Thanks to Travel Triangle, we got a number of quotes with itineraries and were finally put in touch with Travco Adventures. I must take this opportunity to compliment Ms. Riyaz Fatma of Travel Triangle who was very responsive when I was facing internet problems for uploading our information on the website. She also made sure that we got very prompt responses in the initial stages from the Travel agent.
To start with, we should say that the 5-day Itinerary drawn up by Shanil of Travco Adventures for our first visit to Srilanka was very beautifully planned - We enjoyed every bit of the trip. Except for a hotel glitch that happened in Bentota (Hotel Riverside Araliya), the hotels that we stayed in, viz. Hotel Traveller's Nest (Kandy), Lake View Comfort Bungalow (Nuwara Eliya) and Coco Royal Resort (Bentota) were fabulous. We must compliment Shanil for his very prompt response in changing our lousy hotel in Bentota from Hotel Riverside Araliya to Coco Royal Resort (an excellent beach-side resort) at very short notice and that too late in the evening. Ofcourse, the Lake View Comfort Bungalow at Nuwara Eliya is a heavenly place to stay in.
Our Guide-cum-Driver Jagath was the best we could ask for - We would rate him 5-Star+. Thanks to him, we learnt a lot about the culture and history of Srilanka. Jagath is a warm person with excellent driving skills. He is very knowledgeable, ever willing to share his knowledge, always smiling, extremely punctual and very helpful. Having taken the pains to understand our taste, he ensured he took us to the right places where we thoroughly enjoyed the sights, the food and did excellent shopping.
During our 5-day trip we visited Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Bentota and Colombo. In Kandy, we went to the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, Spice Garden where we purchased many healing herbs / oils, visited the Temple of the Tooth at Kandy, St. Paul's Church (next to the Temple of the Tooth) and finally experienced the very energetic Kandyan Cultural Dance and Fire Show. On our way to Nuwara Eliya, we saw the Glenloch tea plantation at close quarters and were taken to the factory where they explained the whole process of tea making (right from plucking to end production), then stopped at the Ramboda Waterfalls and were shown a detailed educational video and were explained about the Upper Kothmale Hydro Power Project, and finally stopped by the Gregory Lake in Nuwara Eliya. Enroute to Bentota, we experienced the exciting White Water River Rafting on the Kithulgala River. In Bentota, we learnt about the Toddy Tapping process and tasted some toddy as well, did some water sports, visited the Turtle Farm and a Gem Mining field and were explained the step by step process of gem-mining and polishing. The final stage was Colombo, where we ended up completing our shopping for taking souvenirs back for our family & friends in India.
An excellent trip which we would recommend to our family & friends through Travel Triangle, with Travco Adventures and Mr. Jagath, our Driver.
C Dcosta Dcosta booked a trip to Sri Lanka for 5 days in a group of 5 adults on TravelTriangle website from Travco Adventures and submitted a review on May 22, 2017