Sri Lanka Family Holidays
Highlights
Colombo evening street food tour | Negombo beaches | Dambulla cave temples | Giritale | Sigiriya rock fortress | Cycling tour of Polonnaruwa | Spice garden visit | Kandy | Rafting and nature hike | Local train to Nuwara Eliya | Tea plantation visit | Jeep safari Yala National Park | Tangalle | Optional: Udawalawe National Park; wildlife watching boat tour Kalametiya Wildife and Bird Sanctuary | Galle | Optional: whale watching from Mirissa
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.comDeparture information
Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.
Overall, the intention is to combine the well-known tourist sites with off-the-beaten-track, rarely visited, destinations so spreading tourist revenue and contact into areas not usually benefiting, as well as providing a more authentic view of the region visited. Group sizes are deliberately kept small in order to limit impact on site and communities as much as possible. (Groups of 4 to 8 persons.) Small numbers also permit us to use local cafes plus street and market stalls for drinks, meals and shopping. Hotels are, as much as possible, small and independently owned with proven responsible travel policies and our emphasis is on eating and drinking in local cafes and restaurants. All ground staff are fully licensed and trained in sustainable tourism practices.
With regards drinking water guests have a personal flask refilled from large, reusable water containers thus cutting out single-use plastic.
We include Kelanivally rainforest area and Horton Plains and Wilpattu national parks on this tour where entrance fees help park authorities finance upkeep, maintenance and conservation projects as well as providing employment and revenue for local residents as drivers, guides, park rangers and staff etc.
The Impacts of this Trip
All ground staff – drivers, guides and tour-leaders – are locally employed and fully licensed. Leaders and guides provide suitable, relevant information for our customers to help them to gain a wider understanding of our style of tourism that focuses on learning; genuine interaction with the local communities, reciprocity and cultural exchange processes.
They also make visitors aware of the potential impact of tourism on the local society, culture and environment, and explain how to behave and dress appropriately with a respect and appreciation for local customs, mores and traditions as well as having a respect for the ecology of areas visited.
By explaining our methods and the reasons behind them local agents, guides and hotels are encouraged by us to adopt further responsible tourism practices themselves and guides and drivers are provided with additional training in this respect.
Projects we support include the Elephant Transit Camp rehabilitation centre.
By limiting groups to a maximum of 8 persons we aim to reduce the impact on both local communities and the environment whilst allowing for greater genuine interaction with said communities. This helps to spread the ‘tourist dollar as well as in a small way relieving pressure on popular sites. It also results in a higher guide/customer ratio thus offering a greater facility for supervision and individual assistance and allowing us to use smaller hotels and restaurants and employ the services of more genuinely ‘local’ operators on a personal and friendly basis rather than dealing with establishments primarily equipped for larger groups.
Overall, the intention is to combine the well-known tourist sites with off-the-beaten-track, rarely visited, destinations so spreading tourist revenue and contact into areas not usually benefiting, as well as providing a more authentic view of the region visited. Group sizes are deliberately kept small in order to limit impact on site and communities as much as possible. (Groups of 4 to 8 persons.) Small numbers also permit us to use local cafes plus street and market stalls for drinks, meals and shopping. Hotels are, as much as possible, small and independently owned with proven responsible travel policies and our emphasis is on eating and drinking in local cafes and restaurants. All ground staff are fully licensed and trained in sustainable tourism practices.
With regards drinking water guests have a personal flask refilled from large, reusable water containers thus cutting out single-use plastic.
We include Kelanivally rainforest area and Horton Plains and Wilpattu national parks on this tour where entrance fees help park authorities finance upkeep, maintenance and conservation projects as well as providing employment and revenue for local residents as drivers, guides, park rangers and staff etc.
The Impacts of this Trip
All ground staff – drivers, guides and tour-leaders – are locally employed and fully licensed. Leaders and guides provide suitable, relevant information for our customers to help them to gain a wider understanding of our style of tourism that focuses on learning; genuine interaction with the local communities, reciprocity and cultural exchange processes.
They also make visitors aware of the potential impact of tourism on the local society, culture and environment, and explain how to behave and dress appropriately with a respect and appreciation for local customs, mores and traditions as well as having a respect for the ecology of areas visited.
By explaining our methods and the reasons behind them local agents, guides and hotels are encouraged by us to adopt further responsible tourism practices themselves and guides and drivers are provided with additional training in this respect.
Projects we support include the Elephant Transit Camp rehabilitation centre.
By limiting groups to a maximum of 8 persons we aim to reduce the impact on both local communities and the environment whilst allowing for greater genuine interaction with said communities. This helps to spread the ‘tourist dollar as well as in a small way relieving pressure on popular sites. It also results in a higher guide/customer ratio thus offering a greater facility for supervision and individual assistance and allowing us to use smaller hotels and restaurants and employ the services of more genuinely ‘local’ operators on a personal and friendly basis rather than dealing with establishments primarily equipped for larger groups.
2 Reviews of Sri Lanka Family Holidays
Reviewed on 27 Jan 2019 by Simon Weatherseed
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Climbing to the top of Sigirya rock and looking across the stunning, unspoilt landscape. One of the most beautiful places we have ever been to. You feel as
though you're on top of the world.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Be prepared for lots of variety - temples, treks, safari, beach. It's a wonderful mix. Don't pack too much, as there's lots of packing and re-packing as you move
around. The hotels are fairly basic, so you don't need to look smart at night.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
There was a very ethical approach to animal conservation - no elephant rides etc. The campsite at Udalawawe had a fantastic approach to the environment -
no plastic anywhere. Sadly most hotels and restaurants provide plastic bottles for drinking water, but there's not a lot the tour company can do about that.
The guide and driver, as well as hotel staff were local.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
A wonderful experience. Our guide looked after us brilliantly and was very knowledgeable. Sri Lanka has it all - history, wonderful food and stunning
landscapes.
Reviewed on 01 Aug 2018 by Carole Hoy
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
As a family we most enjoyed the safari and camping experience along with the rafting. The city's and towns we visited were interesting and we particularly liked Kandy as we were able to walk from our hotel into town and get a real feel for the place. We really enjoyed the rock fortress at Sigiriya and having a swimming pool at most of the hotels was wonderful.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Take a bit more time to look around Nuwara Eliya and miss out the afternoon at the tea plantation as the tour was disappointing. Also the visit to the primate research centre was awkward as when we arrived the staff seemed unsure as to why we were visiting. And there was nothing to see there.Make sure to take plenty free time away from the itinerary to look around the towns and sights.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Our guide was very good and took us to a lot of local places to eat which we enjoyed and benefited local people.
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Having a fully guided tour was new to us as a family and we were fortunate to have a very knowledgeable and experienced guide who was able to make the tours interesting and allowed us the free time which we often asked for to explore places on our own.
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