BACKPACKING SRI LANKA – A Tiny Island, A Smiling Nation

Published on: July 8, 2014

Described by Marco Polo as the finest island of it’s size, Ceylon (Sri Lanka’s erstwhile name) is a treasure trove of pristine beaches, un-spoilt forest landscapes and range of heritage sites, which offered me and my wife a classic backpacking circuit for a fifteen day travel with a mixed bag of lazy meanderings, adventure and cultural tourism. […]

Described by Marco Polo as the finest island of it’s size, Ceylon (Sri Lanka’s erstwhile name) is a treasure trove of pristine beaches, un-spoilt forest landscapes and range of heritage sites, which offered me and my wife a classic backpacking circuit for a fifteen day travel with a mixed bag of lazy meanderings, adventure and cultural tourism.

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Fort Train Station – Colombo

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Sigiriya Rock,Dambulla

We only confirmed our flights to and from Colombo and kept all the in between travel plans open-ended.

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Following was our itinerary:

City Life : Colombo

Culture + Mountain and Forest Landscapes : Kandy, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Haputale

Beaches : Tangalle-Unawatuna

Colonial Flair : Galle

Colombo ( 3 days) – Kandy (2 Days) – Haputale (3 Days) – Tangalle (4 Days) – Galle and Unawatuna (3 Days) – Colombo (1 Day).

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Train Station, Kandy

We stayed in mid-range to high-range hotels and traveled mostly by public transport and in few occasions by hired taxis.

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Typical Sri Lankan Meal

It was a pleasurable experience and our trip of fifteen days just flew past.

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Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

The country has a lot to offer visiting tourists and caters to all budgets.

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To summarize the entire trip, I could say that travelling In Sri lanka is relatively easy and safe. Most of the people are conversant with English and the tourism infrastructure has been well established and supported by the government.

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Galle Lighthouse

NOTE:

MONTH VISITED – NOVEMBER

All places mentioned above will be covered in separate posts giving further details and tips on sightseeing, travelling and local insights based on our own experiences.

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In case of any queries please do email me and I shall gladly get back to you.

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2 Comments

Brice on February 15, 2015 at 1:39 pm

Hi!
Thanks for your post, I am planning a trip to Sri Lanka and it really helps to settle the itinerary 🙂

I wondered what is the budget more or less for a two weeks round trip like you did?

Thanks for your help 🙂

Brice
Reply
- admin on February 23, 2015 at 2:43 am
  
  Hi Brice,
  
  Thanks for your comment. The average daily expense for my trip worked out to about 60 USD, the most expensive component being the balloon ride in Kandy and the Buckhingham Place Hotel stay at Tangalle. The average cost includes all travel, stay, meals and sightseeing ex-Mumbai for a couple. Hope the info helps.
  Wish you lots of fun in the island of smiles..:-)
  
  Cheers,
  Jason Rebello
  Reply