For our sixth family travel destination, we visited Sri Lanka for 2 weeks. We didn’t know much about the country prior to our visit. What made us choose Sri Lanka? It all started when we watched an episode of The Amazing Race season 24. We saw the contestants taking a train ride along the country and from then on it has been on our bucket list!
For our family trip, we chose Sri Lanka because:
- There are so many activities for families and easy to get around
- Cheap flights with Malindo Airlines from Perth (we paid about $800 per person)
- No jet lag – only 2 hours and 30 minutes time difference with Perth
- Sri Lanka has Beautiful weather in January
- Sri Lankans are very friendly and adore children
- Everyone speaks good English. There’s no need to worry about language barriers
During the trip we based ourselves in these 7 towns! Colombo, Sigiriya, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Ella, Udawalawe, and Unawatuna.
Covering 7 towns in 2 weeks may sound exhausting, and can be a mistake especially for family travel, BUT these towns are only within a few hours drive of each other. Getting around was also easy as we hired a private van with driver from a company called “Genuine Srilankans”. These guys were very responsive to our emails and they do not require deposit payment via western union to secure our booking. They also helped organize our airport transfers and train tickets.
Colombo
Upon our arrival in Colombo, the city reminds us a lot of our birthplace, Jakarta, Indonesia. Both countries were colonized by the Dutch so some of the infrastructures are very similar. When doing our research, a lot of people seem to think Colombo is over-rated, and not even worth visiting. Yes it is busy, and yes there were a LOT of construction happening everywhere. But to be honest, we found Colombo to be a good starting point to Sri Lanka.
Our highlight in Colombo was visiting the 5 stars Galle Face Hotel for their afternoon tea. At only $15 including free top up of tea we thought this was a great bargain. We then walked along the famous Galle Face Green which came alive at sunset with many families playing cricket and flying kites
Sigiriya
Sigiriya is the perfect base to see the ancient cities of Pollonaruwa and Anuradhapura as they are only 1.5 hours drive away. The ancient temples were fantastic, the history was fascinating and it made for great photo opportunities BUT we did get a bit “templed-out” in the end.
You can’t visit Sigiriya without visiting the majestic Sigiriya Rock. Don’t get put off by the expensive entrance fee of $US30 per adult (our toddler luckily was free). It really is a sight to behold and the complex is huge. The entrance fee would go for preservation and maintenance of the park. We will be writing about our climb (yes we made it all the way to the very top) in more detail – so stay tuned!
Kandy
After spending 3 nights in a rather remote place, it was nice to head to another big city. Kandy is also the cultural hub made famous for their traditional Kandyan dance. We watched an hour long dance performance at Kandy Lake Club for only $8 per adult. We booked front row seats few weeks in advance – no prepayment needed. The manager even gave Berlin a seat free of charge! Berlin was able to sit still the whole hour and he really enjoyed the spinning plates dance.
Nuwara Eliya
The road from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya was very scenic as we went up the hills passing through many tea plantations. The long winding road may be challenging for those with motion sickness though. We brought our car seat with us and luckily Berlin slept through most of the way.
Almost all of the buildings in Nuwara Eliya are built with English style architecture. We felt like we were transported back to England. This area attracts BIG tourism and is considered to be the most important location for tea production in Sri Lanka. Naturally a visit to a tea factory is definitely a must. We visited Pedro tea factory and joined their 20 minutes guided tour.
Ella
The best way to get to Ella from Nuwara Eliya was definitely through taking a scenic 3.5 hours train ride. The slow journey takes you through the tea plantations and country side. We purchased first class tickets organized by “Genuine Srilankans” and it was very comfortable.
Ella is a small town, and unlike Nuwara Eliya that was highly visited by big tour groups – we saw none of that here. Ella definitely has more of a laidback and chilled attitude which we loved. We trekked at little Adam’s peak, which was a fairly easy hike until the very last 20 minutes where it got really steep. Our trek was more entertaining since a stray dog kept us company all the way to the top. When we reached the summit, we were so surprised to see a group of stray dogs hanging out, some even sunbathed along the edges of the cliff!
Udawalawe
Just 2 hours drive away from Ella, we reached our next stop, Udawalawe. The main attraction here and the main reason we decided to stay overnight was to do the early morning 6am 3 hours jeep safari tour. Our hotel organized the jeep safari at a very reasonable price.
We saw many animals starting with crocodiles, water buffalos, elephants, monkeys and various birds. We were so lucky to have seen so many elephants came up real close to us.
Unawatuna
Our last stop in Sri Lanka was this beautiful beach town. Our guest house hosts recommended Dalawella beach, just less than 10 minutes drive from Unawatuna and boy it didn’t disappoint. The beach is perfect for young kids as the waves are mild, and we were lucky enough to swim with a giant sea turtle!
So would we go back to Sri Lanka?
Oh YES in a heartbeat! The three of us had such a wonderful time there. There’s something for everyone from temples, the beach, national parks. Each town is so different in their own ways, we felt like being transported to different countries as we drive our way around Sri Lanka.
How long was the flight?
There’s no direct flight from Perth to Colombo. We went with Malindo Air, and the trip took around 10 hours long including a brief transit at Kuala Lumpur. We paid around $800 per person – and we even got a lucky free upgrade to business class for the KL-Colombo leg.
Sri Lanka only has 2 hours and 30 minutes time difference with Perth so having no jet lag is a big plus.
What was the weather like?
January has the best weather. In our 2 weeks there we did not get a single bit of rain. Colombo, Sigiriya and Unawatuna ranges around low 30’s degrees Celsius in the day time. Nuwara Eliya is the coolest area in Sri Lanka with daily temperature around low 20s dropping to around 10 degrees Celsius at night.
Was Sri Lanka cheap?
Since we went in high season, accommodation prices were quite steep. In the end we stayed at a mixture of 3 star, 4 star hotels, bed and breakfast and home stay accommodations. The average we spent each night was $180 for a triple room.
We hardly did any shopping in Sri Lanka. We only purchased teas! We actually came back with half empty luggages this time around.
How about food and drinks?
Food and drinks are a lot cheaper than in Australia – as long as you stay off the wines. We struggled to find Sri Lankan food in our hometown, so we couldn’t have a trial before we arrived. We originally assumed the foods will be just like Indian food and worried Berlin might not eat during the trip – how wrong were we! Sri Lankan foods have so much variety not just curries! They have stir fry dishes similar to sweet and sour dishes, as well as Indonesian-type dishes. All added with chilli of course.
On our first day there, Tara confidently ordered masala chai during breakfast- only to get a strange look from the waiter. Sri Lankans as we learnt only drink Ceylon black tea. Masala chai is only available in India and Nepal.
When dining out, most restaurants have a few selections of Western dishes such as pasta and crumbed fish. We found food in Sri Lanka generally took a long time to arrive (a few times we had to wait close to an hour). So make sure you are extra patient when ordering foods.
And how about the people?
Sri Lankans absolutely adore children. Berlin attracted quite an attention wherever we went. People would want to say Hi and touch him. It got to a point where he started to “hide” from strangers by putting his arms over his face to block people from touching him lol.
Everyone we encountered were very friendly and spoke really good English, so we did not have an issue whatsoever with language barrier.
Were you scared of getting sick?
Just like visiting any other South Asian countries, we never drank the tap water. Bottled water is an absolute must even for brushing your teeth if you want to be extra safe.
We all took 2 vaccinations prior to visiting Sri Lanka; Hepatitis A and typhoid vaccines.
For places we have visited, Checkout our website’s travel Destinations section. We buy of our travel essentials online via Ebay
