We were 5 friends from India who were traveling to Srilanka on a reunion cum adventure trip. We chose our partner as IamSriLanka (for hotel and travel-flights we had booked independently) and tha...
t was the best decision we could have made. Before the trip had started, Dilani had helped me getting my Visa approval from the SL embassy which was stuck for some reason. She was extremely helpful right from the beginning in assisting us with the plan and travel iterations we had gone through.
Must Do itinerary for people YOUNG AT HEART in Srilanka: I am going to write a detailed review of our trip, it''ll be long but I hope it will be pleasing read to all the readers.
Day 1 (Fri): After landing at Colombo, we were greeted well by Mr. Chinthaka (amazing person) who was our driver cum guide. Did a bit of city tour, most of the day we were stuck in heavy traffic so couldn't do much. Later in the evening, we had gone to Bally's Casino; one of the biggest attractions in Colombo. It had a wonderful vibe to it, all the live performances were sensational. The crowd was amazing, food-drinks are complimentary and minimum buy-in is dirt cheap with 100LKR on some roulette tables. Fortunately, we made some money. A good start to the trip :* Best part about the casino is the late night FREE drop to the guests' hotels. Kingsbury (restaurant) and Galle Face Road are also a treat to watch. Our hotel was GSH Colombo- decent budget hotel, great location but with limited breakfast options.
Day 2 (Sat): Started a bit late from Colombo towards Kandy, got even more late due to traffic. Reached Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage. Nice place to see a lot of elephants eating, enjoying bath in the river. Later, we had stayed for half hour in spice garden. They had given us brief on naturally grown and hand-made medicines to cure day-to-day health issues. Then we had headed to Kandy, city was lively; full of tourists in flea market. Someone in dying minutes we managed to sneak in Temple Tooth Relic (UNESCO) site-a place of significance to Buddhists. We stayed at Liyya Residence, which I would say was a average hotel, location was far from city with just the basic hotel amenities. Not cool for honeymoon travelers. We missed "cultural show', gem museum due to time constraints.
Day 3(Sun): Started early after having breakfast at local market which served amazing SriLankan veg food. Best food we have had in the entire trip. A paradise for veggies. Must try Porridge (both green and brown) and all the snacks which they serve. Then we headed to "Glenloch" tea factory, good place and they nicely explain tea manufacturing process. Next we went to Hanuman Temple, which we on the way. In the afternoon, we reached Nuwara Eliya aka Little England. The weather was cold as it is a hill-station, the town had golf course, race course and other attraction. The entire route was scenic, lush green and weather was pleasant. We also sent few minutes at the Sita Devi Temple, crossed Ashok Vatika, Ravana waterfalls and Caves. Alternatively, river rafting, cave expedition and train journey to Nuwara can be done. We stayed in 'Peacock Reach Hotel' near Yala, it was decent hotel with pool and amenities.
Day 4(Mon): We had started early for Yala National Park Safari. 5-5:30am is the best time to reach at the gate. Queues are long and forest department are doing a great job maintaining the wildlife reserve. Being a nature buff, I loved the safari. We saw crocodiles, deer, elephants, wild boar, wild buffalo, mongoose and 7-8 species of birds (Srilankan National Bird also). The only thing we couldn't see was Leopard :(. Later we went to Galle Fort Area. Great place to shop, it has lot of tasty food joints, built in Dutch Style and the entire place a nice vibe to it. That day we stayed at Nor Lanka hotel in Unawantuna. Superb location, great host (Norwegian settled in SL), we loved the complimentary ice, snacks and soft drinks :).
Day 5(Tue): Again we had started early from hotel to Mirissa for whale & dolphin watching. Ferry leaves the coast at sharp 7am. We extremely lucky to see at least 6-7 blue whales and saw close to 40-50 dolphins. It was the best moment of the trip for most of us !!! Later we went to Hikkaduwa, where we relaxed by the beach-side restaurant called 'Mamas', great sunset view is guaranteed !! We stayed at Earl's Reef, the best hotel we had stayed so far in the trip. Beach facing with all the amenities. Must stay for all :).. We had planned water-sports but had to shift it to last day. Missed Jungle Boat Safari!
Day 6(Wed): Started early for Scuba diving (all were going for the first time), again we were lucky enough to find conducive weather for Scuba diving.
We spotted coral reef, lobster and 5-6 different types of fish. Overall good experience then only minus we couldn't manage to take underwater pics :/ However, it will always remain fresh in our memories :P. That was the last thing for the trip which will remain very close to our hearts in the years to come.
Constructive Feedback:
(1) After reaching the Casino we came to know that almost every hotel in Colombo gets free scratch coupons. In which, there are some guaranteed free chips. We were not knowing this, please make sure you inform the travelers and hotel guys about this.
(2) We had to somewhat struggle to find good veg food. All were veggies, make sure you have a big list of restaurants that serves good veg food. I know SL is famous for its seafood but none of us eat non-veg.
Srilanka is truly beautiful and perfect place for wildlife enthusiasts, beach lovers, gamblers and for many adventure sport freak !! Make your vacations great again :P
Special thanks to IamSrilanka team, Dilani and Chinthaka. You guys were very helpful :)
With Love,
Subham Maheshwari
Disha Agarwal
Geetanshu Bhatia
Hitaishi Kothari
Ravi Sharma