Sri Lanka luxury holiday
| country: | Sri Lanka |
| trip type: | This trip can be tailormade throughout the year (Jul-Nov to witness The Gathering) and can be adapted to suit your interests, budget and requirements as necessary |
| price: | From £930 (7 days) excluding flights, based on 2 people sharing, B&B accommodation, airport transfers, naturalist chauffeur guide, entrance tickets, safari jeep and copy of National Parks and Reserves book. |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
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introduction to Sri Lanka luxury holiday
Sri Lanka has over the centuries been described as a tropical paradise.
This is not surprising as it is a destination that has everything: sun, sea, sandy beaches, cool mountains, ancient stupas and lakes, forests teeming with wildlife, precious stones, magnificent archaeological sites and above all a friendly people.
Combine this with well-educated, English conversant people and a good tourist infrastructure, and it is not hard to see why it continues to enjoy being a popular tropical island destination for travellers.
If you’re interested in exploring the Cultural Triangle together with the opportunity of witnessing some of the wildlife spectacles, then this is your best opportunity. Furthermore you have the privilege of enjoying the un-spoilt luxury at some of the Sri Lankan members of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
The highest concentration of Asian Elephants occurs during ‘The Gathering’. A seasonal event which takes place at Minneriya National Park during July and November. Sri Lanka is also one of the best places in the world to observe the social dynamics of diurnal primates.
This is not surprising as it is a destination that has everything: sun, sea, sandy beaches, cool mountains, ancient stupas and lakes, forests teeming with wildlife, precious stones, magnificent archaeological sites and above all a friendly people.
Combine this with well-educated, English conversant people and a good tourist infrastructure, and it is not hard to see why it continues to enjoy being a popular tropical island destination for travellers.
If you’re interested in exploring the Cultural Triangle together with the opportunity of witnessing some of the wildlife spectacles, then this is your best opportunity. Furthermore you have the privilege of enjoying the un-spoilt luxury at some of the Sri Lankan members of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
The highest concentration of Asian Elephants occurs during ‘The Gathering’. A seasonal event which takes place at Minneriya National Park during July and November. Sri Lanka is also one of the best places in the world to observe the social dynamics of diurnal primates.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | On arrival at the airport you will be met by one of our naturalists and be driven to Vil Uyana, Sigiriya for five nights. |
| Day 2: | Breakfast at the main restaurant facing the Sigiriya Rock Fortress, after breakfast visit Polonnaruwa, a UNESCO archaeological site to watch troops of the dry lowland race of the toque monkey, the northern race of the purple-faced leaf monkey and the hanuman langur. Afternoon enjoy the Island Spa at Vil Uyana. |
| Day 3: | Morning, visit the Sigiriya Rock Fortress, which was the pleasure capital of King Kashyapa in the 5th century A.D. You would also see troops of toque monkeys and hanuman langurs around the Sigiriya Moat. Afternoon, safari to Minneriya National Park for elephants. During September and October, over 300 elephants gather on the receding shores of the Minneriya Tank. Special dinner at the Wine Cellar. |
| Day 4: | Spend a leisurely day. Late evening walk with your naturalist guide to look for the nocturnal loris. The grey loris is not rare, but scarcely seen because of its nocturnal habits. |
| Day 5: | Morning bird watching walk with your naturalist guide. Afternoon, visit Dambulla Cave Temple, which is famous for its rock paintings and rock temples and is one of the most important sites for Buddhist pilgrimage. Evening drinks at the Parker Peak. |
| Day 6: | After breakfast leave for The Beach, Negombo for one night. Afternoon, relaxation by the beach or optionally enjoy the spa at The Beach. |
| Day 7: | Transfer to International Airport OR extend your stay with a three nights package at Lighthouse Hotel & Spa, Galle. |
travelling with a local operator
This holiday is operated by a company based in the holiday destination and they will be able to provide expert local knowledge. They will be able to tailor make your holiday to suit your requirements not only concerning the dates of travel but also typically the standard of accommodation, and thus price. It is rare for local operators to be able to help with the booking of your flights.how this holiday makes a difference
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Vil Uyana is the first hotel in Sri Lanka to construct a wetland system with lakes and reed beds to form a private nature reserve. The design of Vil Uyana is inspired from the local and rural traditions.
The many components of the ecosystems will be subject to continuous monitoring by the research facility, which will include a team of naturalists and horticulturists. The hotel is unique in building a research facility from the inception. This includes accommodation for researchers locally and internationally, overcoming one of the key logistic hurdles to field work. The hotel conducts training workshops on “customer care” and “English language” for local village persons and successful participants are offered employment on a contract basis. This tour would yield revenue for small local safari jeep operators and their team of drivers. You would also get an opportunity to visit a local school, most of its students are poor and responsible tourists generally donate books, pen, pencils and uniforms to some of these students. We have a policy of paying all our suppliers promptly without delaying payments to maximise interest income of ease company cash flows. We recognise that for small local suppliers prompt payments are critical. We collect feedback from you at the end of the tour, not only these feedback help us improve our service standards, we also share these feedback with International students who contact us for information on eco tourists to complete their research assignments.  We only employ English-speaking Sri Lankan naturalist guides who are all licensed by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board. These guides work exclusively for us. They have been leading special interest tours for the past 15 years or more. We take our environmental responsibilities seriously and strive to minimise the impact on the environment. We do not in anyway compromise our legal and ethical responsibilities towards the community. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |
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