3 independent reviews for Sri Lanka tour, off the beaten track
Reviews for Sri Lanka tour, off the beaten track
Carolyn Falleck review 8 Dec 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The nature and the people. The nature, of course the elephants in the national parks but even more so the smaller events, the walk in Horton Plains National Park and the calm and beautiful waters of the mangroves in the Kalametiya Sanctuary, both fantastic for bird watching. The people, who were friendly and welcoming where ever we went. We especially enjoyed the meal with the Sinhales family, which we were also involved in preparing.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Take lots of mosquito repellent and be prepared for the humidity.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
It's difficult to tell. However the way that we were greeted by the people of Sri Lanka leads me to think that they like having tourists visiting their country. Those who we spoke to definitely love their country and want to share it with others. Hopefully some of the fee charged for visiting the national parks is used to support conservation and the environment.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
. The communication between us and the tour operator prior to and after booking was friendly and helpful any issues were addressed immediately. We would definitely travel with them again.Read the operator's response here:
So pleased you had a wonderful time in Sri Lanka – it’s certainly an amazing destination and our most important aim is for you to have a fabulous experience but also contribute positively to the places visited. In terms of your holiday benefitting local people, reducing environmental impact and supporting conservation, I’m sorry your holiday’s contribution wasn’t made more transparent, but it is sometimes in the small and subtle ways that our contributions can be made – the use of local restaurants, small hotels run and owned by locals, shopping in local markets and purchasing handicrafts, using locally owned transport, visiting national parks - in particular lesser known ones, visiting the elephant orphanage and rehabilitation centre which relies on visitors fees to support the animals.
Frances O review 18 Apr 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The safari. Temples.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Most of the accommodation was very poor, dirty rooms, no hot water, no water at all. Smelly sheets, damp and mouldy rooms. The so called included dinners were in fast food cafes, for example a cold greasy crepe, inedible food. We were put in an upstairs store room. Very disappointing overall. The negatives far outweighed any positives.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
No4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Very disappointing, I have not heard back from after I wrote an email to complain whilst I was on holiday in February, she was going to look into the issues. But I have heard nothing.Read the operator's response here:
We are very sorry to hear you did not enjoy your experience with us. We hope that all those who travel with us enjoy all aspects of their tour and it is extremely rare that we get complaints about a tour and especially about the poor accommodation and food - we consider both to be essential parts of a tour and an important part of the country you are visiting. On this occasion something must have gone wrong and we are discussing this with our colleagues on the ground.
There are some major discrepancies between this review and the email you sent on whilst you were on the tour – you omit to mention you had “nothing but praise for our guides Amora and Tirron also our driver and his assistant have been exceptional, going out of their way to help us”. Or that “overall the sites and activities on this tour have been at times wonderful” albeit “let down by some of the accommodation and the inedible food”. I hope you addressed your concerns regarding accommodation/lack of hot waterand food with the guides at the tim – our tour leaders/guides have our complete confidence and can make changes where necessary and usually choose the restaurants, especially the lunchtime stops which I believe were your biggest concern. The night you were put in an upstairs storeroom, I gather from the guide that the booking he made had not been honoured by the restaurant. That is needed regrettable. I know as soon as we were made aware of your problems with accommodation on the penultimate night it was changed the next day. Our Sri Lanka Manager is looking into why this was so bad when the hotel was an upgrade to our usual one and is rated 4*.
We regret that you did not feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation? This is, again, important to us. Amongst other things, the tour visits two national parks, including Wilpattu which is one of the largest but least visited National Parks in Sri Lanka and one of the best for seeing wild leopards. You also visited the Elephant transit camp which is a rehabilitation centre and orphanage – the
visitors fees and purchases at cafes/gift shops help support such places financially and without that support would struggle. The guides you so highly commended are local, as are the driver and his assistant. We only stay in locally run hotels and visit markets and craft centres to help support the local economy.
Nigel Twose review 18 Feb 2018
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The glories of Sri Lanka, from the Dambulla caves to Horton Plains to the southern ocean. This was a fabulous itinerary, leaving us with rich memories that will endure. Our guide, Srinath, was particularly knowledgeable and passionate about the archaeology, history, and Buddhist religion, helping make the ancient cities the most enjoyable and memorable part of the trip for us. The van was comfortable and Indica was a careful and safe driver.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Lodging: Half of the hotels were good. These included: the Casamara in Kandy; Olga’s reach near Yala National Park; and Lagoon Paradise Beach Resort in Tangalle. The hotels that were not so good were: Paradise Beach Hotel in Negombo (old and noisy); the Acme Hotel in Habarane (under construction work, and with a vast and uninviting dining room, separated from the main hotel and only accessible via the un-tarmacced parking lot); the Ceybank Resort in Nuwara Eliya (tired, worn and dirty). Dining. Food on our tour was organized with pre-allotted costs for each meal that varied day-to-day. Each couple ended up paying the guide 6,150 rupees to cover supplemental food. The amounts are relatively small, but they contributed to an unpleasant sense of nickel and diming. Paying separately for alcoholic drinks was fine, but it was strange that water was not included with meal costings. (Similarly, it was disappointing that water was not provided in a coolbox in the van). We were bewildered by the fact that our train reservations were in the overcrowded Third Class section; it would have cost very little more to have booked us in first or second class, and the experience would have been entirely different. The wildlife safari in Yala West National Park was good, but the authorities need to rethink their visit strategy: for our morning safari, when we arrived at 6am we were vehicle number 230 and the rutted road was ridiculously crowded with jeeps. If you have experience of game reserves from other countries, you will not be impressed by the organization here. Frankly, we would have been happy to pay an additional few hundred dollars, and have an even better experience, so my advice is don't go for the cheapest option you find, and look carefully at the details of your tour. This must be a very competitive market.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
All hotels and restaurants were managed by Sri Lankans and probably Sri Lankan owned. We drank bottled water everywhere, and there did not appear to be any recycling efforts in place. As tourist numbers continue to increase, until the water is made drinkable, this poses a major environmental concern.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
We are all so pleased to have seen so many wonders of Sri Lanka. Troubles from the civil war linger. The minor irritants we experienced throughout related to costing choices, but could not spoil the experience. We remain very grateful to the tour company, especially for having organized this at relatively short notice, after we felt obliged to cancel our Myanmar / Burma tour with them.Holiday Reviews
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