Sri Lanka

We took this tour: Colombo, Negombo, Sigiriya, Kandy, Ella, Ahangama & Unawatuna

• Colombo = don’t do it
• Negombo = it’s ok, but don’t do it
• Sigiriya = yes if you like to hike and some nature. 1 or 2 days is enough
• Kandy = 1 or 2 days, it’s a city. In my opinion you don’t travel so far to see cities
• Ella = ok, if you like to hike and climb a mountain
• Ahangama & Unawatuna = now this is is what I’m talking about. We surfed, we ate, we rode our scooters, practiced yoga and met nice people.

If we could’ve done it over – we would’ve gone straight to the south and gone surfing from day 1 (mind that I was living in Bangkok while visiting Sri Lanka – I wasn’t keen on visiting the city while coming from another busy Asian city).

Below our itinerary and what we found online. For more details, just send me a message and i’ll give you all the deets!

What you should Eat

• Jaffna Crab Curry is regarded as the best in the world
• Hoppers: pancakes made out of rice and coconut milk
• Kottu Roti
• Curry baked in banana leaf
• Pol sambol: spicy coconut, most iconic
• Indi appa: supersoft, red from mullet 
• Pol rotti: grated coconut green chili 
• Polos curry: jack fruit curry 
• Haal pittu: rice flour and coconut 
• Kurukkan pittu: red millet flour and coconut 
• Pol pittu/mani pittu: different rice

What you should Do

• Ayurveda sauna

Which cities you should Visit

• Neduntivu (Delft by the Dutch)
  • Off the beaten track islands, wild horses, nothing except for slow pace and friendly locals. Not except to relax 
• Trincomalee
• Colombo
  • City, further away from airport (saltinourhair)
  • 3rdeyetraveller: Don’t stay more than one night – waste of time in capital 
  • Bus 187, +- 120 slr 
  • [x]Galle Face hotel for sundowner drinks.
  • [x]Galle Face Green in the evening for street food with locals. Sunday jazz at barefoot garden cafe.
  • [x]Dinner at Ministry of crab (16 min car) 0094112342722; 1119-2130-3104
  • []Union place colorful houses 
  • [x]Pettah fruit and vegetable market 
  • [x]Barefoot for shopping and drinks
  • [x]Barefoot gallery: most sought after and frequent galleries in the city for artists, musicians, poets and filmmakers 
  • []Virahamahadevi park
  • []National museum 
  • []Gangaramaya temple
  • [x]Dutch hospital street 
  • [x]Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque: red and white beautiful brick building mosque – photos look impressive! 
  • [] Mayura hotel – local food crab
  • []Crick club cafe
  • [x]Don’t need to stay in Colombo and Negombo. Colombo VERY busy. Negomobo just a commercial beach town. 
  • [x]Took bus from airport – very ok. Super cheap. 
• Negombo
  • SOH: City, Closer to airport
  • 3rd eyetravler: Better than Colombo – heritance negombo
  • []Lewis street
  • [x]Lords restaurant complex 
  • [x]Went to beach at jetwings- pretty nice. 2 pools.
  • [x]don’t need to stay necessarily one day. Beach not worth it. Go straight to Kandy, or Sigiriya to plan your trip. 
  • [x]From Colombo to Negombo $10 with pick.me
• []Kalpitiya kite surfing – kalpitiya lagoon and kappalady lagoon
• Pinnawala
  • Pinnawala elephant orphanage
  • 3rdeyetravller: breakfast with elephants 
• Dambulla
  • Lonelyplanet: Royal Rock Template
• Sigiriya
  • [x]SIOH: Must visit and climb up lion rock 
  • [x]Anja:Pidurangala rock (Sigiriya)
    • The planetd: liked hiking up Pidurangala more than Sirgiraya. Sunset hikes
    • 30 min to top. 500 slr
  • Verdict: we hiked both. Lions is ok, but not worth $30. Pidurangla probably pretty but we had mist.
  • Stay at Sigiriya Rockside Homestay, the owner “Piante” is super nice and funny and did everything to please us. Had dinner and breakfast and was lovely. Truly cares about Sri Lanka as a whole and taking care of the tourism industry. He’s an archaeological lecturer. He wasn’t happy – business was good, people are nice but he couldn’t handle the business sometimes and not having enough staff. He wants to broaden out – not a lot of sleep and cares a lot about his guests. Loved his job as an archaeological lecturer (free trips to everywhere he said with a broad smile). Wants his son to take over so he can advise and then pick up some other things – yours probably. 
  • [x]Came by pick.me from negombo for $30-35. Don’t count on pick.me to travel onwards tho – too secluded. Try to travel together with others to Kandy or bigger cities. We paid 7K to Kandy for the taxi (rather expensive).
  • Lalante drove us to Kandy. He’s 29, lives with mom dad and sisters. Drives the car but mostly farms on his family’s ground- rice and onions. Has not been out of Sri Lanka, would once want to go to Germany or the Netherlands. Netherlands cause they have strippers and it’s nice and small. He likes Sigiriya best cause it’s normal and not so much traffic as the bigger cities. Soft-spoken guy. He’s a Buddhist, humble and patient. Stopped at the Golden Buddha and Temple in Dambulla for me to take a picture and also explained on our way what everything was. What we learnt: Appreciate your life. Be kind to others.
• Polonnaruwa: archelogy 
  • Close to Sigiriya
• Kandy 
  • [x]We decided to shop and wear sarees on day 3 in Kandy. We should’ve done this before waaaayyy earlier. People were so kind and friendly and smiling and we got complimented the entire time. The locals found it superb that we as foreigners were cherishing the local culture and wearing their cultural dresses. We were at the Emperor cafe and the waiter came back especially to tell us he respected us cause the local Sri Lankan girls want to imitate their western sisters, wearing tops and shorts and he really respected us visiting Sri Lanka and sticking to the local culture and showing that we as foreigners also appreciated cultural dresses. The must thing to do.
  • [x]Couldn’t get reserved tickets. Went to Peridiniya by tuk-tuk and got a ticket there (600slr for 2) and boarded train there. Much better – we actually got seats. When arriving in Kandy people weren’t even able to board the train. Super super busy. 
  • [x]Got taxi thru Facebook Taxi group. 9K to Ahangama Dreamseasurf resort. Driver stopped midway for Sri Lankan lunch at “Gemmi giddier” (or smt that phonetically sounds the same) and I had better food than in Ella. Ate with our hands and tasted bulath vita, betel leaves which are part of the culture here. Good for stomach and bad breath – chewed by bus drivers and old people. If you see people with orange mouths – they’re chewing bulath vita.
  • SIOH: 2nd largest city,[]Royal botanical gardens +  Royal Palm Avenue
  • []temples in the city, take train to Ella 
  • [x]Wanderlust and 3rdeyetraveller: Temple of Tooth 
  • []Mathijs: go to the national park that’s closeby. Was super nice. 
• Ella
  • [x]Cafe guru – looks nice and nice views but the menu card is very westernized. No local food. I wouldn’t recommend for my taste buds. Cute place tho. Had a nice curry: a lot of little plates of curry. Only if you’re with someone who wants to eat western food and you feel heavy about having good views.
  • [x]Nine arch bridge hike to atop of an adjacent hill, must do in SL. Walked back to the city along train tracks (nice, a bit long).
  • []Water falls – Hike to the top of diyaluma falls 
  • [x]Climb Little Adam’s peak and
  • [x]Reward yourself with lunch at 98 acres resort
  • []Try home cooked curry @Matey Hut
  • [x]We stayed at Restful homestay with Kalindu (the 17 yo boy) and it was good. Decent rooms, super nice lady  (who called us “ma’am” the entire time) and good breakfast. The second night everything was moist, both couldn’t sleep. Recommend hotel with ac.. or humidifier or whatever. Maybe not this place. Owner is nice tho.
  • 
  • Day1:  
• Arugam Bay
  • LONELY PLANET/BLOGS/SIOH: best surfing points – April to October. Need to visit at least once in a lifetime. Surf and chill – Arugam Bay during high season
  • Too far out from the route.. 
• Ahangama
  • [x]Dreamsea surf camp in Ahangama – GOOD, pricey (100euro per night) but worth it. Hip, offers surfing and yoga. All the food on the menu card is good. Better than Ceylon sliders. 
  • [x]Weligama: kuma – dutch guy who lives in Ella – good freshness. Crab is better than dil. 4400 for seafood platter (1 crab, prawns, fish and squid)
  • [x]Had crab and better prawns at Dil fresh seafood next to it. 4200 for 4 crabs, 1 kg of prawns, rice and curry, veggies and soda. 1 kg prawns for 1200 slr, 4 crabs for 2000 slr
  • []Blue porch before Weligama – food low key and cheap, recommended by dreamseasurf
  • [x]Nice cream in Weligama – vegan ice cream truck and cute coconut bowls. Nice
  • [x]Met Ulla who compared Unawatuna to Canggu Bali – legit comparison.
  • []Go to Tiki bar in Ahangama on Friday’s – all nice people there apparently
  • [x]Just stay in Weligama entire trip: surf, fresh seafood, hip bars and close enough to cities around you. Enough to do in the little city. Not as commercial as Mirissa, but Unawatuna and Ahangama maybe too quiet.
  • [x]Ceylon sliders – verrrryyyyy hip but good is good and worth it. Had beef burger which was super good and rainbow bowl also fine. Wanted to try the falafels but they ran out. Turmeric latte too sweet, peanut butter smoothie good. 
  • []the bunk yard, deli Ceylon – all next to each other and all looked supernice to have lunch/sleep at
• Dickwella (Dickwella – Galle = 2 hours by car)
  • SIOH: surf posts and yoga retreats, trendy restaurants and hotel are popping up, after go to Mirissa or stay in Yala National park, has a swing , go to Verse collective (work, eat, skate or chill), most expensive restaurants in SL
  • Yoga retreats 
• Hiriketiya Beach (surf) – very close to Dickwella
  • Anja: clear water, bars @Salthouse @Verse Collective (co-working space) @Dots Beach House food
• Mirissa
  • []Dhanas curry pot
  • [x]Go to coconut tree hill for sunset – amazing views 
  • SIOH: beach, relax, restaurants, best SL sunsets 
  • Anja:
    • whale watching get up at 5:30 am
    • Eat: Wood Space, Little Tuna
    • Doctors House: live music and most hipsters go here to chill (afternoon party, surf vibes)
    • Secret Beach: must visit 
    • Parrot Rock, Coconut tree spot
    • Shady lane: surfing 
    • Cinnamon estate
  • Yina (Anja friend)
    • Villa Oceane in Mirissa (rent a scooter from the hotel and get to anywhere in the south (we rode to Galle and came back in one day trip)
• Habaraduwa
  • Anja: 10 min tuk tuk from Unawatuna – sea turtle hatcheries Kosgoda sea turtle conversation project)
• Unawatuna
  • [x]LonelyPlanet: Bedspace kitchen 95% locally sourced, most progressive and enjoyable restaurants 
  • SIOH: most famous beaches in SL, small town, good shopping, activists and sightseeing – can go to Galle Fort, Koggala Lake and other towns 
  • Anja: Hotel Tri hideaway near Unawatuna around Kogalla lake with beautiful sunrise & sunsets overlooking lake & cinnamon plantations
  • []Sunsets: jungle beach – go to shag for local good food. Better according to bedspace girl. Has a little harbor.
  • [x]Yoga at Sri Yoga in the jungle. Worth the 10 euros. Do it
  • [x]Rented scooter for 1000 slr a day
  • [x]Ate at black and white at the beach – is ok. Would rather have dinner at Bedspace. 
• Galle
  • []Hoppers at YMBA building 
  • []Lunch at Poonies kitchen – really good coffees and cute waiters (?) haha. Food also good according to Ulla. Sad we missed it cause it’s closed on sundays. 
    • []Shop at Mini mango – part of poonies kitchen
  • [x]Massage @ spa Ceylon 
  • [x]Stick no bills for vintage posters – Ullas/La Mana’s posters 
  • Anja: Which of sea turtle hatcheries: Habaraduwa (small hatchery 10 min tuk tuk drive from Unawatuna; Kosgoda Sea Turtle Conversation Project (Yina, on the way from Galle to Colombo, could do Sunday) or Mahamodara (10 min from center)
  • [x]Galle could rent motorbike for 6USD a day e.g., from Kumari Tours (reach Unawatu, Koggala beach, wijaya beach, koggala lake)
  • [x]fort (morning or sunset, 400 yrs old, takes 2 hrs), can start at lighthouse walk along water to northwest fort clock tower (church st, some shops in the middle)
  • [x]Ate Kottuh at blockhouse. Was good.
  • [x]Ate at calorie counter – not with it. Is ok. 
  • [x]Isle of gelato – good ice cream. Eat it
  • https://ceylonsoul.com/ (destination dining, fort tours, cooking with locals)

General information

• Shirley got HUTCH SIM card at airport, I got Etisalat and often had E status. Both only had 3G. Go for Hutch.
• Get confirmation train tickets, book new tickets 
  • Kandy-Ella last resort is to buy ticket from a few stations prior to Kandy like Kadugannawa-Pilimatalawa-Peradeniya, board there, and stand until in Kandy huge crowds leave and you grab a seat.
  • Ella-Mirissa: bus takes as long as car. Only 300-500 slr, taxi Ella to Ahangama is a+/- 9k. Bus is faster!
  • Take care with booking reservations over the Internet, which is a growing business. As indicated in Seat61, Exporail and Rajadhani 
• Rent tuktuk is 10-15 USD a day, best to rent in Negombo