Looking to spend the Christmas holidays somewhere sunny without breaking the bank, I set my sights on Sri Lanka. By booking well in advance, I managed to snag round-trip flights for €450 (thanks, SkyScanner!) from Paris with Saudia, with a long layover in Saudi Arabia, of course, but it was practically a 50% savings compared to other available tickets! Here is our itinerary for these two weeks in the former Ceylon.
December 20, Departure
An early morning departure from Charles de Gaulle followed by a roughly 6-hour flight to Riyadh, where we had a 6-hour wait for our next flight to Colombo. There isn't much to do there, just a duty-free shop and some food options. We tried to minimize the number of bathroom breaks because these definitely aren't the Ritz… There is Wi-Fi, but time is limited and you have to fill out an online form after choosing your connection provider to have a password sent to you via text.
December 21, Colombo & Mount Lavinia
We arrived at the Colombo airport in the morning and took a bus toward Mount Lavinia (testing out city bus driving was quite an experience in itself!) to drop our bags at our hotel, the Mount Lavinia Home Stay. We had planned to head back into the city to start sightseeing that same day, but fatigue and the pull of the ocean led us to the beach instead to soak up some sun…
December 22, Anuradhapura
This time, we really got moving because the sightseeing was about to begin! We headed back to Colombo early in the morning to catch the train to Anuradhapura. We were in economy class, so we ended up without seats, sitting on our bags and enjoying the scenery through the wide-open carriage doors. Well, we would have enjoyed it more easily if not for the intoxicated "guide" who decided to follow us from Colombo… 4 hours of telling him to leave us alone was a bit much! (Thankfully, that was the only mishap of its kind during our trip.)
Once there, we found a tuk-tuk that took us to our hotel, the Charm Inn Tourist Rest, and gave us a deal to come back after lunch to drive us around this UNESCO World Heritage site. I think it’s a must-visit, as the site is quite beautiful and serves as a great introduction to the country's history.
December 23, Dambulla & Sigiriya
For the next few tourist sites, we based ourselves in Dambulla. After another fairly picturesque bus ride, we found a nice little hotel, the Lark Lodge, which was well-located and one of the prettiest of the trip for the price. From there, we could walk to the Golden Temple of Dambulla (another UNESCO site). Whatever you do, don't do what we did: start the climb without buying your ticket first! During the ascent (which was the easiest of all our climbs), we met some monkeys and discovered a pretty nice view of the surroundings. The temple is truly unique, carved directly into the rock, which might make it the most interesting one of the trip.
By starting the day early, there was still time to head toward Sigiriya by bus. This site is also a UNESCO World Heritage site (Sri Lanka is clearly collecting them!), and it is truly one of a kind! So, it was time for another climb, which I survived quite well despite my tendency toward vertigo. Once we reached the top, we enjoyed the panorama with a little snack we’d prepared in advance. The view is beautiful, the late-day light is soothing, we felt totally zen! Then we headed back down to take a quick tour of the museum before returning to Dambulla to enjoy a meal at the hotel and rest our legs from all that walking!
December 24, Polonnaruwa & Kandy
We were a bit stuck logistically for our next destination. We ended up leaving our bags at the Dambulla hotel and leaving very early for Polonnaruwa, the ruins of an ancient royal city. It’s possible to visit this site by bike or even on foot… but we opted for laziness and rented a tuk-tuk (we could have brought our bags to avoid going back to Dambulla, but oh well, too late!). I found this site prettier and more varied than Anuradhapura, but I was still glad to have seen both, as they are quite different overall. We went back to pick up our bags before heading to Kandy. After an overbooking issue at our hotel of choice, we ended up at the Sky View Hotel, which, while not the prettiest, had very helpful staff.
For Christmas Eve, the idea of eating one more rice and curry was depressing, so we chose a very touristy restaurant, The Pub. It was certainly much more expensive than a small local spot, but it was a holiday, so we figured we could treat ourselves! However, the party didn't last long because after 11 PM, they stopped selling alcohol… a tuk-tuk driver offered to take us somewhere that was still serving, but after trying several different places without success, we gave up and decided to head back.
December 25, Kandy
We started the day with the Royal Botanical Garden, which is truly beautiful. The orchid house is magnificent, and the gardens are well-laid out. We also saw many monkeys near the bamboo forest.
We then returned to the center of Kandy to walk around the lake a bit, then headed to the Tooth Temple to attend the famous ceremony of the Tooth. We weren't quite sure what to expect; we had been waiting in line for an hour without really knowing why, and then finally things started to move. In fact, it was for the chance to pass by the shrine where the Buddha's tooth is kept. My friend didn't see anything, not knowing what she was supposed to be looking at (other than the offering plate). As for me, I had time to catch a brief glimpse, but you really have to avoid blinking, or you’ll miss the show!
December 26, Hatton & Adam's Peak
We left leisurely for Hatton, at another hotel also called Sky View, which would be our base before tackling Adam’s Peak. In anticipation of our night climb, we took the day pretty easy, tried to sleep, basically, to be somewhat in shape for when our tuk-tuk came to pick us up at 12:30 AM!
I wrote another article about Adam’s Peak that I invite you to check out for more details on that adventure.
December 27, Hatton
Fortunately, we had a second night booked in Hatton, which allowed us to sleep for a good part of the day to recover from our night climb. In short, a day of doing nothing or almost nothing, but it was necessary given all the parts of our bodies that were crying out in pain!
December 28, Nuwara Eliya
We headed out early in the morning toward Nuwara Eliya. With some people we met at the train station, we followed a tuk-tuk to our hotel for the day, the NOM. We then headed to the city center and accepted a driver's offer to visit Pedro Estate, a tea plantation. The tour wasn't very long, but it was still nice. We met up with people we’d seen on the train (given how packed it is, it creates bonds!) to have a drink and eat what were supposedly the best burgers in town. We waited a long time for them… and when we finally got them, we figured there must not be much competition to be the best...
December 29, Horton Plains
We got up before the sun, still with our companions from the train station, to meet our driver from the day before who took us to Horton Plains, a national park and protected area. A tuk-tuk isn't recommended for the bumpy road that leads to the park entrance, and in any case, it's better to share a vehicle for Horton Plains because the price is set based on the number of people per vehicle: the more the merrier, the cheaper it is. It was a very pleasant little nature walk, which made us feel refreshed and helped us forget the smell of city diesel! The trail forms a loop, and we chose to start toward Lesser World’s End, then the big World’s End, and finish with Baker’s Fall, because it's supposed to be easier in terms of climbing in that direction (and after Adam’s Peak, our calves were still like jelly). The view is impressive, and it’s not every day you can sit with your feet dangling over a void 870 meters above the ground…
Back in town, we took the bus to Kataragama to reach our hotel for the next two nights, the Gem River Edge. This place was very beautiful, but not budget-friendly at all (the most expensive night and meals of our entire trip)...
December 30, Yala National Park
We got up once again at the crack of dawn to start our safari at Yala National Park. Having never been on a safari elsewhere, it was quite exciting to explore the trails by jeep while scanning every corner of the park in search of animals. Unfortunately, we didn't have the luck to see the stars of the park, the leopards… but we saw elephants up close, a variety of birds, alligators, etc. We had booked the full day (through our hotel), which included breakfast on the park beach and lunch by the river. Shortly before sunset, we left the park to return to the lodge.
December 31 to January 4, Unawatuna & Galle
Vacations are exhausting, after all! We had planned to spend the end of our trip in Unawatuna to rest a bit from all our adventures and soak up some sun before heading home. We stayed at the Brinkhouse Guest House, where you just had to cross the street to be at the beach. The beach isn't up to par with the Caribbean, certainly, but it’s still very pleasant to have your feet in the sand in the middle of winter. We soaked up the sun, drank Arrack cocktails, and celebrated New Year's Eve with all the tourists who ended up in the same place, because everyone will tell you that it’s THE place to be to celebrate the New Year.
During our stay at the beach, we took a few hours to visit Galle, a very pretty European-style fortified city 15 minutes away by tuk-tuk, which is really worth the detour.
As all good things must come to an end, the day before our return flight, we took the bus to our hotel in Negombo. We had hoped to get up early to see the fishermen returning, but apparently, it was their day off, so we gave up on the idea…
January 5, The Return
The advantage of sleeping in Negombo is that we could walk to the bus station and take a direct bus to the airport. The first flight felt very long, and the return layover in Jeddah was even worse. The airport was too small for all the people waiting: some were lying on the floor. Only one power outlet seemed to work in the entire waiting area (fortunately, we found it first!) and the bathrooms… no cleaner than those in Riyadh, but we had to wait in line for at least 15 minutes to get into them! Fortunately, the second flight was in partnership with Air France, so it was much more comfortable...
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