A month felt like the perfect amount of time to spend in Sri Lanka – enough time to visit both touristy and untouched spots, and get a full appreciation for the diversity of the country. Of course, you could condense the country into two weeks, or really relax over two or three months, but here’s how we spent our 3.5 weeks.
Colombo: 1 night
Everybody had told us to get out of Colombo as quickly as possible… and they were right. Colombo is a very big city with very little urban charm. We booked a single night at the centrally located Steps Backpackers Hostel (NZ26/US18) for a non a/c double room, shared bathroom with a cold shower, breakfast included.) In the morning, we caught a tuk tuk to Colombo Fort station, to catch the five hour train to Kandy.
Kandy: 2 nights
We had only booked two nights in Kandy, with the intention of staying longer if we liked the place. As it turned out, two nights felt like enough. The inland city of Kandy is a popular spot on the main Sri Lanka tourist trail, nestled into thick green jungle and tea plantations. It is still a big city however, and the central city area is a maze of narrow dusty streets and honking horns. It’s not particularly pleasant to walk around. It is also surprisingly deficient in good eateries. The Kandy Muslim Hotel did good Sri Lankan staples at a reasonable price, but everywhere else we tried was expensive and unremarkable.
We stayed at 43 Homestay ($15 NZD for a double room with a shared bathroom with hot water, upgraded to an attached bathroom) which was a 10 minute tuk tuk ride out of the central city (roughly 150rs each way). Staying out of the main centre was nice and quiet, and a good night’s sleep was certainly worth the minimal transport costs.
Overlooking Kandy is a giant white seated Buddha, which also provides a great vantage point of the city. Reachable by tuktuk, entrance is mercifully free, and it was a great place to spend half an hour in the morning. A couple of young monkeys grabbed Geoff’s feet as we climbed the stairs.
In the centre of Kandy is a large man-made lake, on the banks of which sit the famous ‘Temple of the Tooth’. Entrance is 1,500rs/pp. This large temple is one of Kandy’s main tourist attractions, and we headed there directly after the big Buddha. It is a beautiful and impressive temple – to add to the list of other beautiful and impressive temple’s we’ve visited. Was it a stand-out? Probably not.
Kandy also boats a large botanic garden. Again, entrance is 1,500rs/pp. It is a beautiful place to walk around, but having recently been spoilt by Singapore’s amazing central-city gardens, we were a little disappointed. The highlight was thousands of fruit bats jostling for space to roost in the huge trees.
Overall, we felt one whole day sightseeing was enough.
Sigiriya, 3 nights
For a more in-depth version of our time in Sigiriya, check out Three Days in Sigiriya.
To get to Sigiriya, we caught an a/c bus from Kandy to Dambulla (non a/c buses can be caught the whole way). We intended to transfer buses at Dambulla for the last 13km of the journey, but as soon as we stepped off, we were hustled by tuk tuk drivers. After insisting we would wait for the bus (and rejecting offers for rides at 1500rs with a ‘free visit to a spice garden’), a driver offered to take us for a reasonable 500rs.
Sigiriya is deep in the Sri Lankan jungle, and is an amazing place. Three nights was a good amount of time to spend here. We stayed at Sigiriya Village Homestay (NZ40/US27) for a double room, attached bathroom with semi-hot water, delicious breakfast). This was an amazing guesthouse, where the owner and his wife put on the most delicious breakfasts and dinners, shared between all the guests. Each meal was made up of at least nine different dishes, made fresh at the small outdoor kitchen a few meters away.
Sigiriya is famous for it’s two giant rocks that appear to erupt directly out of the ground, with sheer sides and a flat tops. The larger and more popular of the two, Sigiriya Rock or Lion Rock was once a spectacular palace fortress. Now, only the foundations remain on the top. The other, slightly smaller rock, called Pidurangala, was the one we visited first.
Entrance to Pidurangala is only 500rs/pp (NZ4/US2.8) per person. The climb to the top of the rock takes about 40 minutes, up rough-cut stone stairs, the last of which you have to use your hands to pull you up. But the view at the top was amazing – better, we thought, than Sigiriya Rock, which we did the next day.
Going up Sigiriya rock will set you back 5,400rs (NZ46/US30) per person – so to get the most for our money, we went at 6.30am, when the doors opened. This is a little late to see the sunrise, but we still got a beautifully clear view of the surrounding jungle. To reach the top, you have to climb scaffolding-type stairs that are bolted onto the vertical face of the rock.
We also did a safari – which turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences in the entire trip. Minneriya national park is a 20min drive by Jeep from Sigiriya, and a half-day afternoon safari, which we shared with a young German couple, set us back 7000rs (NZ59/US40) each. It was well worth the cost though – we saw an incredible number of elephants. Mothers with young babies, huge bulls, playful teenagers – all wild and free. It was one of the best experiences we had on the whole trip.
We wrapped up our time in Sigiriya with a visit to Polonnaruwa. This ancient town was once the seat of the great Sri Lankan kings, but now only the foundations remain. Again, this was an expensive attraction at 4600rs pp – however, we spent a whole afternoon exploring the ruins, which were largely empty of tourists. We wandered through old palaces, around giant stupas and under the watchful eye of ancient Buddha statues. We only left once the sun set – and as we made the 40 min drive back to Sigiriya in the back of our guesthouse owner’s tuktuk, we passed by five elephants, casually grazing on the side of the road.
Trincomalee: 2 nights
To get to Trincomalee from Sigiriya, we caught a tuktuk up to Habanara, where we caught the east-bound train to Trincomalee. There was one train transfer on the trip – luckily a concerned woman directed us to the right platform, otherwise we would have missed it completely.
Trincomalee is on the upper east coast of Sri Lanka. The town itself is fairly unremarkable, but it’s flanked by two huge beaches, Nilaveli and Uppuveli (to read more about the best beaches in Sri Lanka, check out our post here.). We stayed at Oceanic White House in Nilaveli – NZ18/US12 for a double room, no a/c, warm-ish water bathroom, breakfast included. The breakfast at this guesthouse was simple but absolutely delicious – garlicy dahl, fresh coconut rotti and heaps of coconut sambal.
Nilaveli was a cool little town, with cheap and tasty food (Nilaas did a fantastic fish curry), but when we went in March it was largely empty of tourists. Usually this is a blessing, but in this case, it meant that I felt uncomfortable stripping down to my bikini among all the much more conservatively dressed women on the beach. So the next day, we opted to rent a scooter (1500rs for the day) and explore some other parts of the area.
Being armed with our guesthouse owner’s 150cc felt like the best way to explore the Trinco area. We made our way up to the Fort Fredrick old Portuguese fort, which has been taken over by herds of wild spotted deer. Up past the fort, perched on side of the cliff, was the huge Koneswaram Temple Hindu temple. Open to anyone, with free sarongs you can use to cover your knees and shoulders, this giant ornate temple was well worth a visit. Afterwards, we cooled down with some fresh-squeezed green orange juice at one of the many cliffside stalls outside.
Wanting to make the most of our time with the bike, we continued on to Marble beach, which is a 30min drive south of Trinco town. This beach was partially owned by a resort, but for the price of two pineapple juices from the bar, we parked ourselves under one of their beach umbrellas. This beach was amazing, the water was swimmable and warm, and was one of the best we visited on our entire trip.
Batticaloa: 1 night
We wanted to get from Trincomalee to Arugam Bay, a journey which can be made in one day by bus, but which takes nine hours with at least one transfer. Considering the busses were close to 40˚ inside, we opted to break this journey up into two parts by spending one night in Batticaloa on the way down. It took four hours to reach the small town from Trinco.
Dessamated by the 2004 tsunami, Batticaloa is only just starting to recover. We stayed at Juda Villa (NZ16/US11 for a double room, attached warm water bathroom, okay breakfast). It was a small guesthouse near the beach – which was a surprisingly huge, white sand bay, but the surf was dumpy and intimidating. Geoff and a group of locals helped a fisherman pull his boat onto shore after the motor died. Batti was good for a quick stop, but the next day, we felt ready to leave.
Arugam Bay: 3 nights
It took another four hours to reach Arugam Bay by bus. The bus actually stops at Pottuvil, but it’s only 3km to Arugam from there. Unfortunately the tuktuk drivers will rip you off for this short journey, but it was just a little too far to walk with our big packs.
Arugam Bay heaves with tourists during the July-April surf season, but in March, it was very quiet, and half the shops were shut. For us, this made it perfect. Because it’s not connected by trains or direct busses, Arugam is a little off the ordinary tourist trail, despite its beautiful beach, great accommodation and amazing food. We treated ourselves with a great low season price at Bay Vista Hotel – NZ32/US22 for a room with a/c, sea view, attached hot water bathroom.
Because we were there in the offseason, the surf wasn’t big at all, which made the beach perfect for swimming. The southernmost end of the beach, called Baby Point, is the best swimming spot, where the undertow is minimal and you can play safely in the waves. We spent two whole days waking up late, eating dahl, rotti and coconut sambal at The Blue Ocean cafe, going for swims, and having fresh fish ‘curry & rice’ and ginger beer at the delicious Hakeem’s Place down the road.
Arugam Bay is also the entry point to Kumana National Park, also called Yala East. This national park shares a long border with the famous Yala national park, and so consequently shares the same animals, but is far less crowded with vehicles. We did our second safari of the trip here, sharing a Jeep with four other tourists for an early morning half-day trip into the park (5000pp – NZ42/US28). This safari wasn’t as spectacular as our Sigiriya safari (see Three Days in Sigiriya) but we did see the crown jewel of Sri Lankan wildlife (and my #1 favourite animal) – a huge male leopard lazily watching us from a tree beside the road. He surveyed us for a few minutes, then stood up on the branch, stretched, and disappeared into the bush. We felt incredibly lucky to have spent a little time with him.
Ella: 3 nights
There’s no easy way to get from Arugam Bay to Ella. You can catch 2 or 3 busses, depending on how the timing of your connections play out. Having saved a some money over the past week by largely doing nothing except eating, swimming and sleeping, we chose to pay a tuktuk driver to take us there directly. The journey is 3 ½ – 4 hours by tuktuk and we paid our driver 5000rs – NZ42/US28.
Coming from lazy Arugam to Ella was a bit of a shock. Ella is one of the busiest spots on the main tourist trail, and the vibe of the small mountain town was completely different. Instead of the small Rice & Curry restaurants we had grown used to, Ella’s main Street was populated with bars, clubs and coffee shops, with giant flashy signs for ‘Fish and Chips’ and ‘Margarita Pizza’. The price of food nearly doubled. We did find one amazing place to eat however, where we had the best Rice & Curry of our entire trip – Matey Hut, a tiny restaurant on Ella’s main road, just past the bridge, will forever have a special place in my heart.
We stayed at Ella Rock Guesthouse – a small 3 room guesthouse up the hill behind the main town, where we had a double room with no a/c, breakfast included and a truly awful shower for NZ23/US16 per night. It was run by a lovely young guy called Danu and his beloved dog, Lucky. Lucky almost made up for the shower.
On our first day, we (along with everyone else in Ella, it seemed) climbed Little Adams Peak – a short walk to an epic view point that looks eastward, down into the valley between the mountains. We were at the peak at around 10am after walking an hour to get there, and I’d say that was a little late in the day. It was hot and sweaty, and everyone else up there was hot and sweaty too. There are a few trees you can shade under, and take a little time to absorb the view.
From there, we walked to the famous 9 Arch Bridge. This British-built stone monstrosity towers over the surrounding tea plantations, carrying the trains into Ella station. In between the trains, anyone is free to walk over the bridge. After clambering down a slippery slope that turned out to be the back entrance to the bridge (still not sure how we managed that), we spent about half an hour walking around and taking photos. We saw two trains roll past in this time, and with only one loud toot on the horn signalling that the train was almost here, everyone on the tracks had to scramble out of the way. The fastest way back to Ella is to walk on the train tracks until you get back to Ella station.
On our second full day in Ella, we went rented a scooter from Danu at the guesthouse (1300rs for the day) and made the 1h journey out to Diyaluma falls. This is the second highest waterfall in Sri Lanka, and if you’re willing to make the 45 minute climb to the top, you can swim in the naturally formed pools. We were willing.
There were a few ‘guides’ (aka local lads looking to make a buck) milling in the parking area at the base of the falls. Completely unsure how to get to the top, we paid one guy 1500rs to show us the way – and we were glad we did. The 45 minute climb was more of a scramble, and we were breathless at the top. Luckily we had beaten the crowd, and had the place to ourselves for almost an hour. The pools were freezing cold, and we alternated between swimming in the deepest one and lying in the current that splashes over the rocks. Unfortunately, this is where we got bitten by leeches. I got one sucker on my upper thigh, and Geoff got one between his toes and another between his fingers.
Talalla: 5 nights
Getting from Ella to Talalla was simple, but unpleasant. A direct bus bound for Matara passes through Ella each day, which will also pass through Talalla 4-5h after leaving Ella. This popular bus is exceptionally crowded and hot, and we were crammed in the back seat for the entire journey. When we stepped off at Talalla, it felt like we’d just been through the hot cycle of a washing machine.
We had met two travellers at other guesthouses who had told us how beautiful Talalla was – and they weren’t wrong. The crescent moon shaped bay was the best beach we stayed at in Sri Lanka (see our review of Sri Lanka’s best beaches). Silk-soft sand, palm trees, warm water and very few tourists. The food was great as well.
We spent the first two nights at Hotel Mahena, a budget hotel that turned out not to have access to the main beach, but instead had a small ‘private beach’ that was more of an unswimmable lagoon. The wifi was bad here, and there were ants all over the toilet. We quickly chose to book somewhere else.
Thalalla BnB made for a great alternative. NZ26/US17 for a double room with mosquito net, no a/c, semi-warm shower and an average breakfast. It was only a 50 metre walk from the swimming end of the beach, so for the next three days, we would wake up, have breakfast, and find a spot to lie in for the day. Because we were there in the low season, there were numerous unoccupied sun loungers on the beach – some belonged to a larger hotel, and others had no visible owner at all, but nobody kicked us off when we settled down for the day. We would alternate between swimming in the warm water, reading our books and eating rotti samosas, fish rolls and cardamom cake from the bakery (seriously, bakery lunch made for the best budget lunch in Sri Lanka – see Sri Lanka on a Budget). Geoff was a trooper and made the 30min walk to the bakery each day, while I guarded our spot… by reading my book.
There are just a few eating options in Talalla, but they’re good. Onchillawa, which sprawled out onto the beach with plastic chairs and hammocks, did the most amazing whole fish with lemongrass and garlic. A guy would cruise up to our table with that day’s fish on a plate, and we’d point to what we wanted. Their rice & curry, despite being more expensive than the inland restaurants, was super tasty, and their cocktails were reasonably priced.
Unawatuna/Talpe: 4 nights
I say Unawatuna because that’s the general area, but we really stayed in Talpe – the area just south of Unawatuna beach. Because we intended to rent a scooter, this location was perfect, but if you aren’t confident on the bike, it would be too remote. Unawatuna itself was the most built-up touristy place we visited. Bali bowls, yoga retreats, bars and beach parties. It did mean that we had our first good coffee in Sri Lanka though, which we welcomed.
Still scarred by our previous bus trip, we opted to pay for a tuktuk to take us here as well – a slightly high 2400rs for the 1h journey. We stayed at the epic Anara Villa, a 4 room guesthouse that had hotel-quality facilities, owned by a lovely young guy. We paid NZ23/US16 for a beautiful double room, no a/c (but really good fan) and hot water shower. He rented us his own scooter for the entire stay for just 1000rs per day.
Because we had the bike, we were able to easily visit Galle fort from our guesthouse, which was interesting to drive around for a morning. The cobbled streets, white walls and red tiled roofs felt like we had immediately stepped into Portugal (save for the rice & curry restaurants, perhaps). Afterwards, we made our way to Closenberg Hotel, where access to their infinity pool costs 500rs/pp, and was the perfect way to spend an afternoon.
The next day we made the 45min drive up to Hikkaduwa, to see the giant sea turtles that swim in the shallow water at the southernmost point of the beach. It was a little too crowded for comfort here, but seeing the huge creatures lazily graze on seaweed (or eat it out of your hand, if you can find some) was an amazing experience.
Finally, we made a trip to Jungle Beach to go snorkelling. On the other side of the Unawatuna peninsular, this beach is hard to reach by foot and easy to reach by bike. We had rented snorkel gear from Seahorse Divers (mask, snorkel and fins 2x – 1500rs for the whole day). Jungle beach is just a short stretch of white sand set back into the vegetation, and the reef starts just a few metres offshore (which makes getting in and out a bit dangerous). Unfortunately when we went, there was a lot of churn and movement in the water, and visibility was really low. We still saw a few schools of tropical fish minding their own fishy business however.
Food in this area is good, but really expensive. We eventually found a place in Galle (the oldest tea shop in the area, it claimed) that did a regular Sri Lankan breakfast of dahl, rotti and sambal for a reasonable price, but the dinners everywhere were hugely expensive. We were eating local as well, so if you preferred a pizza or a burger, you’d be looking to pay even more.
We did have our best (and most expensive) meal of the trip here though – Sunset Seafood, at the western end of Unawatuna beach, served us the most incredible seafood platter. Whole crab, lobster, tuna steak, cuttlefish and piles of prawns for 4000rs, all cooked together in lemongrass, tamarind and garlic. I cry a little just thinking about it.
Colombo: 1 night
We took an easy 3h train from Talpe to Colombo for just one night, prior to our 8am flight the next day. Nothing else to report about Colombo.
Overall, we loved our time in Sri Lanka. It’s amazing scenery, from elephant-filled jungle to tropical beaches, it’s delicious food and it’s lovely people have left an indelible mark on our heart. See you soon, SL.
