* the prices are per person, you need to double it to get room price.

At the time of writing this post the USD1 was worth LKR133, so my visit to Sri Lanka cost approximately USD280.

Just want to add some remarks to above number.
I was traveling in the group of 5 people, so we split total cost of car rental of USD400 (including tips).

You can’t save much on sightseeing, though you can pay even more for safari to Yala NP if only couple people are booking it.

The quality and the price of accommodation depends on location.  By looking to above table you could see I paid almost the same price in Dambulla and Mirrisa beach, but you can’t compare these two places. Here is what we got in Dambulla:

Unfortunately I don’t have picture of the hotel in Mirrisa beach because my camera was stolen in India couple days latter, but I can assure what guest house in Mirrisa was like paradise comparing with this one in Dambulla. Cost additionally only USD1 per person and was 400 meters (1/4 mile) away from perfect beach:

I didn’t book any hotels/guest houses in advance because of intensive plan I had I didn’t know where I end up that night. But you can check Agoda accommodation booking site if you know your schedule and want to book hotels in advance as usually they have good deals with 50-60% discount for same places.

The prices are for double room and online you can get better rooms for similar price especially in Sigyriya/Dambula area. Of course prices are tend to change.

Food price depends on what do you eat and where do you eat. Breakfast (Sri Lankan or American/English) and lunch will cost about 250-400 rupees, dinner can start at 300 rupees and can go to 1000-1200 rupees if you order fresh sea food plate at the beach cafe. So everything depends on you.

The post Travel cost in Sri Lanka appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

View Sri Lanka in a larger map

Day 0

Arrival to Colombo international airport and transfer to Dambulla or Sigriya for the night.

Day 1

Sigiriya (Lion’s rock) 7:00 – 19:00 (7am – 7pm). $US30. A large stone and ancient rock fortress or ruins of the fortress dated back to 5th century.
Polonnaruwa $US25. 1000 years old ruins of the second most ancient of Sri Lanka’s kingdoms.

Day 2

Dambulla Cave temple 7:00- 19:00 (7am – 7pm). LKR1300. It is the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka
Stop at one of numerous spice gardens between Dambulla and Kandy to see many different types of spices and check handcraft shops on the same road. FREE
Just before Kandy check Mariamman Kovil largest hindu temple in Sri Lanka
The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy. 6:00-17:00 (6am – 5pm). Cost LKR1000. It houses a tooth of the Buddha.
Royal Botanic Gardens 7:30-16:30 (7am – 4.30pm) The largest botanic garden in Sri Lanka.
Tea factories on the road to Nuwara Eliya. FREE

Day 3

Nuwara Eliya is small summer resort used by British to escape heat in other parts of country.
Take a train from Nanuoya to Ella. LKR750 Railway pass Horton Plains NP with pictures waterfalls, mountains, tea plantations and view to World’s end,
Take a road B35 to Tissamaharama which passes Yalla National Park. You’ll have good chances to see elephants on the way.
Stop at Kataragama.  It is the most important religious pilgrimage site in Sri Lanka

Day 4

Yala National Park. Safary cost ~$US40.  The park is famous for largest concentration of leopards
Mulkirigala Rock historical temple. LKR200. It has little of Dambulla and Sigiriya.
Take a rest at Mirissa beach which is still not overdeveloped with holiday resorts.

Day 5

Galle is the best example of a fortified city built by Europeans in southeast Asia
Stop at one of turtle hatcheries North of Galle
Take a scenic cruise along Madu Ganga river.
Departure at night.

You can see a lot in 5 days, but…I would suggest to take at least 10 days and make it in much slower pace and definitely you should rent a car with driver, but don’t drive yourself if you don’t have driving experience in Asia. I can recommend our driver Gamunu, who helped a lot with finding accommodation and was working long hours to make sure we will see as much as possible in such short time.

Of course you can use public transport, but then you’ll need even more time.

Check here details of each day:

Day 1. Sigiriya(Rock) – a large stone and ancient rock fortress, Polonnaruwa, wild elephants
Day 2. Dambulla Cave Temple,spice gardens,The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, tea plantations
Day 3. The train trip from Nanuoya to Ella, Rawana Ella waterfalls, Kataragama
Day 4. Spotting leopard in Yala National Park, Mulkirigala Rock historical temple, Mirissa beach
Day 5. Galle fort, baby turtles at turtle hatcheries, Madu Ganga river scenic cruise

The post Sri Lanka in five days. Full itinerary appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

Today we allowed ourself  to sleep a little bit longer after early start yesterday, followed with refreshing swim in the ocean and good breakfast in one of cafes on the beach. As we there leaving Sri Lanka today it was no rush, as was no much plans for sightseeing on this day except driving back to Colombo to catch our flight to India.

The South West coast beaches are  good if you want to have some time to relax. I would love to spend there more time on one of surfing beaches.

May be next time. Now is time to go.

Galle fort is interesting place for a short stop. Latest fortified city was built by Dutch almost 6 centuries ago with only with few changes since then.  Galle is the best example of a fortified city built by Europeans in southeast Asia and then you scroll a long the streets it feels more like Southern Europe, but not Asia.

Further North from Galle you can visit some turtle hatcheries. With more and more developments on the beaches there are not much place for turtles to lay their eggs. To save turtles the hatcheries were created and now there are 3 or 4 along the coast.  Kosgoda Sea Turtle Conservation Project is one of them. Entry cost 300 rupees and they also accept donations. Just before sunset is the best time to visit as they releasing baby turtles to the sea. They can’t do it during day time because of predators hunting for these babies.

Another place to visit is Manu Ganga river delta if you are not in rush like we were. In Balapitiya you can take a scenic cruise along Madu Ganga river to watch daily live of families living on one of 30 islands there.

The post Sri Lanka in five days. Day 5 appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

Main attraction today was visit to Yala National Park. The park is famous for largest concentration of leopards in the world and most tourists  are coming here for leopard “hunt” with their photo/video cameras.
I have been on safaris in Namibia, Bostwana  and Republic of South Africa, but didn’t see anything like this that was happening at Yala National Park. I am not talking about animal spotting.
The gates of the park opens at 6:00 and you must be there before that time. That’s way we went to bed very early yesterday as it took about an hour to get to the gates from our guest house. Even with such early start we were at the end of long queue of 4wd cars.

Everybody was there for a leopard and when the gates were open it looked more like start of a rally, but not a safari trip. In the park cars did split, but after awhile the race was on again as somebody spotted leopard and announced it by radio. The arrived to the place and yes, it was leopard there, except it was about 200 meters (650 feet) away from the road in the shadow on the tree, so silhouette of leopards was all we could see. But I can’t complain I didn’t see it.
The park is plenty of other animals – elephants, water buffalo, crocodiles, different lizards and a lot of bird species – but that leopard “hunt” overshadows everything else.

It was interesting experience thought and I would go for another safari during day or just before sunset if I would have time.  I feel it would be totally different experience as you could enjoy park without crowd of jeeps in one spot. But I was on the mission to see Sri Lanka in 5 days and need to keep moving. It was no time for another safari.

We wanted to spend this night near the beach and have a rest after intensive trip around Sri Lanka, but we did one short side trip before heading to the beach.  Not far from South coast there is Mulkirigala Rock historical temple.

 In the guide book was written it has little of Dambulla and Sigiriya.  I am not sure about Sigiriya except you need to climb a steep rock to get to the rock temple. It is much smaller comparing to Dambulla rock temple, but still it is very interesting and very quite as not many tourist are coming to this place.

And now is beach time

Mirissa beach still is not overdeveloped with holiday resorts, has great restaurants with fresh sea food and was perfect place to spend my last night in Sri Lanka.

The post Sri Lanka in five days. Day 4 appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

Nuwara Eliya is small summer resort used by British to escape heat in other parts of country. Weather is very refreshing thought it can be a little be chilly at night so no surprise to see locals walking with jackets or sweaters on.
I didn’t spend much time in Nuwara Eliya except visiting small botanic garden. There are no so much to see there, but I need to kill some time till my train arrives.
Today’s plan changed after talking with our driver last night.  There are two ways to go South from Nuwara Eliya. You can go by car, but there is better way. You can take the train from Nanuoya to Ella.
Nanuoya railway station is located 10km (6 miles) from Nuwara Eliya. It seems there is no way to book 1st class ticket in observation car in advance, but our driver suggested to buy cheapest available tickets and latter upgrade it.  Total cost was 750LKR. It is not the cheapest train trip, but it is really worth it and is the one of the best train trips I ever done.

Railway pass Horton Plains National Park with pictures mountains, waterfalls, tea plantations and view to World’s end, the key attraction of the park. The train goes somewhere on that hill in front of World’s End.
It takes about 3 hours to get from Nanuoya to Ella and then continue trip by car. Couple kilometers from Ella there is one of widest waterfalls in Sri Lanka – Rawana Ella.

It was still long way to go to the tonight’s destination Tissamaharama (or Tissa for short) which is gateway to Yala national park, but we decided to go even longer way.
The shortest and fastest way would be by taking A2 highway (see the map). But alternative road B35 is much better. Why? B35 public road passes crosses western part of Yala national park and it is good place to see elephants and I saw more elephants today then on my safari to the Yala NP I took next day.
Kataragama is another stop on this road.  It is the most important religious piligrimage site in Sri Lanka and it is a holy place for Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus. It is quite village during day and is better to visit it at night when food offerings ceremonies start.

The same as on second day it was already dark on arrival to Tissa, but we need to go to bed earlier anyway as it was booked safari to Yala NP for next morning. Early morning.. Get up at 4:00.

The post Sri Lanka in five days. Day 3 appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

By initial plan I supposed to visit Dambulla cave temple on the first day of my trip to Sri Lanka and spend night in Kandy, but because of slow traffic I need to adjust the plan.
I get up as early as possible for short climb to Dambulla Cave temple. It is the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka and it should be on everybody’s “to do” list if the one is interested in such places.

It is really short climb but it is better to go there in the early morning or late afternoon as the path is exposed to the sun and during day it can be quite hot. .
Temple is open 7:00- 19:00 (7am – 7pm). Cost 1300LKR

From Dambulla I was heading to Kandy.  On the way to Kandy there are numerous spice gardens to see many different types of spices Sri Lanka is famous for.

You can see how vanilla, black pepper, coco beans, cardamom,  cinnamon and other  spices are grown and of course you can buy processed spices or cosmetic product if you want. There is no hard selling, so you can just take a look and drive away.
On the same road there are some  handcraft shops. Somebody will show you how souvenirs and furniture are crafted, how natural colors to paint goods is made .  It is also free and it is only up to you do you want to buy souvenirs or may be order some furniture.

Just before  Kandy in Matale there is largest hindu temple in Sri Lanka – Mariamman Kovil. Because of some hindu celebration it was closed for visitor when I was passing by.

The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic is the main attraction in the Kandy. It houses most important Buddhist relic in Sri Lanka – a tooth of the Buddha. You won’t be able to see tooth itself as it is kept in a gold casket, but you can see illustrations how the tooth arrived to Sri Lanka.
Temple is open 6:00-17:00 (6am – 5pm). Cost 1000LKR

I was short of time, so I just to a look to Kandy panorama and went further to Nuwara Eliya.

But if you have time it is good idea to stay in Kandy and at night watch performance of famed Kandyan dancers and in the morning go to Royal Botanic Gardens  (working hours 7:30-16:30) – the largest and very beautiful botanic garden in Sri Lanka. Unfortunately I didn’t have time for it either.

From Kandy road to Nuwara Eliya winds up to the mountains the most of tea plantations are located. There are couple tea factories on the road – Blue Field Tea Gardens and Labookellie Tea Factory – you want to visit at least one to see how tea is processed, to tasted it and may be buy some.
There are some waterfalls on this road, but in dry season they can be short of water and you won’t see anything spectacular.

It was long day and I arrived to Nuwara Eliya only after sunset.

The post Sri Lanka in five days. Day 2 appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

We arrived to Colombo International Airport and drove straight to Sigiriya. There are enough places there to stay between Dambulla and Sigiriya. As I mention in previous post it took much longer then I expected and we arrived to Sigiriya are very late. It was already dark and best what we could do just go to bed.

Day 1

The first task was visit Sigiriya (Lion’s rock)  – a large stone and ancient rock fortress or ruins of the fortress dated back to 5th century.

It is better to go in the morning as you will need to do some stair climbing to get to the top of the rock and it won’t be so hot. Or you can do it later afternoon as it will be better light for taking photographs of the rock.

At the left side of the rock the narrow pathway emerges on the large platform from which the rock derives its later name, the Lion Rock.

There was a sculpted lion’s head above the legs and paws flanking the entrance, but the head broke down many years ago.

It is probably half way of  the ascent to the summit of Sigiriya Rock. Most people take a rest here before heading further up.

Give about 2 hours to see everything in slow pace, but it can take more time for somebody less physical fit.
Sigiriya site is open 7:00 – 19:00 (7am – 7pm). Cost 30$US.

East from Sigiriya there is Polonnaruwa – 1000 years old ruins of the second most ancient of Sri Lanka’s kingdoms.  On the map it looks not so far, but with Sri Lankan traffic it takes some time to get there.

It is quite big site, split to couple locations,  also there is museum, so give about 3 hours.
Cost 25$US

It was enough for one day and we went back to Dambulla for the night.

If you are lucky you can see elephants on the way to Polonnaruwa. The road between Sigiriya and Polonnaruwa is boundary of Minneriya-Giritale National Park and it is not rear to see elephants crossing that road.

We saw only one elephant on the way to Polonnaruwa, but on the way back to Dambulla about 10 elephants were crossing the road. It was fantastic.

Subscribe for the latest posts to read what did I see next day.

The post Sri Lanka in five days. Day 1 appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

I was preparing itinerary by using Google Maps as usually.  I saved all points of interest, got distances between these points and split everything into five days. The plan looked perfect – 1000km(~620 miles) in five days, i.e. 200km (~124 miles) per day. It should be enough time for sightseeing and free time. But.. It was one big shortcoming of this plan and I understood it only when we landed in Colombo international airport.

The issue was with timing Google Maps was giving. In countries like US or Australia the mapping application gives very accurate numbers how much time you need to go from point A to point B. Of course it depends on traffic and time of the day you are driving, but usually you can trust those numbers.  The different story in Sri Lanka. You must multiply at least by 2 all numbers Google Maps gives you. For example from Colombo airport to Dambulla it shows you need 2+ hours to drive 140km (~90 miles) and it looks very reasonable. But in reality it took more then 4 hours to get there.  That meant all my plan was in jeopardy. Luckily we had good driver and we saw even more then it was in the plan, but to make it we needed to get up very early and go to bed very late. It was worth it.

In this map I marked all places we visited. Actually I included couple places we didn’t make, as we were short of time, but it can be interested for others.

View Sri Lanka in a larger map

In future posts I will write more details of each of five days, so please subscribe for the latest posts to read it first and please leave comment and rate the map if you liked it.

The post Sri Lanka in five days appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.