Hi! I will be travelling to Sri Lanka in September - a few weeks with a friend and a few weeks alone. Don't want to plan too much but would love some tips/ideas - what not to miss, where best to go, what to avoid... etc !
Also - will be continuing travels from Sri Lanka into Asia. Any ideas of best/cheapest/interesting place to get to?
Thank you!
Hello there.. I've been to sri lanka recently. A very beautiful country, beaches, ancient ruins, mountains, villages as well as busy cities like Colombo. There are several nice beaches like negonbo, nilaweli, pasikudah, unawatuna, hikkaduwa etc. You can visit Anuradhapura, polonnaruwa, sigiriya, kandy, jaffna, galle etc if you are interested in ruins like me. There are some places that you are not allowed to take pictures, so be careful. Also if you like mountain tracking, horton plains would be a nice adventure. If you prefer to see wild animals you should not miss yala, vilpaththu, wasgamuwa and minneriya. All these places have safari tour facilities. You will miss the opportunity of tracking sri-paada as the time you visit there is the off season and it is the rainy season of the area. Travelling by public transport will be tiresome, it would be best if you can get a vehicle arranged. People are friendly too, you can get a tour guide from the area you are visiting or from the hotel you are going to stay. Hope this helps. Really hope you enjoy the tour as i did mine.
Not to miss whale watching at galle and trinco, kuthulgala water rafting, bike ride via ella and the museum of colombo.
Wow a great summary about Sri Lanka. I would like to add some missing places though. Beaches : Arugambay, Mirissa, Chillaw, Benthota, Tangalle, Trinco, Kalpitiya, Kirinda Hiking, Trekking, Camping and Safari : Hanthana, Knuckles Conservation Forest, Udawalawa , Yala, Wilpattu, Galoya, Kumana, Bundala, Kaudulla, Sembuwatta, Habarana, Namunukula, Ella
Sri Lanka is a great country to in and as mentioned caters for many interests from culture/ruins to wildlife to hiking and to beach time. with a month you can cover a lot of the country quite easily. After flying into Colombo airport the majority of travellers will start off in Negombo, a beach town north of Colombo and only 20 mins taxi from Airport it has a busy enough strip with lots of accommodation and restaurants that cater for all budget levels. If your budget allows the best way to get around is to hire a car with a driver for a few days anyway, maybe when your friend is with you, the cost is approx $50 a day. my wife and I done this around the cultural triangle as the sites are quite spread out and take a few days to see. just be aware if your budget is tight tourist entrance into the Sigirya, Anuradhaprua and Polonnarwua is expensive, we paid $25 pp a few years ago. Public transport is very cheap, we used both trains and public buses and paid only a few $'s for trips though travel can be sow on the trains and they pack the buses till overflowing point. Your travel time of September/October is in between the two monsoon seasons that hit Sri Lanka. if you want beach time your best option is to maybe to head to the east coast in september before the rains head that way in October/November, there are some fantastic stretches of beach, we stayed at Nilaveli which has an amazing beach but there are lots of others further south.
As for where to go after Sri Lanka it all depends on your budget, timeframe and interests. The cheapest places to travel in would be India (cheapest to get to from Sri Lanka), Thailand, Vietnam, Lao, Cambodia or you could travel further south to Indonesia/Malaysia or Phillippines or try Myannmar or China. there is lots to choose from and hard to recommend where without knowing interests/timeframe/budget
@atooley
There is so much to do and see, maybe if you give more information on your interests people will be able to recommend places that will suit you more!
My name is Kumara from Sri Lanka. You are welcome to Sri Lanka. I think that yours right collection for visiting Sri Lanka. Because there are many beautiful places to visit like beaches, archaeological areas, tanks and other things. ===========================================
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