Natasha & Ross
England, March 2023
What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
We loved it all! Particularly the beautiful scenery, fascinating culture, friendly people, delicious food (lots of rice and curry!), and the amazing wildlife.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
While generally a clean and tidy country, there were noticeable amounts of plastic waste on the beaches we visited. Recycling is difficult on the island but we felt that the places we stayed at could generally have done more to minimise single-use packaging and have better facilities for guests to help with recycling. We took our own metal water bottles with us, but found it hard to refill these anywhere (we bought large 5ltr bottles at a supermarket) - most accommodation provided individual bottles of water, replaced daily. [We are totally of the same opinion regarding the amount of single-use plastic still utilised in Sri Lanka, which is an issue in the UK as well, particularly in our supermarkets. For some years, we have promoted the installation of water purification systems in accommodation and restaurants as well as the provision on non-plastic water bottles in rooms and at table. Unfortunately, too few establishments have changed to non-plastic alternatives, and there is much work to do to convince them of the detrimental impact of plastic on their environment. We will continue to champion water filtration systems and non-plastic alternatives in the accommodation we provide.]
What is your opinion of your accommodation in Sri Lanka?
We really liked everywhere we stayed, with each place having its own unique character and charm. We did have a few thoughts/suggestions which may help you and other guests when planning future trips.
Kassapa Lion’s Rock [Sigiriya] - great location, nice swimming pools, good food and a comfortable room. A good first stop for people arriving in Sri Lanka in the morning. Bathroom needed a bit of attention but was perfectly fine.
Hanthana House Kandy - great hospitality from Pathi and his family with excellent food. Really comfortable room with an excellent view from the balcony. We’d had a long day before arriving, including attending the evening puja at the Temple of the Tooth, so didn’t get to Hanthana House until late evening as it’s a short journey from central Kandy. Somewhere central may be a better option for those looking to spend a bit more time in Kandy itself.
The Cottage by Jetwing [Nuwara Eliya] - perfectly fine for a one night stay but very tired decor which didn’t reflect the reputation of the Jetwing brand. The housekeeper was very attentive. Good location for getting around Nuwara Eliya. We can highly recommend Dushan’s Home Kitchen (2min walk away) for meals!!
98 Acres [Resort & Spa, Ella] - Really nice room with a great view of Ella Gap. Disappointed that the Ravana Pool Club closed almost an hour earlier than advertised so we dined at the main restaurant instead (very nice!). Planning-wise, it’s worth having a little more time here to relax and make the most of the facilities. Arriving late afternoon and getting up early for the Ella Rock hike made it feel like a bit of a waste staying somewhere so nice when a simpler guesthouse would have served us just as well. [Thanks for your feedback. However, at the present time, we do not offer more straightforward accommodation in Ella itself; AMBA Estate provides three excellent alternatives but it is even further away from Ella than 98 Acres.]
Hibiscus Garden Hotel [Tissamaharama] - beautiful grounds to the hotel with a handful of accommodation bungalows around a central pool. Open air restaurant served fantastic food. Staff all very friendly and most were women which was great to see! (Most other hotels had an almost all-male staff). A relaxing place to stay after a day at Yala.
Talalla Retreat [Talalla] - really lovely resort on a beautiful stretch of beach. Much, much quieter than nearby Hiriketiya and Mirissa. Many thanks, John, for recommending Talalla when we asked for somewhere quiet to end our trip - it was perfect! Room was amazing with a good view of the ocean (open air shower and no walls to the room!!). Staff was excellent, spa facilities were very good and the pool was lovely. Evening buffet was a bit bland (not spicy enough) and repetitive compared to other places we had stayed but there was always a good choice between local and more ‘western’ food. Breakfast pancakes were a highlight! It is worth noting that there are very good local restaurants next door to the hotel so it was not necessary to have half board. Had we known this we would have chosen the B&B option.
We were surprised to learn that the owner of the hotel is Australian (he was there at the same time as us) and all of the yoga and surf instructors were European or Australian. There surely must have been local instructors who could have benefited from the employment. Compared to other places we’d stayed and experiences we’d had so far, Talalla didn’t feel particularly authentic, although this didn’t affect our enjoyment here. [We understand your reservations at Talalla Retreat regarding the lack of local Sri Lankan employees in instructor roles and we will feedback your comments to the resort. Our feeling mirrors yours in that locals of a similar (or better?) calibre could be found for such roles and this is central to our Responsible Travel policy.]
Fort Bliss [Galle] - great room with views of the ocean (we saw Blue Whales from the balcony!). Really nicely furnished guesthouse with a nice central garden. Breakfast was good, although it wasn’t made clear on the in-room menu that we needed to order the evening before if we wanted anything off the menu, so we were disappointed not to be able to have Hoppers on our last morning. The manager wasn’t particularly welcoming compared to other places. Very good location.
What is your opinion of your chauffeur guide in Sri Lanka?
Awesome! From the start, Nihal was very friendly, knowledgeable, accommodating and professional. He is an excellent birdwatcher and was often pointing out birdlife and other wildlife, even when we were not on safari! He was happy to answer our (many!) questions about local culture, language, and Buddhism, and took us to some great local restaurants for meals at our request, as well as some more touristy ones.
We had expected to have a different driver take us from our beach stay onto Galle and then the airport, but Nihal surprised us by driving back to the south coast so he could be our guide again for our last couple of days. This was a lovely surprise and we were happy to be able to spend some more time with Nihal at the end of our trip.
We have lots of fond memories of our time spent with Nihal and he made our trip extra special. We learnt a lot from him and got on well together. We had never had a chauffeur guide for a holiday before, preferring to be more independent, but would definitely recommend it to others after our experiences with Nihal. We got a lot out of our time together and felt that this added extra depth to our trip and helped us learn more about Sri Lanka.
We really enjoyed spending time with Nihal, and by the end of our trip we felt that we had made a friend in Sri Lanka. We hope to see Nihal again on a future visit. Many thanks Nihal for your kindness, hospitality and for everything you did to make our trip memorable. You really went over and above
What is your opinion of your flights to and from Sri Lanka?
We self-booked flights with Emirates. Service was as expected and didn’t disappoint. Entry into Sri Lanka was smooth and very efficient - less than 30mins from deplaning to getting our luggage (a stark contrast to arriving back in the UK which took over 90mins!).
Any other comments?
The information provided by Tikalanka pre-departure was very helpful. I would suggest adding to this that visitors could bring reusable metal straws, as well as water bottles, with them as pretty much everywhere always served drinks with a plastic straw, and we felt that having our own straws to show when ordering drinks could have helped cut down on this. [Many thanks for the tip and we will include it in future pre-departure information sent to customers.]
Finally, we’d like to say many thanks to you, John, for all your help organising our trip at relatively short notice. You did a great job: we had a brilliant time and it was just what we had hoped for. Thank you very much! [A great pleasure, as always, to develop an itinerary for engaged and interested travellers like yourselves, and I am very pleased that you enjoyed your trip with us so much. We hope to see you again sometime in the future.]
« All feedback
