{"id":20455,"date":"2023-04-25T14:51:30","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T13:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/?p=20455"},"modified":"2024-07-19T13:07:36","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T12:07:36","slug":"why-sri-lanka-is-the-ideal-holiday-destination-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/why-sri-lanka-is-the-ideal-holiday-destination-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka: the ideal holiday destination right"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”15294″ img_size=”Full”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text]I wrote this article after my recent two-week trip to Sri Lanka<\/a> at the end of October 2021.<\/p>\n

There are so many reasons to get back travelling to Asia, but I wanted to give a few of the key ones about why I think Sri Lanka is the ideal holiday destination for the next few months. After all, I\u2019ve just got back from a two-week trip there and feel so lucky to have had the trip I did.\u00a0\u00a0And if you start to compare Sri Lanka with other countries who have \u2018opened their doors\u2019 – from a like for like comparison, you\u2019ll be hard-pressed to find a country as ready and set up for fantastic holidays right now. The Sri Lankan Authorities have put a lot of thought into attracting tourists again and allowing them to have a wonderful and safe experience.<\/p>\n

You can read our \u2018Can You Travel to Sri Lanka Now<\/a>\u2019 for practical advice on testing, documentation and vaccination rates.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”50px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Experiential Travel is remarkably normal<\/h2>\n

Travelling around Sri Lanka felt\u00a0remarkably normal!\u00a0\u00a0Compared to my last visit at the end of 2018, the only difference was mask-wearing and having sights, national\u00a0parks\u00a0and beaches\u00a0virtually to\u00a0myself.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was slightly odd,\u00a0particularly at UNESCO World Heritage sights like\u00a0Sigiriya<\/a>\u00a0and it did bring home the\u00a0effects\u00a0of the pandemic on places like\u00a0Sri Lanka, but\u00a0being in such places with hardly anyone else made me feel very privileged.<\/span><\/p>\n

One night I had a few drinks with a bunch of British hoteliers who own properties and villas on the south coast.\u00a0\u00a0The mood was positive and hopeful.\u00a0\u00a0A few had been in Sri Lanka the whole time and the rest had arrived back in the country between 6 and 2 weeks before.\u00a0\u00a0They all said bookings were increasing with Christmas looking particularly busy. Either side, in December, January and February there was a fair amount of availability in their hotels and villas – slow but steady interest seemed to be the order of the day.<\/p>\n

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A warm welcome awaits in Sri Lanka<\/h2>\n

In the back of my mind, there was a slight concern around how\u2019d I\u2019d be received, particularly in rural areas. How would locals react to seeing a foreigner?\u00a0\u00a0But like the rest of my trip, I need not have worried.\u00a0\u00a0Everyone I met, walked past and interacted with could not have done more to make me feel welcomed.\u00a0\u00a0Whether it was walking past tea pluckers in The Knuckles, talking to locals in hotels, walking around Kandy or going on a street food tour in Colombo, it was very positive.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka has had such a torrid time with the\u00a0easter\u00a0bombings\u00a0of 2019 and then covid that people are craving normality.\u00a0\u00a0The country and a lot of its people rely\u00a0on tourism<\/span><\/a> so really need tourists back.\u00a0\u00a0People actually thanked me for coming.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is worth noting though, that tourists have been travelling to Sri Lanka since the spring.\u00a0\u00a0Not in huge amounts, but European and North American travellers have had more freedom to travel than those in the UK.\u00a0\u00a0So foreign travel in the country has been normalised to an extent and I saw plenty of foreign travellers travelling by themselves.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”20457″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

You can travel around freely<\/span><\/h2>\n

Here at ETG we tend to promote a ‘less is more’ approach to a lot of our holidays.\u00a0\u00a0But my research trip was as fast-paced as you can get.\u00a0\u00a0I stayed for 14 nights in 14 different locations travelling from Colombo to the Cultural Triangle, Kandy, a few places in the hills, Yala National Park, Tengalle, Thalpe, Galle, Bentota and Colombo….all without a hitch.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was travelling with my chauffeur guide\u00a0in a private vehicle<\/a>\u00a0which made things\u00a0very easy\u00a0for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00a0was\u00a0slightly different for locals though as there\u00a0were\u00a0some\u00a0interprovince\u00a0travel\u00a0restrictions\u00a0which were\u00a0only lifted on the 1st\u00a0November.\u00a0\u00a0Trains\u00a0and interstate public bus services\u00a0have not been\u00a0operating\u00a0but are due to do so again.\u00a0\u00a0Foreigners are expected to need\u00a0to show proof of vaccination to get tickets.<\/p>\n

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The key tourist sites, beaches and national parks are tranquil and will take a long time to build back up<\/h2>\n

All sights travellers would usually visit on a trip to Sri Lanka were open \u2013 Dambulla Cave Temple, Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, the Temple of the tooth and more. I climbed Sigiriya at 0700, and there was just me, Kapila (my chauffeur-guide) and a Sri Lankan couple \u2013 it felt incredible, and we spent an hour at the top just taking the tranquillity and uniqueness of the near-deserted hilltop fortress in.
\nThen we have the beaches which were very, very quiet and very beautiful. Particularly in the deep south around Tengalle, home to arguably the most beautiful beaches in the country, were deserted. It felt incredible to have such a wild, rugged but beautiful landscape to myself. Check out the beach outside Buckingham Place<\/a> below. Pure bliss!<\/p>\n

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I was also fortunate to get to Yala National Park and had some fantastic sightings. I saw nine elephants and four leopards\u2026 and just 11 other jeeps in just under four hours! We were able to cover a considerable distance in short spaces of time and had sightings to ourselves! My favourite was of two elephants locking trunks and washing each other. We were alone with them for 15 minutes.<\/p>\n

It is so important to get tourists back into national parks<\/a>. By being there, you provide the dollars that employ the passionate naturalists, fund the tracking and conservation of the different animals and help reduce poaching by funding added security. The time in Yala was the highlight of my trip, and the next few months should provide great sightings with fewer tourists.<\/p>\n

There were a couple of activities that ETG usually provide that I didn\u2019t do \u2013 such as our village tour in the cultural triangle and our curd experience near Tengalle. The village has decided to wait until December before operating \u2013 they want to hit the ground running with a steady stream of business. As the curd activity in Tengalle (right in the deep south of the country not far from Yala) involves going into a village non-ETG clients tend not to visit, we decided to wait a while longer before offering this trip. This will give communities in the area a chance to get used to seeing travellers again.<\/p>\n

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Visiting monuments felt very safe<\/h2>\n

When entering monuments, hand sanitising is required everywhere, and your temperature is taken. When entering the Temple of the tooth, I was asked for my passport \u2013 luckily, I had a photo on my phone. Rather amusingly (for me anyway), staff at entrances to monuments were dressed akin to hazmat suits which made me chuckle, particularly for entry into the botanical gardens in Kandy!
\nOnce \u2018inside\u2019 or within the sights, the experience was as normal as possible\u2013except mask-wearing and far fewer tourists.<\/p>\n

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