Thoughts on travelling in Sri Lanka

20160124 Kandy Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relict

“You were travelling in Sri Lanka? Oh, how pleasant, I’ve just been there myself!,” a lot of people comment when we mention that we are going to Sri Lanka. In recent months, the diamond-shaped island just south of India has become a very popular destination, not least, undoubtedly, due to some cheap flight offers from Europe, which was also one of the reasons for us to go. Altogether we spent four weeks in Sri Lanka, the full extent of the tourist visa and just long enough to see most areas.

20160204 Sigirya P1240607
Sri Lankas most famous site, the Sigiriya rock on a busy day

Our main motivation for the trip was to visit the early Buddhist sites and the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka in the centre of the island and this was where we headed first, visiting Kandy (pre-colonial but not quite so ancient) and the oldest Buddhist sites at Anuradhapura and Mihintale. After a detour to the coastal town of Trincomalee we returned to the “Cultural Triangle” to visit Polonnaruwa, Dambulla and Sigiriya. Our next destination was the highlands, where the famous Ceylon tea is grown and where we expected to find British colonial atmosphere (we didn’t, really). And finally, the beaches of the South. This order of destinations reflects our priorities when we set out, but in the end it also corresponds to our ranking in retrospect. In fact, we could have done without the last week on the beaches, which wasn’t unpleasant, but couldn’t compete with the rest.

Sightseeing

20160129 Mihintale Maha Seya P1230991

We loved most of the historical sites we visited during travelling in Sri Lanka. Many of them being UNESCO World Heritage sites. With entrance fees ranging from about 20 $ to 30 $ for the major sites, they were expensive even by international standards. Nevertheless, we found the prices appropriate at least for Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, where whole ancient cities are spread out, taking a whole day of relaxed and enjoyable cycling to discover. Actually we would even have preferred to spend several days there, but the ticket is only valid for one. We also liked some smaller sites, such as Mihintale – where the first Buddhist missionary converted the Sri Lankan king as early as the 3rd century BC! – or Buduruvagala, a rather out-of-the-way rock carving of several huge Buddhas. The only place that we found completely overrated and overpriced was Sigiriya.

Nature & Beaches

20160206 Haputale Tangamalai Dandulena

“Oh, they are looking at a dandulena,” some locals comment unsurprisedly when they pass us excitedly taking photos of a strange animal eating the flowers of a tree we haven’t ever seen before either. The nature in Sri Lanka was exotic, omnipresent and overwhelming – in spite of the country being densely populated. Like all tourists, we also went to a national park to see elephants and unusual birds, which was stunning, but what intrigued us far more was the variety of plants and animals everywhere around us, even in the towns. A heaven for birdwatchers, undoubtedly.

The beaches however, much praised as they seemed, were less inviting than we had expected. Some were beautiful to look at with fine white sand and coconut palms, but had too high aves for swimming (at least for us) and no snorkelling, others were small and crowded with sand of mixed quality.

Accommodation and food

Compared to South-East Asia, accommodation was not particularly good value, but with around 20 € per night for an acceptable room still inexpensive. We did not book ahead and sometimes had to look at quite a few rooms to find something acceptable. We usually stayed in a private double room with bathroom and fan (half of the time only with cold water, which was fine as it was hot). For 30–40 € you will get a more tasteful room with air-con and hot water.

As there are many Tamil people living in Sri Lanka, we had expected to find a lot of good vegetarian South Indian food there. While local eateries were cheap they usually did not have many choices for vegetarians. Most of the time we had Kotthu (fried bread with vegetables) or rice and vegetarian curry (rice was of a terrible quality more often than not). For breakfast we usually bought fruits, rather than having the quite expensive but sumptuous breakfast at the guesthouses.

Transport

20160129 Anuradhapura_Mihintale Bus P1230908

Travelling in Sri Lanka was easy and incredibly cheap. The roads were not too bad, but for some reason everything remotely connected with public transport was quite time-consuming. We also took the famous slow train into the Hill country – which according to guidebooks and blogs is one of the absolute must-dos. Again, we feel we could have done without it. Atmospheric as the mountainous tea fields were, the train was just plainly overcrowded, because every tourist feels compelled to go on that train. There are only a few trains per day and the small amount of reserved seats is usually snatched up by tour operators weeks in advance.

20160206 Haputale Zug P1240709

3 Comments

  1. Good summary. I find the costs interesting, overall more expensive than I would have thought (especially entry fees to parks).
    How did you find travelling there as woman travellers? Years ago my mom went with her husband. It was a business trip and they stayed in 5 star hotels and she loved it. A few years later, after an unpleasant divorce, she decided she’d like to see Sri Lanka again, this time as a budget-minded independent traveller. She didn’t like it at all: she found the people pushy and intrusive (perfect example of how you travel can really change your perspective on a place).
    So how did you find the people?
    Frank (bbqboy)

  2. Actually, we had read similar (or worse) accounts by female travellers just before we started out and were somewhat apprehensive. But then it wasn’t so bad at all. We had only one unpleasant encounter with a tuktuk driver (one too many, but we had expected, like, one per day…), and we met some other, younger women complaining about the attitude of local men.
    It might be about age, dress (Western women in Sri Lanka do tend to wear items in town that they wouldn’t in a European city) and general demeanour.

  3. Hi Natascha and Isa, it is a couple of years ago that we traveled Sri Lanka. In general we made the same experience concerning travel expense. It is very expensive compared to other countries around. And it is very difficult to understand why. But the sights let you forget all this. People are ok. Country has so much to offer.
    Thomas + Gisela

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