Sunbathing, snorkelling and swimming in the Maldives
The Maldives were never really on my bucket list, but having booked a busy month-long tour of Sri Lanka, it seemed ideal for beach time afterwards. An added bonus was an hour’s flight time from Colombo, and a direct flight back from Male to Heathrow. Having got through immigration, instead of the usual car park […]…
A great small boutique hotel in Sri Lanka’s capital
We stayed in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, for two nights, and rather than choose one of the large luxury chain hotels around the historic fort, we opted for a 12-bedroom boutique hotel. The Uga Residence was slightly further out of the city centre but was still in a good location. The rooms are dotted around […]…
A varied but exhausting day of sights in Sri Lanka’s capital
As we’d previously visited Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, our visit this time was short, so to pack in as much as possible, we followed a Lonely Planet walking tour – 9km and 5 hours. We began by getting a tuk tuk to the start, which involved the inevitable haggling, jabbing the map to indicate our […]…
A trendy place to eat and drink in Colombo
During our two night stay in Colombo, we stayed at the boutique Uga Residence and found the nearby Park Street Mews: a pedestrianised cobbled mews of old warehouses, now converted into upmarket international restaurants and bars. Having enjoyed a chilled beer and lime soda during the heat of the day at Café Francais, we returned […]…
One of six Commonwealth War Graves in Sri Lanka
The Trincomalee War Cemetery was relatively near our hotel and on the short drive, we passed a man riding a bicycle with “War Graves” written on the back of his grey t-shirt. The cemetery, one of six in Sri Lanka, is located on a busy roadside and having gone through the gate, we’d just begun […]…
One of the most important Hindu temples in Sri Lanka
One of the main sights in the Sri Lankan port city of Trincomalee, is the Koneswaram Temple which sits on a peninsular high above the sea. To reach it we drove through an impressive narrow arch, the entrance to Fort Fredrick: built by the Portuguese in 1624, it’s now used by the Sri Lankan army […]…
More jeeps than elephants
There are three popular national parks near Habarana in Sri Lanka. During July to September large groups of elephants are found in the Minneriya National Park, before they migrate to Kaudulla National Park between October and November due to high rains and lakes getting filled up. The elephants then move on to Hurulu Eco Park […]…
An exhausting day in Sri Lanka’s ancient cities
We visited the ancient city of Anuradhapura, said to be the greatest of Sri Lanka’s ancient cities, on a day trip from our hotel in Trincomalee. The huge complex of ruins has four main zones, so a car and guide are essential. As day time temperatures in February were 30 degrees plus, we set off […]…
A both underwhelming and overwhelming hotel stay
The Heritance Kandalama was designed by the renowned Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa, who we learned more about when staying in Columbo later on our trip. Whilst the nearest town is Dambulla, the hotel is located in an isolated spot and a 15-minute drive from the main road, down a sandy track. Security, both Covid […]…
Sightseeing in Kandy
Having visited Kandy twice before, and seen its most noted sight, the Temple of the Tooth, on both occasions, we wanted to do something different. Our hotel, The Ozo, was a short, but steep walk down to the large artificial Kandy Lake, which dominates the city. Half the lake, known as the Sea of Milk, […]…
A wonderfully comfortable hotel
When we last visited Sri Lanka in 2007, the civil war was raging, and the north east corner of the country was off limits to tourists. So on revisiting in 2022, we included the port city of Trincomalee on our itinerary, hoping for some beach time during the middle of our month-long tour. We chose […]…
An early start avoided the heat and the crowds
Having visited Kandy on two previous occasions, we were looking for something different and thought the Royal Botanic Gardens Peradeniya would be a good option. As day time temperatures were over 30 degrees, our guide, Ahmed, suggested an early start and at 8.15am the ticket office was deserted. The entrance fee was 2,000 Rupees/£7.30 each […]…
