Tika Traveller

Discover Sri Lanka & Maldives From Those Who Know It Best

Blogs from Tikalanka are designed to enhance your knowledge of Sri Lanka and Maldives and keep you up to date with recent developments. We intend to post regular features on travel, news, lifestyle and accommodation as well as guest articles from current and past customers, which will give you first-hand experience of Tikalanka, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Category: Sightseeing

TikaWeeks #18/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 2nd May 2023

The financial crisis in Sri Lanka is still on many potential visitors’ minds. The political and economic mire that left Sri Lanka in a parlous state last year has passed, thankfully, and a much needed IMF intervention has boosted the island’s economy. The Government took the unprecedented step of slashing fuel prices at the end of March this year, and an international consortium of Sri Lanka’s creditors recently launched an initiative to restructure the country’s debt. Things are definitely looking up…

A train negotiating the tortuous railway line through the Hill Country in Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #14/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 3rd April 2023

Trains are now part of everyday life in Sri Lanka but the railway has had a tumultuous time ever since British colonists first explored its possibilities for transporting coffee, coconut, rubber and tea from the plantations around Kandy to Colombo on the coast for export back in 1842. Today the railways are fundamental to the public transport network around the island as well as a popular tourist attraction. Here are five of the best rail journeys in Sri Lanka.

TikaWeeks #13/2023: Sri Lanka & Maldives update

Posted by John on 27th March 2023

BREAKING NEWS. We are now collaborating with Tropic Breeze on our Sri Lanka and Maldives holidays. Tropic Breeze is a UK-based travel specialist to Maldives, the Caribbean, Seychelles and Mauritius, and we have been working with them in Maldives for the last nine years. We believe that this is the best way forward for Tikalanka and our valued customers after a few very difficult years. We are now in a strong position to look to the future with renewed confidence.

Family group of Asian Elephants, Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #12/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 23rd March 2023

Rewilding is a relatively new endeavour in Sri Lanka, although some schemes have been active for years. Jetwing Vil Uyana began an ambitious project back in 2005, converting abandoned paddy fields into a wetland mosaic fed by irrigation channels from the surrounding farmland, and planting thousands of indigenous trees. Today it is enjoying the fruits of an enlightened and welcome rewilding initiative.

A deserted east coast beach of Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #11/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 18th March 2023

Earlier this year The Independent’s travel desk published their dream destinations for 2023 and Sri Lanka topped the wish list. After years of pandemic-related restrictions, this is the first year that travel has the opportunity to return to “normal”, with most countries having opened back up to tourists, without the need for extra testing and paperwork. Previously on the up as a seemingly universally loved travel destination and with so much pent-up demand, Sri Lanka is the place to visit in 2023.

Sri Lanka's beautiful and enigmatic Tea Country

TikaWeeks #10/2023: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 10th March 2023

I am sure you will have heard of the Camino de Santiago in Spain, Peru's Inca Trail or the well-trammelled route to Everest Base Camp, but do you know about the world's newest walking trail? No, well it's Sri Lanka's very own Pekoe Trail, a 300-km, 22-stage network of hiking trails, which winds its way through the island's dramatic Hill Country, an area synonymous with growing tea. Intended to be walked in stages or in full, it was conceived to encourage more visitors into the island's most remote regions.

TikaWeeks #10/2022: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 9th March 2022

Like the rest of the world, Sri Lanka is currently suffering the effects of sky-high oil prices, supply chain issues and a prolonged break in tourism due to the pandemic but this doesn’t stop new travel initiatives from appearing on the island. These include a new luxury train service from Kandy to Ella (the most picturesque railway journey on the island), a projected cable car route through the breath-taking scenery of the Hill Country, and the opening of the Central Expressway between Colombo and Kandy in 2024.

Quintessential Ceylon - a pot of tea overlooking misty mountains in the magnificent Hill Country at W15 Hanthana Estate, Kandy, Sri Lanka

TikaWeeks #01/2022: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 7th January 2022

Happy New Year and now back to the last. Our ‘Northern Tour’ of Sri Lanka started with visiting a few special places to stay around Kandy before heading northeast into the Cultural Triangle – Dambulla, Sigiriya and Habarana – and on to Nilaveli just north of Trincomalee on the east coast. We then drove straight up to Jaffna at the northernmost tip of the island before returning south to the Anuradhapura and Wilpattu region. Our last stop was in the Negombo area before I flew home.

Lunuganga, or Salt River, is Geoffrey Bawa's name for his private estate on Dedduwa Lake

TikaWeeks #50/2021: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 16th December 2021

Just returned from an 18-day research trip to Sri Lanka, which was a precursor to restarting our holidays by the New Year. Pathi and I travelled around the island meeting tourism colleagues, visiting current and new accommodation, and discussing the restart with our guides. Overall, the trip was a success and we are confident that a holiday in Sri Lanka will be a great experience despite the few extra precautions required due to COVID-19.

TikaWeeks #46/2021: Sri Lanka update

Posted by John on 21st November 2021

Tourism is beginning to pick up in Sri Lanka once again. More than 7000 foreign visitors arrived to Sri Lanka in the first two weeks of October, out of a total of 45,413 tourists for the year as a whole. Visitors are required to always carry their COVID-19 vaccination card when visiting tourist sites around the country – 12 to 18 year olds who have had at least one dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine are considered ‘fully vaccinated’. There is now an online Health Declaration System at the airport to reduce cross-infection.

Independent Tailor-made Holidays to Sri Lanka & Maldives