Our southern neighbor was not that popular a decade ago. Sri Lanka was in turmoil with the civil war and news about LTTE was very common in Indian channels. Visiting this country was not in anyone’s list and you will be considered out of your mind to even think of it. It was not just about safety, there were not many popular tourist destinations as well. But over the last 10 years the government has marketed it’s tourist spots pretty well and the civil war is also gone. Lot of westerners come to this place for beaches, trekking, party, yoga, and the list goes on. There are also lot of stories weaved around the Hindu mythology “Ramayana” where it is said that the demon king Ravana was ruling in a place called Lanka. You will find several guides showing you places associated with him but obviously it is all made up and is flourishing on faith from the believers.

Reaching there: Sri Lankan airline is the national carrier of the country and Colombo is fast becoming a major transit hub. Colombo airport is well connected to all major cities globally and you have many more options if you are flying from India. Within the country the most popular mode of transport is booking a min-van with a driver. They are not that expensive and give you a lot of flexibility with your itinerary. We did our booking by contacting Sri Lankan Personal Drivers. They had excellent reviews on TripAdvisor and we had a good experience during our trip. We did a complete circle starting from Colombo and covered places in the South-Western part. Below is our travel map.

Visa: You need to fill an ETA form online and get it printed. The total cost was USD 40 per person. You have to show it upon your arrival and they will stamp your passport with the duration of stay. You just need to fill the basic passport and accommodation details. The immigration process itself is also very fast.

Accommodation: Here you need to be a bit careful. In few places the photos in travel sites were misleading and even after paying a reasonable amount per night, the rooms were very basic. In the middle of the trip we revised our choices and upgraded the hotels for the rest of the trip. Below are the options for that we booked for the hotels that we liked.

Ella: The Tenth Hotel. The view from the room was spectacular and the size of the room was also pretty good. The hotel is very new. Although we did feel that the price that we were charged was very high but no choice since December is the peak season.

Galle: Fairway Sunset Hotel. This one is right in front of the beach. A brand new hotel with all good amenities. The price charged was at par with the facilities and the time of the year. Booking early or off season might give you a better deal.

Things to do:

–Sigriya Rock: The view of Sigriya rock during sunset is very beautiful. There will be several guides who will insist you on a Tuk-Tuk tour covering 10 view points of Sigriya. No point in taking those and wasting your money. You can get on your own vehicle and take a round to find good spot for photograph. People also hike to the top of the rock to get a view of the surrounding area. King Kashyap built his palace on top of the rock more than a thousand years ago and the ruins of it still remains there.

–Horton Plains: This one looked very similar to Masai Mara in pictures. Since we were short of time we skipped it. But staying one night in Nuwara Eliya and covering Horton Plains (or trekking) will be a good idea.

–Seetha Temple: This is on the highway in Nuwara Eliya if you are going from Kandy to Ella. Elderly people like this spot as the story around it is that Lady Seetha from Ramayana was kept here as captive by the demon king Ravana. Our parents were travelling with us so we included it. There is also a marking on the rocks which resemble a large foot. The story here is that this is the foot of Hanuman when he landed on the spot to give lord Rama’s ring to Seetha.

–Ella Rock: This is a trek of medium difficulty. You start from Ella railway station and reach the top in 2 hours. A good part of it will be on the railway tracks and it was fun. Many locals also use the tracks as a pedestrian path. You don’t need a guide to reach to the top. We followed the exact instructions from this blog. Although while coming back we by mistake took a different route but merged with this one close to rail tracks. The climb towards the last 20 minutes was pretty stiff. There are some juice stalls at the top. There is also a second view point 400 meters on the right side from the main one. The second one gives you a nice view of the valley and the Ravana waterfalls. Don’t miss this one.

–Nice arch bridge: This is a pretty old bridge in Ella. You can walk till the bridge along the railway tracks from Ella station. Other possibility is to go till the Nine Arch Bridge drop off point and then hire a Tuk-Tuk till the bridge. Make sure that you check the train timings properly and aim to reach the drop off point at least 30 minutes before the train’s arrival time in Ella. This way you can capture a good photo of the train, the tunnel and the bridge in one frame. We missed the train by couple of minutes. We could hear the sound of the train but it was gone till the time we reached the place.

–Ella local site seeing: There are several other touristy places in Ella and you can go there depending on your interest. Ravana Falls, Little Adam’s peak and tea factory are few of them.

-Dambulla Cave Temple: This one is close to Sigriya and on the way to Kandy. You have to take stairs for 5-10 minutes to reach the caves. It’s very peaceful and there are several sculptures of Buddha and some Hindu deities as well. The view from the top of the mountain is also pretty good.

–Big Buddha: This is a big white Buddha statue in Kandy. You get a top view of Kandy and have the option to just sit there peacefully for some time.

–Sunset at Dalawella beach: The sunset view from Dalawella beach, Galle is very popular and is a must do if you are in the town. There is a swing and you can use it for LKR 500 and the picture with the sun setting in the backdrop went viral over internet recently. The swing is behind Café Cabana.

–Bar hopping in Ella: Ella street has some really good bars and they get really crowded in the evening. Mostly there are tourists relaxing after a long day of trekking. The music is nice and the ambience is pretty good. There are many options to choose from on the main street.

–Food: For Indians the Sri Lankan food is not too different. They have the same curry, rice and rotis with a different set of spices. The traditional dish “Lamprais” was extremely good. It is rice, chicken and vegetables steam cooked inside a banana leaf. Lion beer is the most popular drink. In Ella the recommended places are: Chill Café, Guru’s café and 360. In Kandy if you are hungry for some Indian food then Balaji dosai is the place. The prices are reasonable and food is really great.

Overall a good and pocket friendly vacation place. It is very close to south India. And if you think you will get tired after all the adventure in Sri Lanka then extend your trip by few more days and go further down to Maldives and relax. We did that and the details will be in another blog.