Sri Lanka is an off-the-beaten-path destination that offers rich, diverse culture, beautiful sandy beaches, thundering waterfalls and plenty of wildlife! Come and visit this tear drop shaped island off the southern coast of India with us.
Practicalities
Currency: Sri Lankan Rupee
Recommended length of stay: 2 weeks
Month of visit: January (we thought the weather was perfect). Note – monsoon season is from May to September, and dry season is from December to March.
Useful tips: US citizens do need a visa to enter Sri Lanka. We visited at a time when it was very unclear whether Visa-on-Arrival was active and we actually contacted the Sri Lankan Embassy in LA to try to clarify things…long story short, we were able to obtain a tourist visa on arrival without much difficulty.
CDC’s Recommended Vaccinations: Click here!
Food to try: Sri Lankan food is delicious, but here are a few unique dishes to try while there!
- Hoppers
- Kottu Roti
- Pol Sambol
- Parippu
Packing List for Sri Lanka
- 2 bathing suits and cover ups
- 2 pairs of quick-dry lightweight shorts and shirts
- Lightweight dress or button down
- Lightweight long pants
- Sarong or scarf – this can be used for warmth in the evenings, or to cover shoulders or knees when visiting temples!
- Sunglasses
- Hiking sneakers or boots
- Bug spray
- Packable towel
- Sunscreen
Overview
- Colombo
- Kandy
- Tea Country
- Yala
- Tangalle
- Mirissa
- Galle
- Negombo
Colombo
When entering the country you will most likely be flying in to Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport. We hopped in our transportation to head to our first destination: The Taj Samudra, Colombo. We like to pre-book our transportation so we don’t have to deal with haggling for a taxi at the airport – we found ours through GetYourGuide, and they turned out to be very reliable. Bear in mind that the ride was nearly an hour long and it was very hot – so consider grabbing a drink from the airport before you leave!
Colombo is the country’s capital and is the biggest city in Sri Lanka. We found the Taj Samudra to be perfectly positioned to explore the city, while also offering a peaceful oasis to get away from crowds. Their pool was absolutely stunning and a great place to beat the heat in the afternoons, and all of the food we had at the hotel was delicious. Pictured here is a 4 am early bath time – jet lag is real!
We definitely recommend walking up Galle Green to check out the beach front area and One Galle Face Mall. This mall has a lot of locally and internationally based stores that were unique and interesting to check out, and we also grabbed a bite to eat on the rooftop.
Just past One Galle Face Mall is the President’s House, and opposite this is the Colombo Lighthouse. These are both worthwhile checking out (from at least the outside). We also visited the Jami Ul Alfar Mosque, notable for its brick red and white exterior, and the Temple of Sri Kailawasanathan Swami Devasthanam Kovil.
Visiting Pettah Market was one of the highlights of Colombo. This incredibly busy local market sells everything from fruits and veggies to textiles to souvenirs to flowers to gemstones to much, much more.
By the way, there are lots of great places to get afternoon tea in Colombo (there is a lot of residual British influence in the city). We tried the tea at the Shangri-La hotel which was good, and if we go back hope to try tea at the Dilmah T-lounge or The Kingsbury.
We had some great food and drink while we were in Colombo. Definitely check out the Gallery Cafe, an art/restaurant hybrid with delicious cocktails. After dinner check out King of the Mambo, a beachfront bar serving up vibes and good music with a side of spectacular view.
Kandy
After saying goodbye to Colombo, we departed for the scenic world-renowned train ride to Kandy. We pre-booked our train tickets and had them delivered to our hotel in advance of departure, but became very confused at the train station about which train was ours and which carriage we were meant to sit in. Fortunately, a good samaritan helped us out in exchange for a hefty tip as a donation to his school for deaf children, and we were on our way! We sat in first class mostly to have our own space and be able to keep an eye on our bags. There was air conditioning, and a boy came up and down the aisles selling hot cups of chai.
Once we arrived in Kandy we checked into our hotel – the Radh. We 10/10 would stay at this hotel again as it was just a phenomenal experience. Our room had a private terrace with a jacuzzi as well as a view over Kandy – we could see all the way to the Bahiravokanda Vihara Buddha statue (nicknamed Big Buddha) on the hill! The Radh hotel also has an amazing daily breakfast buffet that allowed us to fuel up before our adventure days.
Kandy was our favorite part of Sri Lanka, for a few reasons. One – you simply must book this waterfall and tea plantation tour. Roshan operates the tour from his tuk tuk, and took us through the mountains and forests to find some awesome “locals only” waterfalls in the Kandy area. He even prepared lunch for us to eat in banana leaves, and took us to a tea plantation and educated us about the different plant types. He is such a great guy and we had a phenomenal day with him.
We also did a day trip to see Sigiriya Rock from afar, and the Dambulla Cave Temples. Although we did not opt to hike all the way up Sigiriya Rock, it was still very impressive from down below. The Dambulla Cave Temples were absolutely stunning – these temples are a UNESCO world heritage site and date back over 22 centuries. Note: there are 364 steps up to the temples, and you do have to leave your shoes at the check in out of respect. Be sure your shoulders and knees are covered as well.
While in Kandy, we also visited the Old Royal Palace, and saw a procession outside of the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha. We strolled through Kandy Central Market and even bought some gold jewelry to take home (Kandy is known for gemstones and jewelry!). Our visit to a spice garden was also a nice touch – we sampled things like cinnamon, cloves and more.
Tea Country
Though we only made a brief pitstop in tea country, it was definitely worth it. We were recommended to check out Damro Tea Plantation, which wholesales lots of tea to Lipton and other notable international brands. We toured the factory and learned just how much work actually goes into making tea, and learned a lot about the “tips” that tea comes from. Our favorite part was of course sampling the different types of tea and picking our favorite for a nice cuppa! There are lots of tea plantations in the area, and if we had more time we would have visited others.
Yala
Yala National Park was definitely a stand-out of the trip, and we have to recommend staying at Jetwing Yala. This is probably our favorite hotel that we have stayed at – hands down – EVER. We had never heard of the Jetwing prior to our stay in Sri Lanka, probably because they are a Sri Lankan brand. Jetwing Yala is a luxury hotel with comfortable rooms, first class service, relaxing and affordable spa and delicious food options.
This specific Jetwing hotel is set on the beach in Yala, extremely close to Yala National Park. Hotel guests are actually not allowed onto the beach after sunset because “that time is for the animals”. While we were staying at the hotel, we were graced by the presence of “Short Tail” – the local elephant, making his rounds around the pool. We also saw water buffalo on the road leading to the hotel, a herd of wildebeest running through the grounds. There were tons of beautiful and cheerful birds as well.
Speaking of animal life – we saw SO much during our safari to Yala National Park! We opted for a private safari that we booked through GetYourGuide, and were so happy we did. Our guide picked us up from our hotel, assured we entered the park seamlessly was great at spotting animals. He even allowed us to borrow his binoculars so we could see up close! We saw tons of elephants, birds, water buffalo, peacocks, deer, monkeys and even a leopard! It was pouring the day of our safari so we were worried we wouldn’t see anything. Our guide was fantastic and the jeep was covered so it all worked out.
The pool at Jetwing Yala is absolutely massive (too big to capture in a photograph) and is a great place to hang out at the end of the day. Do take advantage of the spa services as the masseuses are very skilled. We also recommend sampling the range of seafood they carry as this is all very fresh and delicious.
Tangalle
After enjoying the wildlife at Yala, we moved on to our next destination – Tangalle. This was a really relaxing, no hurries – no worries stop on our trip. We did a lot of reading and lazing about, which was a nice break after lots of activity. The beaches of Tangalle are very beautiful. We wouldn’t recommend spending more than 2-3 days around here as it is fairly quiet!
Mirissa
Mirissa was definitely an awesome place to visit and we wish we could have spent more time here! We did a whale watching tour from Mirissa, and honestly wouldn’t recommend it. We did end up seeing a few blowholes, but the boat was extremely crowded and hectic. The poor creatures seemed like they were trying to swim away from us as fast as they could.
Mirissa is home to coconut hill which is an insta-famous area of Sri Lanka. Definitely check out the short hike to the top of the hill and take photos in the coconut grove overlooking the ocean.
The beaches of Mirissa are absolutely spectacular and we wished we spent more time relaxing on them. We stayed at TripleOSix originally but thought it was just OK. Then we moved to Lantern Boutique Hotel which was absolutely superb. We had a few lazy days in the sun, ate dinner on the beach and even saw a mama sea turtle laying eggs!
Galle
After Mirissa we continued making our way around the coast to Jetwing Lighthouse. This hotel wasn’t on our original itinerary, but we had such a great experience at Jetwing Yala that we ended up adding it!
Jetwing Lighthouse is a sprawling resort with multiple sparkling pools, an amazing spa and big ocean views. As far as beaches go, the small private beach is quite rocky so we only dipped our toes in. While staying here we actually saw some rather large iguanas taking a dip in the pool with us!
Jetwing Lighthouse is quite close to the Galle Fort, which is an old Dutch Fort that we really enjoyed visiting. We saw the famed lighthouse as well as lots of cute shops and restaurants along Lighthouse Street. There is also a sea turtle hatchery in Galle. The Amangalla Spa looks very upscale and beautiful but sadly we did not make it to these on this trip.
Negombo
Much too quickly, our trip had come to an end. We visited during pandemic times and were impressed at the speed we were able to get COVID PCR testing done. This was needed for our flight back to the US and done at a bubble just outside the airport. After testing, our transport service dropped us off at our final Jetwing hotel of our stay, Jetwing Blue. This was our least favorite Jetwing hotel. It was busy, crowded and much less luxurious than its sister hotels. However, it was conveniently located a short distance from the airport. We didn’t stay overnight, as we had a middle-of-the-night flight departure time.
And that’s all we have for Sri Lanka! Have you been? Interested in exploring more of Asia? Check out our itineraries page here!