Places to visit in Sri Lanka

Colombo, the busy and often chaotic Capital of Sri Lanka is most people’s arrival destination by air. While there are a few sights to see in and around Colombo you’ll soon want to head out and one of the more popular routes is from Colombo to Galle. On the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, Galle …

Sri Lanka is a justifiably popular holiday destination for families with kids thanks to it lovely beaches, incredible wildlife, good food and good hospitality. Sri Lanka has many kid-friendly attractions and things to do plus some very good hotels for kids and families, at a great price. But is Sri Lanka with kids easy? Is …

Sri Lanka is one of the most beautiful and culturally rich places on the planet. It’s one of my personal favourites of the 50+ countries we’ve visited and I can’t recommend it highly enough for your long-term travel or holiday vacation. This post deals with best places to visit in Sri Lanka, the best attractions …

We put off climbing Sigiriya with kids until they were 11 and 9. Why? Because we’d climbed Sigiriya rock fortress twice before, without kids and knew exactly what to expect up there. We knew that the steps weren’t the most child friendly in the world and that there were a few other issues to consider …

Sri Lanka is an amazing place to take your kids. This magical island combines low prices, friendly people, stunning coastline and a wealth of cultural and wildlife experiences. After months exploring Sri Lanka, these are our, and our kids’, recommendations for highlights of Sri Lanka for families. Finding family accommodation in Sri Lanka is fairly …

We’ve posted extensively about travel in Sri Lanka, where to go, how to go, what to do, but we need a post on Sri Lanka beaches to complete the set. Sri Lanka is surrounded by beaches, there are literally hundreds of places to take a beach holiday, from our favourite, Mirissa Beach, to the popular …

This morning at sunrise I sat down to my computer to start my work for the day. It’s what I do every morning before the kids wake up. The first thing I do is check my emails, messages, data and comments. Some good news, some bad, a couple of lovely comments and readers asking for …

Our last month in Sri Lanka was all about getting to Jaffna, this almost newly open destination was top of our wish list and after many years exploring south and central Sri Lanka, we had to get to the far north of the island. We finally made it. Jaffna Sri Lanka doesn’t disappoint in any …

The Paradise Resort and Spa Dambulla Sri Lanka (formerly Green Paradise), was my personal favourite of all the large luxury hotels we tried during our Sri Lanka tours, it was also my favourite location, sitting in the green heart of Sri Lanka, equidistant between the beautiful and fascinating Dambulla cave temples and ancient, historic Sigiriya rock fortress. This is …

Why go to  Sri Lanka’ s second ancient city, Anuradhapura? It’s a long way north and getting to Anuradhapura ( for us, from Kandy) can be a challenge. For me it was all about a sacred tree. 2500 years ago, or thereabouts, Prince Siddhartha Gautama sat under the Bodhi ( Bo ) tree, and meditated. He cleansed …

If you’re looking for a luxurious, relaxed ocean-side stay during your time in Sri Lanka, the Eden Resort and Spa, near Beruwela (Beruwala), could be the perfect place for you. We stayed earlier this year and loved what we found. The Eden Resort is visually impressive, the moment you pass through the giant gates and approach the …

Our third villa stay of this Sri Lanka trip, at the Templeberg Villa Galle, brought us a totally different experience, setting and style. We expected this villa, near Galle, to be similar to other luxury villa stays we’d previously tried, but we’re learning that everywhere has its own personality. Each new place gives us something different to …

The Max Wadiya villa on Ambalangoda Beach is something totally different, for us and probably for you. We normally talk about value for money and how far your dollar will stretch in each country you visit. This time we won’t be talking price. Sometimes we throw a curved ball at you and hop on a cruise …

Balapitya Beach is a peaceful stretch of shoreline punctuated with feature boulders forming sheltered rock pools on Sri Lanka’s west coast. Balapitya Beach is immediately to the north of Ambalangoda Beach and is south of Kalutara, north of Galle. We paid a little more than budget, for a luxurious stay at a secluded and relaxed …

Sri Lanka’s main international airport is not in Colombo, it’s about 35 Km outside Colombo Fort Station (bus and train) via the expressway or 40Km on the old roads. Everyone’s worst travel nightmare must be arriving at night, stuffing up your plans and ending up with nowhere to sleep. When you travel with kids it’s …

As you’d expect from one of Sri Lanka’s major cities, things to do in Galle are numerous and diverse. However, a day visit or a longer stay in Galle needn’t have a city feel at all. Galle’s Dutch colonial fort lies on the south coast, a stunning setting with ocean views to three sides. Within its …

Sorry it’s taken me so long to write this post. I promised I’d write it because I wanted to share this place with you, it’s a “free thing to do in Kandy“, I already mentioned it briefy in that post, but I wanted to tell you a little more about it. It was a special …

Sri Lankan curry for breakfast, you can’t beat it. Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and Sri Lankan breakfast has been the highlight of my early morning eating experiences over the many years of our nomadic travel adventure. (Read more about who we are, what we’re doing and why, here.). We have a …

This post is about getting from Kandy to Dambulla to visit the Dambulla Cave Temples, the experience of visiting and the entrance fees. Dambulla is also a gateway for onward travel to Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Jaffna, or Sri Lanka’s East Coast.  Most people spend a few days in Kandy in Central Sri Lanka before travelling on to Dambulla and …

When you think of things to do in Kandy the big-ticket attractions are what probably come to mind, places like the Temple of The Tooth and the Botanical Gardens are world famous. But there are plenty of other things to do in Kandy Sri Lanka, some of them free, that we’ll share with you here. …

UPDATE:  On our last visit to Sri Lanka this hotel had changed hands, the kind owners had gone and the prices had gone up massively. We’re sorry, but until we can get back to Sri Lanka, we can’t currently recommend a cheap place to stay for families. Very sorry about that. All at World Travel …

What is a hopper? Hoppers are a type of pancake or noodle served commonly in Sri Lanka. String hoppers resemble a nest of noodles, plain hoppers look like bowl-shaped pancake because of the shape of the hopper pans. I’d read about hoppers in the Sri Lankan food section of the Lonely Planet, but until our …

Sri Lanka is a favourite travel destination of ours. We got married there and we’ve taken our kids there. This Sri Lanka travel blog to help you plan your holiday or travel in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka works for single, couple and family travellers with interests ranging from culinary to wildlife, culture, surfing and adventure …

For once I’m going to tell you about the accommodation we used in Ella, Sri Lanka, and then tell you to stay somewhere else. I won’t give you the name, that wouldn’t be fair. We stayed for 3 nights, the location was good, the price was good, the breakfast (not included) was divine and the young …

Where to stay in Mirissa? Finding good, (cheap or luxury) Mirissa accommodation for families is generally easy, there is plenty of it and most places are really pleasant. We absolutely love Mirissa and we’ve visited multiple times. It’s our go-to beach destination in Sri Lanka for quieter stays and our kids’ favourite beach. We stayed …

It’s much harder these days to find budget (cheap) accommodation in Sri Lanka than it was. Standards have gone up and with them prices. Sri Lanka fills up with package holidaymakers so accommodation tends to favour those tourists, but there are still bargains to be found. Guest houses, hostels, and hotels (even resorts and villas) …

Cheap Family Accommodation Negombo Sri Lanka. Mazz Homestay Negombo I found Mazz Homestay through one of the hostel booking websites. They have a 4 bed room, described as a 4 bed mixed dorm, which does just fine as a family room. A taxi from the airport to Mazz homestay cost us around $12. We should …

Hikkaduwa is full of great value hotels and guest houses at all price points and this post covers where to stay in Hikkaduwa for all kinds of travellers.  The beach-side town of Hikkaduwa is much bigger these days and there is a reason for that, it’s a lovely spot. Options for staying in Hikkaduwa include …

Monkeys are everywhere here in Sri Lanka. I’m sitting outside our room watching them right now. You may not see them at first, but they’re there, leaping through the trees. On the coast and in the hill country. The Garrison Cemetery in Kandy has its own monkey trap. A police officer has to hide behind …

 Admission prices to the big attractions in Sri Lanka are steep. It’s something that you need to factor in to the cost of your holiday, particularly for families. They’re wonderful, I’ve been to them all previously, but on our last trip, on a tight budget, they just weren’t affordable. ( Sorry Sri Lanka, we love …

If you’ve been following our Facebook page over the last month, you’ll have seen me alternately complaining and raving about food in Sri Lanka. Food is a big part of our travel experience, we like to try as many new foods as we can and, hopefully, enjoy them. (For non-regular readers, my husband is an …

I think Ella in the hill country of Sri Lanka is one of my favourite towns so far. It’s full of tourists, backpacker type tourist mostly. There are endless guest houses asking too much money, but it’s really refreshing to be up in the hills. It’s cool, if not cold, great walking weather. That is …

If you know Sri Lanka you’ll know all about Adam’s Peak but you may not have heard of Little Adam’s Peak ( aka Mini Adam’s Peak or Small Adam’s Peak) in Ella. The full size Adams Peak is a 2,243m mountain in the centre of Sri Lanka. It’s famous as a pilgrimage site and as a really …

From now on, when people ask me where to stay in Sri Lanka, I’ll tell them Mirissa Beach. I think I’ve found my Paradise, my happy place. This beautiful island as a whole brings me enormous joy, but the little beach village of Mirissa is, I think, as near to perfect as I’ll ever find. After …

In general, I believe that anything is possible, that’s mostly what’s got us where we are today. But if you’d asked me, even 3 weeks ago, if I ever thought I’d see a blue whale, the biggest creature that has ever existed on our fragile planet, the answer would have been a resounding “No!”. I …

As I just said on my Facebook page, words cannot express how much we love Sri Lanka. Seriously! It’s like stepping into comfy slippers. So good to be back. The four of us have been sick with terrrible Malaysian flu for over a week now. Really ill, high fevers, sweats, shakes, chills, headaches and an awful lot …