Quick visit to Sri Lanka - do we need a driver in Galle?

Hi,

We are travelling to Sri Lanka for a week at the end of the month (with our 22 month old son), and I was just after some advice. As we are planning on going back, we don’t need to squeeze too much into this trip, and we want to put the emphasis on relaxing (as much as that is possible when travelling with a toddler!)

We are flying into Colombo and spending the day/night there, then we are going to Galle from Monday through to Friday. We then have 2 nights in Negombo and we fly out early Sunday morning.

We have arranged airport transfers on either end of the trip, but I was just wondering what the best way to get too and from Galle would be? We are considering hiring a driver for 5 days to get us to and from Galle and to take us around each day for an explore. Is this worth doing? Or are we better off arranging a driver each day, depending on what we want to do?

Does anyone have any recommendations on drivers and what sort of cost we should expect? We don’t want to do a tour as such, but we would like to be able to get around and see things while we are there.

Does anyone have any recommendations on things to do/see in Colombo, Galle and Negombo?

Thanks for your assistance :-)