Length of trip recommendation

Hello!
How long do you suggest to see the sights in SL and experience the country? We spent 9 weeks seeing Peru and 9 weeks seeing the northern 2/3 of Argentina. What do you suggest for SL? how many weeks?
Thank you

Hello there.. usually 14 days is good enough.. it is not a huge place and with 14 days you can visit almost all the major attractions.. cheers

thank you very much! you think 14 days is enough time to enjoy the country? where is your next trip to? blessings to you

hi again... yes.. if you arrange your journey carefully 14 days are more than enough even to enjoy with enough time for a relaxing beach stay of two or three days.. One little advice please do not spend much time in Colombo.. may be just a glance through for the sake of being there. if you are coming in a afternoon or an evening flight you can stay overnight in Colombo and then head out.. most of the popular routs out of Colombo is toward Sigiriya via Pinnawala.. may be a visit to Polonnaruwa ancient city.. actually there are two ancient cities and I think polonnaruwa is a better option.. then you go central to the Kandy.. take a train ride to Ella.. decent toward Udawalawa if you like more elephants.. then probably to Yala for a safari.. head toward Galle for a colonial experience and beaches. then may be last leg of your tour in Bentota for a beach stay.. well about my next trip we had a little baby 12 weeks back and wont be thinking about traveling much for sometime.. anyway I originally comes from Sri Lanka and that's why I can talk about the place all day long.. :-) hope this will help and please let me know if you need anything more..

I think there is a bit of clue in how much time you spent in your other 2 destinations. I guess you don't want a hurried quickie touristy tour. Yes you can see most of the main sites in 14 days, which coincidentally is the length of most peoples holiday. However, I would recommend staying longer if you can.

I have just spent 3 months in SL. Admittedly I ride a bike so I travel much more slowly than most, but I still think you can easily spend a month there if not more. If you get a decent guide book you can work out an all encompassing tour and do a rough day count. Bear in mind that the weather varies from season to season and from different areas during a season. Nonetheless, you can normally travel everywhere at anytime and will often find the so called off season a good time to visit some areas.

One deciding factor on how long you stay may be the visa. You can easily get a 30 day tourist visa on line, but if you want longer, it is a bit of a pain. You may be able to get a longer one from the SL Embassy in your home country, which is the easiest option. Otherwise you will have to do the visa extension in Colombo which takes at least half a day and is a tedious insight into SL bureaucracy.

To sum up, I recommend at least a month, possibly 2, or if you want to do some externded beach relaxing as well, why not have 3.

Congratulations on the birth of your child! Wonderful! My husband and I live in Winnipeg, Canada, where recently we have had -28 C windchill and lots of snow :( I may be able to go ice skating soon but we are dreaming of Sri Lanka. Thank you so much for your very helpful tips. If you don't mind me asking, where do you live now?
I hope you are getting some sleep, with having a baby. Peace to you.

wonderful! We have 11 weeks to see some of southern India and SL. I have been reading and studying the Lonely Planet SL tour book. I was quite perplexed on how long to book, for our flights to SL. My husband and I backpack/travel quickly, as we love to see lots and get to know the countries a bit. Usually we travel until we have had a good look at the sights and the country, ie our time in Argentina, was much longer than we or our friend/advisor thought but there was so much to see and the people and country were so wonderful, Peru too, at 9 weeks and we had to rush the last week... Thank you very much for putting the time and effort into writing. This is most helpful.

Thank you very much. well its a life changing experience and I wouldn't change it for a bit. enjoying the every bit of the parenthood.. well one thing for sure its very little sleep :-) we do it in shifts..

Well I am sure Sri Lanka will be a very different experience when you think of -28C weather. I live in both London UK and Colombo SL. Currently I am in London and hopefully will spend this winter here. The lowest we would experience in London is something around -5. hardly get heavy snow. Colombo in other hand always somewhere around 30 Degrees with very high humidity. But places like Nuwara Eliya has a slightly colder climate and I am pretty sure not good enough to make you pack your heavy jackets for the tour.

Please let me know if you need any more details and surely find anymore information/help regarding your holiday..
kind regards

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• It depends on what type of traveller you are. Only to cover well known and famous attractions you might need about 3 weeks. But if you like to blend with the nature and culture here, you will a lot of time (if you have).

While, I agree that you can see the highlights in 14 days, if you have more time 21 - 30 days would be ideal. It's a small country but so much to see and it can take a lot of time travelling between destinations.

Thank you very much Laurel and everyone for taking the time to help my husband and I. Conclusion: we will plan to stay in Sri Lanka about 24 days but will perhaps stay longer, though the visa is for 30 days... I can't wait to be in SL and thoroughly see the sights and get to know the country and meet the people. We want to travel in southern India too, on this 3 month trip :)) I wish everyone a great day.

Hi, you sound like the perfect expert to ask questions about SL :)
So I was thinking of backpacking in Sri Lanka in February or March, but I've read that you should book hotels/hostels or other places in advance in these months. My plan was actually to just find a place to stay as I go, but is that not possible? Hope to have the time to answer.

thanks for the lovely compliment
I think Feb/March will be fine for accommodations. We do things as we go too but we book the next town accommodation when leaving a place.

Great, thanks!

Hi rikke14.760313
Thanks for the complement. Well should I put it as local know how as I originally coming from there :-)

Well about your visit. weather wise January, February and March is very good. You don't get much rain and believe me you don't want to be there when it rains. That (and the winter in northern hemisphere) makes this is the high season of the tourism calendar. Makes finding a place as you go is bit of a risky business. You might end up paying lot more than you should for your stay. Well the best thing to do is decide your travel plan way in advance. then you would know where you gonna stay overnight. and in a world of trip advisor, booking.com and air bnb (or whatever they call it) rest could be a piece of cake. Almost all the accommodation are in those sites now. Let me know if you need any more information. Sri Lanka is a good place for backpackers by the way. there are lot you can enjoy except night life. Cheers

I spent 3 months (2+1) in the last 2 years cycling around SL, which is pretty much backpacking. I only booked the first nights in Negombo and then also the last one because I stored my bike box in the same hotel. I recommend you book your first night or 2 in Negombo, which is a beachside town near to the airport. You can do this on a hotel booking site.

After that I never booked any accommodation. Feb March is a popular time, but if you think about it, it is not nearly as busy as Dec Jan (Christmas /New Year) which means there are plenty of spare places.

It is not true that all places are on the booking sites. The more expensive ones are, but the backpacker budget type places are not. If you want, you can book your places a day or so in advance, but I certainly wouldn't advise that you book them all before you go as this will fix your plans and mean you won't have any flexibility.

Well you look like an explorer to me more than a backpacker :-) Guess what you have done is very brave and would be most free spirited thing to do. I always dreamt of traveling without knowing where I am gonna be heading next day.. but wasn't brave enough.
Anyway it all depend on individuals. If you have a good negotiation skills, thick skin and less care of the world your way of travel is very possible. But what I know for a fact is when its late and they realise you have no place to stay and you have no other options they will charge you double as there is no set prices in those places eventually you will end up paying more. and on top you would end up in a mosquito den.
Booking sites usually do some preliminary checks. That's mean if they are in a booking site they are relatively safe and can be trusted. For the matter you are saying only expensive places are on booking sites.. Just done a search on Ella (Backpackers hotspot) and I see accommodation starting from 10$ for that period. I guess that's very much of a OK price even when you are backpacking. for the assurance if guaranteed place I will take it all day long.
You can always check away from main booking their own sites. most of them leave an online footprint somewhere for contacts at least. well that's how I would do and somebody else's could have done a different way doesn't mean either of us are wrong

I think you have rather changed the argument. In your first post you said " the best thing to do is decide your travel plan way in advance. then you would know where you gonna stay overnight. "

I suggested a more flexible approach, saying they could book a day or so in advance. I also said that I only booked first and last and that availability wasn't a problem.

Of course, you have to use common sense. If you know you will be arriving late then book somewhere, if you are arriving early then it is often good to look around and find somewhere you like.

Yes, I am an experienced traveller, on and off bike, but arriving and finding somewhere to stay is what thousands of backpackers are doing all over Asia every day. The poster did say they were a backpacker, this in itself indicates a certain sort of travel.

I remember in Bentota in early March going along the beach road and people were coming out of the guest houses and offering me accommodation. When I refused, they lowered the price. I then found somewhere I really liked and got it for a good price. It was the same in Mirissa.

The best thing is not necessary the thing you want to do Simon. I like never to work. roam free and drink everyday.. but not the best thing to do for sure.. :-)

I have met couple of travellers over the years who came to SL with no plans and actually once had to help someone with last few days of his stay until his departure day. You may be a seasoned traveler and everything went well and of course have enough common sense to figure out the trouble and trouble makers. Doesn't mean the story of everyone. I was giving him the safe option and there is no way I can advice anything riskier out of the box and can live with knowing how this unregulated accommodation work and the people who run/promote those.

I totally agree with you Simon. Thank you.

What's your experience with prices for airplane rides to Sri Lanka from London? Is it more cheap to fly from another place or are the prices fine from London?

Is it possible to find a place to stay/sleep for like £20-25 ($26) in jan/feb?

Firstly, you are better making new posts with relevant titles for your questions. They are likely to be buried under this old post.

London has some of the cheapest air fares in Europe. You are unlikely to do better, unless you are actually starting from somewhere else.

Earlier this year I usually paid about SLR 2000 for one person in fan room with bath. Sometimes less and occasionally more.

Most of the major Air Lines operate from London Heathrow. Sri Lankan airline run a direct flight from Heathrow and many other airlines with connection flights. Flights from Gatwick could be slightly cheaper. Thomson operate a charter flight from Gatwick and sometimes they sell out extra seats. if you are flexible with your travel date you could fit into that. could be lot cheaper. 20-25 £ mark you can get decent accommodation almost everywhere. In case you want to stay on the beach could be little more. But you can save lot inside the country as you could find cheaper accommodation there as the rush is on the beach side. Ella could be bit of an exception but all other places you shouldn't have any issue. Book at least day or two before you physically travel to one place. I don't recommend traveling to a new place and then roam around looking for accommodation as Simon mention above. If you are good at riding you can hire a scooti from where you based and ride to see attractions around. Lot cheaper and flexible mood of transport.. But please take extra care on the road as driving there could be lot different to what you would see in UK..

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