Bentota
About a 2 hour drive south of Colombo along the famous Galle Road, is arguably Sri Lanka’s most popular beach resort of Bentota which offer superb swathe of golden sand and a string of luxury resort hotels. Development here has been more muted than its neighboring Beruwala, with hotels laid out at discrete intervals along the beach and […]
Hikkaduwa
Approximate 3 hour drive South of Colombo, lies the busy beach town of Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka 100 km (62 miles) from Colombo. Sri Lanka’s longest-established budget beach hangout, Hikkaduwa offers a lively down-market alternative to the more sedate and expensive resorts at Bentota, Beruwala and Kalutara, and attracts a stream of surfers, divers and party-loving sun-worshipers. Uncontrolled development has taken […]
RATNAPURA SRI LANKA
The large and lively provincial capital of Ratnapura sprawls across the undulating countryside at the southern edge of the hill country, whose outlying peaks provide a picturesque backdrop to the town’s workaday streets. Ratnapura, literally “city of gems”, is famous for its precious stones, more of which are found in the surrounding countryside than anywhere […]
ELLA Sri Lanka
Half an hour’s drive northeast of Bandarawela, at the southeastern cusp of the hills, the idyllic little village of Ella is one of the most pleasant spots in the region. Perfect for long walks in the day and even longer dinners in the evening at the village’s homely guesthouses, which serve up some of the […]
NUWARA ELIYA , Sri Lanka
The inspiring scenery which surrounds it might build up your expectations of Nuwara Eliya , and you’ll quickly see why the early British settlers fell in love with this quaint old town. After the heat and dust of Colombo, the salubrious climate and the breathtaking landscapes are a soothing balm, as Sir Edward Barnes discovered when he […]
SRI LANKA HILL COUNTRY
Sri Lanka at its most scenic: mist-shrouded uplands clotted with old colonial settlements and the colourful figures of Ceylon tea pluckers toiling on the plantations Sri Lanka’s hill country is a world away from the rest of the island. While the island’s lowlands simmer and sweat beneath a year-round tropical summer, the hill country laze […]
SRI LANKA ACCOMMODATION GUIDE
Sri Lanka has a surprisingly uneven range of accommodation. At the top end, there are international five-star hotels in Colombo and a handful of very exclusive ‘boutique’ hotels in some other areas. Below this level, you can stay safely and relatively cheaply in most major tourist areas, where there is a choice of quality hotels […]
Three weeks or longer gives you a chance to explore the sites in greater depth and to get off the beaten track. You could easily spend a week exploring the villages of the south coast, or a few days trekking in the hill country, visiting some of lesser visited ancient sites of Northwest and North […]
PERADENIYA ROYAL BOTANICAL GARDENS
About 6 km (or 4 miles) from Kandy are the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens (open daily, 7.30am to 4.30pm with an entrance charge), the largest and finest in Sri Lanka. Enclosed in a loop of the Mahaweli Ganga river, the lush 60-hectare (147-acre) gardens are stuffed with a baffling array of Sri Lankan, Asian and international […]
