Could you please review this Sri Lanka itinerary? Many thanks.

Hello everyone,

Was hoping a few of you could look at this itinerary and tell me if it seems OK. It doesn't have to be be set in stone but I need to purchase an onward ticket soon so I'm trying to calculate how long I should stay in the country. I want a mix of local life, culture and beach time. Some nature would be fantastic, but if I have to pay hundreds of dollars to see it, maybe not. First time in Sri Lanka so any advice appreciated - heading onwards to Indonesia after this for another month or so.

Thanks so much for your help!

August 21 - Arrive afternoon / Negombo (or alternative beach near airport. I realise none are that great)
22 - Negombo
23 - Negombo
24 - Train to Kandy (esala perahera festival)
25 - Kandy (esala perahera festival)
26 - Kandy (esala perahera festival)
27 - Kandy to Dambulla
28 - Dambulla Dave Temple
29 - Climb Sigirya
30 - Possibility of seeing elephant gathering/migration at Minneriya N.P.?
31 - Travel to Nilaveli (or nice beach in this area)
Sept 01 - Nilaveli
02 - Nilaveli
03 - Travel to Ella
04 - Ella / Little Adam's Peak
05 - Ella
06 - Mirissa
07 - Mirisa
08 - Mirissa
09 - Colombo
10 - Flight

Shoud I maybe skip Nilaveli and travel directly from Kandy down to Ella and then spend more time at Mirissa? Or allocate more time at Kandy for the festival? So hard to judge!

Hi joostay,

this sounds like a nice and relaxed trip to me. I haven't been to Nilaveli but considering the season it's probably quite good to go there. I recommend you to think over Mirissa though. It depends what you want but Mirissa did get somewhat crowed, packed and night life orientated. I recommend the Marakolliya Beach in Tangalle. Very natural and relaxing beach. Sea turtles, fishermen, lagoon, not to much tourists and great Udawalawe national park nearby. We stayed at www.shivasbeach.com which was a great choice after traveling for 3 weeks. We only stayed for 2 nights but would have loved to stay longer.

Thanks so much for your reply! The only reason I mentioned Mirissa was because I had heard it was nice and looking on booking.com it seems I can get some very cheap room options (as little as £6 a night for a decent enough place). However, I don't want a party beach as I'm kinda past all that now. Marakolliya looks very nice :)Maybe more expensive?
Hard to know exactly where to go until I arrive I guess but do you think 3 weeks is an OK amount of time?

3 weeks is fine. Once you get to beaches and start relaxing you will want to stay longer of course.

I would say spend more time around Nilaveli personally I think it's a better beach over there and they are having the season there right now. So i would put more days there and reduce the days at southern beaches. At the start also if you have no intention of relaxing no point of staying that many days in Negombo. You can go somewhere else and see more things about Sri Lanka.

Thank you :) I was hoping to relax for a few days on the beach when I arrive after a long flight. I know there are not many options to do this near Colombo though. I've heard Negombo isn't the nicest beach but if I could find a secluded spot and there was sun, somewhere to eat I'd be happy.

Negombo really doesn't have a nice beach in Srilanka. Your Itinerary seems good enough and doable. Hope you have fun here in Srilanka :) If you want to explore the culture a bit. then Gangarama Temple in colombo is a nice place to go.

Thanks everyone so far. I guess if my itinerary is OK then what I really need to think about is where to stay when I first arrive. I have a hotel booked in Kandy on the 24th for 3 nights but I guess I could always go up there a bit early. I was hoping to relax on beach when I arrive but if the beach is crap maybe I should just save it and look forward to beach time at Nilaveli. (I was in the earthquake in Nepal in April and this is my first time back in Asia since then... was hoping for a stress-free introduction.)

So I guess it's a choice between Negombo, staying in Colombo or going up to Kandy early.

Since your travelling to Nilaveli try Marble beach in Trincomalee also. Staying in Colombo would be cheaper but since its the city it'll be busy.

These suggestions are all extremely helpful as I haven't had a chance to pick up a Lonely Planet yet. Marble Beach - holy moly that looks awesome.

Yes it is. When you go to Nilaveli, Main attraction there is Pigeon Island. They take you on a boat. You can snorkel and do diving also there. Anyways I'm glad I helped :)

Hello all,
Apologies for butting in but I'm reading your itinerary with interest as it is quite similar to what I want to do, so thank you for that! My question is this - I am planning a year long trip, hoping to start in Sri Lanka on 23rd September and I have roughly planned to stay for a month. I realise that this will be going into the intermonsoon season and I just wanted a little advice on what the weather might be like? I understand it can be very unpredictable in October. I don't mind a downpour but I suppose if it's raining the whole time it might get a bit tiresome!
I would be grateful for some advice about this and which areas would be best to visit weatherwise.
Thanks a lot!
Sinead

Hi
There won't be days with raining all the time. Mostly during the inter monsoon it rains during the afternoon for few hours and then clear sky again. So I don't think there are any particular areas that you should avoid..it's just downpours here and there in the afternoon

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