at. We made sure to tell the ticket man on the bus to let us know when we were at our stop and at the bus stations, the locals were very helpful to point us in the direction of the next bus we needed! Each bus cost approx 20p and the journey took 3.5 hours in total.
Our reasoning of visiting Pinawalla was to stay at Hotel Elephant Bay where you basically wake up and see elephants bathing outside your window! TIP: Pay the extra for a river view room - it is definitely worth it!
However, what they don't tell you is that you are only allowed into the hotel (and half the 1 main street for that matter) after 16:00. Therefore if you arrive really early like we did - you are a bit stuck with what to do! We ended up going to an elephant dung paper making shop, a spice garden (really cool - but don't feel pressure to buy anything as it's super expensive!) and a tuk tuk driver took us a drive around the local villages and paddy fields for next to nothing in price!
DAY 5 - KANDY
Stay in Pinawalla until late morning/noon to make the most of enjoying the elephants bathe in the river, before heading to Kandy. We decided to stop at Peradeniya Royal Botanic Gardens (30 minutes away from Pinawalla, and 10 minutes away from Kandy) - which although sounds a bit random, was well worth it! You could leave your bags at the entrance office for free and there is so much beauty to explore around these botanic gardens. My favourite was the palm tree avenue (you could literally be in LA) and the Orchid House! You could easily spend all day here but we spent about 3 hours exploring. We got the train from Rambukanana (5 minutes by tuk tuk from Pinawalla) to Peradeniya and then the bus from Peradeniya to Kandy.
Believe it or not, there isn't actually a lot to do in Kandy - the Kandy Lake and Viewpoint is lovely to walk up and around but other than that there is not a lot there. We were only there for the late afternoon and evening and this was enough.
DAY 6 - TALAWAKELLE/NANOYA/NUWARA ELIYA
You may be looking at this heading and thinking woah this is crazy! But there is method to our madness, we promise! Kandy to Ella is world famous for being one of the most scenic and beautiful train journeys across the globe. We caught the train at 08:47... TIP: This is the most common train, it was so full and we didn't get a seat the entire time we were on it! Either go for the slightly later train or reserve a seat a few days in advance.
After not being able to sit down for 4 hours, we got off at Talawakelle at 12:00pm - a tiny town but has the beautiful St Clair and Devon Waterfalls which you can admire from the side of the road from a distance, in amongst the beautiful tea plantations. We enjoyed this as it gave us a rest from being on the train! We were probably off the train for a 2 hours in total. TIP: Once getting off the train, simply ask a tuk tuk driver to drive you the 3km to these sights and they will wait for you and then bring you straight back to the station.
We caught the train to continue our journey to Nanoya at 13:56 (this train originates from Kandy and is the next one after the 08:47). This train was a lot quieter and we were able to get a seat and plenty of photos. We arrived in Nanoya around 15:00, where we checked into our guest house near the station and headed to Nuwara Eliya for the evening to explore. (If you're confused - Nanoya is the closest train station to Nuwara Eliya and you can easily get a 15 minute bus or tuk tuk between the 2 places). TIP: Because it gets dark at around 18:00, it was here we realised there was lots more to explore than we could do in just an afternoon, and spontaneously decided to stay an extra night to have a full day to spend the next day.
Tip: Nuwara Eliya is very high up in the mountains and the temperature drops, so ensure to bring some slightly warmer clothes. We got quite a shock going from 30C to 14C!
DAY 7 - NUWARA ELIYA
We decided not to do the famous 'World's End/Horton Plains' as it was going to take too long, be too complicated and very expensive (both in travel and tourist tax) to do. Instead we did Moon Plains, which is in Nuwara Eliya. Once you get to a certain point, you need to hire a jeep because of the certain farms which are there to get to the top (I wasn't the biggest fan of this, as I love a hike and feel like the view at the top needs to be earned haha). At the top however, you could see Sri Lanka's 9 highest peaks which was very cool. It is recommended to go for sunrise - however we were there about 10:00am and managed to see all the peaks.
After this we took a slight detour to see the 'Little England Cottages' which are about a 30 minute walk away from Lake Gregory. To do this we just followed google maps - it took us off the beaten track, through local villages and eventually we could see the cottages, however they are still under construction so we only observed from a distance. These are a surreal sight, especially coming from England - to see a country so many miles away, copy your type of housing!
Other sights we enjoyed whilst in Nuwara Eliya was the Adma Agro Strawberry Farm (definitely try the fresh strawberry juice), walking around Lake Gregory (which we hired a water ski to also go around - which costs the equivalent of £16 for 2 people!) and walking through Victoria Park and the Old English (red brick!) post office!
DAY 8 - ELLA (LITTLE ADAM'S PEAK)
We continued on the most scenic train journey by getting the 09:18 train from Nanouya to Ella (this train originates from Kandy starting at 3am ish - so was so much quieter!). The journey takes approx 3 hours.
On arrival, we took it fairly slowly and the main thing we did on this day was hike Little Adam's Peak. This only takes 1 hour up and 1 hour down. The hike is well sign posted and is quite an easy one to achieve.
TIP: We decided not to do the classic 'Adam's Peak' because it was not the correct season when we went, meaning that after hiking to the top you would see nothing but mist. We met numerous people who had hiked from 2am for 4 hours and got to the summit with no view! - Check the weather before attempting this hike!
DAY 9 - ELLA (ELLA ROCK AND COOKING CLASS)
On this day we hiked up Ella Rock in the morning. It is not the easiest hike to do in regards to directions - however this website shows through pictures how to get there from Ella town centre - so I would recommend using that like we did. The hike takes 2 hours to get up then 2 hours to get down and consists of uneven terrain. The view up the top is gorgeous however and there is also fresh juices you can buy up the top, after quite the hike! I would recommend starting the hike as early as possible to avoid the heat (we started it at 08:00 but wished we started at 07:00).
In the early evening, we completed a Sri Lankan cooking class. Now if you're new to the blog - you will soon find out that cooking is one of my passions! I loved being able to learn new recipes to take home with me and continue to enjoy - as the Sri Lankan cuisine is delicious. We went to Lanka Cooking Class, where we learnt how to make curry powder and coconut milk from scratch, as well as 4 Sri Lankan curries and coconut rotti. We were able to write down the recipe as we went along, so that we would not forget. This cost the equivalent of £10 per person.
DAY 10 - ELLA/HAPUTALE (LIPTON'S SEAT AND RAVANA FALLS)
If you want to do Lipton's Seat at sunrise, it is best that you stay in Haputale for the night as there is no public transport early enough and you would have to spend extra on a private taxi to get there for sunrise. We got the earliest train at 06:00 and takes 1 hour by train to get to Haputale. In order to get there as early as possible, we paid for a tuk tuk to take us to the top so we would have a chance of getting a good view (this journey takes approx 30 minutes) - so we were at the summit for 08:30. It became much cloudier at 09:00-09:30, so ensure to bare this in mind when planning this part of the trip. We then opted for hiking back down, where you walk through beautiful tea plantations and at the bottom you can visit Dambettena Tea Factory (Lipton's first factory), and see the process of how tea is made!
DAY 11 - ELLA (9 ARCH BRIDGE)/ TISSAMARAHAMA
On this day we randomly decided to hike up Little Adam's Peak again (because why not!) - but obviously this is optional! From here we walked 40 minutes to the 9 Arch Bridge. This bridge is a really stunning piece of architecture and you can walk over the train tracks, sit on the edge of the bridge and get up close when a train is going past. TIP: Co-ordinate your visit to this bridge when a train is due to pass. We got there at 10am, stayed 2 hours to enjoy and take pictures, then watched the 12pm train go past.
TIP: For Ella, note that around this time of year it downpours with rain religiously everyday at 4pm!
We then went onto Tissamarahama. We got a private taxi which took 1.5 hours in total and cost approx. £20 (we bartered a little!). We were going to get local buses, however this was going to take 5 hours and due to it being rush hour, we would have been unlikely to get a seat. There is not much to do in Tissamarahama - it's main attraction is being close to Yala National Park. We did however come across Tissa Lake, which did a small boat evening bird safari ride and we saw multiple bats, exotic birds and even a crocodile! It was a very enjoyable place to watch the sunset.
DAY 12 - TISSAMARAHAMA (YALA NATIONAL PARK AND UDAWALAE NATIONAL PARK)
Now I won't bore you with the disaster we had with Yala National Park (we organised it with our hotel and you can read the review here), but lets conclude that you need to be careful about who you book your safari with, and the time of year you go.
Alternatively, you can head straight to Udawalae National Park which was amazing and we much preferred this. We were a little crazy and after having a disappointing safari ride in the morning (we were up since 4am), we decided to get a tuk tuk for 1-2 hours directly to Udawalae National Park then pay for a jeep on arrival. We were there for 3pm, which was good time to see the animals. The best times for safaris are sunrise and between 3-6pm before sunset. Aaron and I really enjoyed this safari ride - our guide was very knowledgeable and we saw a variety of animals including elephants, water buffalo, deer, peacocks, monkeys, eagles and reptiles. This not so cost effective way of adding this into the trip only cost us each approx £30 extra (in hindsight we were very glad we did this!)
From here we then spent far too long on local buses (about 4 hours), getting to Unawatuna, however it was very cheap and we were a little low on money hence the reason to get a bus! However a tuk tuk would have only cost the equivalent of £20.
DAY 13 - UNAWATUNA
I LOVED Unawatuna! We added this into the end of the trip as a bit of beach relaxation, before the travel back! We spent time sunbathing, swimming, visiting the Harabaduwa Turtle conservation (a small but really important charity to increase the survival rates of turtles in these parts of Sri Lanka) and swinging on the rope swings on Danawella Beach.
DAY 14 - UNAWATUNA/ GALLE
Our last full day was spent with a morning on the beach in Unawatuna, then got a 10 minute bus ride to Galle to explore the old fortress for the afternoon. This is the main attraction in Galle and it is only 5 minutes walk from the bus station. As well as walking around the fort walls, you can explore the cute and dainty streets inside the fort walls - which consists of independent restaurants and bazaar shops.
From here we got the local bus to Colombo and then onto Negombo, to literally sleep then get a flight the next day. TIP: Don't get the local bus! Pay for the express bus to Colombo and then get a tuk tuk to Negombo, in order to reduce the travel time after a busy day.
DAY 15 - TRAVEL DAY
Sadly back to reality! A tuk tuk is really easy to arrange with your hotel to the airport from Negombo. The journey takes approx 20 minutes.
IN CONCLUSION
We went in the first 2 weeks in September, if you go any other time - check the weather conditions for some of the activities as they may or may not be suitable. NOTE: Sri Lanka is also famous for whale watching, but they are out of season in September so hence why it is not included in this itinerary.
It is a very cheap country for a very high level of service.
Be adventurous with the food (our favourite was any of the pumpkin curry, dhal and kuttah).
Easy public transport links, but local transport isn't always time effective.
There is something for everyone in this country; beach, hikes and safaris.
I hope this blog post has got you thinking about how you could spend your next holiday! Feel free to get in contact if you have any further questions!
Happy Travelling!
Ruth xxx