Our trip to Sri Lanka

At the Ruvanvelisaya Dagoba in Anuradhapura

We recently got back from a 9-day trip to Sri Lanka and it was incredible. Absolutely amazing. It’s a relatively small island, and there is so much to do: temples, archeological ruins, beaches, hiking, national parks, snorkeling and scuba diving, wildlife safaris, religious artifacts, you name it. Oh, and the food is amazing.

The view from our hotel in Trincomalee

Before having a child, our travel style was to hit the ground running, spending a night or two in most spots, trying to do as much as possible in the time available. We took trips, not vacations.

We altered our travel style a bit once M came along, lowering expectations for what we’d see and accomplish each day. We still took trips, but they were generally less intense and a little slower-paced than they used to be. But M has grown a lot and is pretty easy-going,  and he’s generally happy to do whatever we’re doing, napping in his hiking pack or stroller along the way. So with this trip (because it was definitely not a vacation) we reverted back to our former travel style.

I knew it would either go well or be a temper-tantrum-filled disaster, and it went about as well as I could have expected. Aside from some trips in the car taking much longer than planned, everyone had a lot of fun, we saw and did tons of awesome stuff, and nothing went seriously wrong.

Sigiriya, or Lion Rock

I’ve talked to a number of people are interested in going to Sri Lanka, but planning an itinerary is kind of daunting because there are so many options. Some of folks have asked about our itinerary, and since the trip went well, here you go:

Day 1: Arrive in Colombo, drive to Anuradhapura
Day 2: Drive to Trincomalee
Day 4: Drive to Sigiriya
Day 5: Drive to Ella
Day 7: Drive to Udawalawe
Day 8: Drive to Colombo
Day 9: Depart from Colombo

Because it might make more sense in map-form, here’s this:

(Yes, I just embedded a map on my blog. I am pretty proud of myself, I gotta tell ya!)

I’m planning a blog post for each location with what we did, what worked, what didn’t, and anything else that might be helpful.

In the meantime, here are some pointers for planning a trip to Sri Lanka:

• Take the monsoon season into account. There are different monsoon seasons for different parts of the island. Monsoon season is May to September in the west and south-west areas, while it’s in the east and northern regions from October to February. We largely avoided the west and south-west parts of the country on our trip.

Inside the Dambulla cave temples

• Look into hiring a car and driver. I’m pretty sure you’re only allowed to drive in Sri Lanka if you have a Sri Lankan driver’s license, and frankly the roads and traffic are so crazy, there’s no reason to drive yourself if you can help it. Hiring a car and driver is surprisingly affordable, and you shouldn’t have to pay more than $60/day for all the costs associated with it.

At the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy

• If you’re traveling with little kids, particularly babies or toddlers, bring everything you think you might need with you. Don’t plan on trying to buy anything in Sri Lanka. Unless you’re staying in Colombo, chances are you won’t be able to find whatever you’re looking for very easily. We brought bags of snacks and fruit pouches, sunscreen, a thermometer, medicines (Tylenol and ibuprofen), a pack n play, child-safe bug spray and a metal-framed hiking pack. Oh, and a car seat. Definitely bring a car seat, especially if you’re hiring a car.

The view from Ella Rock

• It’s cold in Nuwara Elia! Luckily we only drove through rather than stopping, because if we’d overnighted there I would have frozen my ass off.
• Food and goods are very inexpensive, but the cost to enter most sites is pretty high. Sigiriya was $25, so was Anuradhapura, and Udawalawe National Park was $20. On the other hand, as long as you’re not in Colombo or ordering lots of alcohol, you’d have to try pretty hard to spend more than $15 per day on food. If you know Nate, then you know how he eats, so that’s saying something.

Elephants at Udawalawe National Park

• You have to pay with cash just about everywhere. Out of the 5 hotels we stayed at, only 2 took cards. Outside of Colombo, it’s rare to find anywhere that will accept plastic.
• Dengue is prevalent, so bring bug spray!

That’s about all I can think of for now, but if anything else comes to mind, I’ll add it to the list!