Sri Lanka

Introduction About Sri Lanka This tiny country located in the deep south of Asia, just at the tip of India has a lot for the travellers around the World. This article is about all you want to know to travel in Sri Lanka.  Sri Lanka is a small tropical island located closer to the equator which guarantees bright sunshine throughout the year. Among hundreds of reasons to visit Sri Lanka, the following are few that will convince you why you should include Sri Lanka in your bucket list. Click here to ENQUIRE for a free travel proposal Why You Should Visit Sri Lanka Culture & Heritage of Sri Lanka Nature & Wildlife of Sri Lanka Hill Country Highlands of Sri Lanka​ Beaches in Sri Lanka​ Culture & Heritage of Sri Lanka Ancient Kingdom – North Central Dryzone Colonial Heritage Ancient Heritage – East & South East of Sri Lanka.​ Buddhist Temples & Culture & Heritage of Sri Lanka​ Underwater Life & Activities​ Sri Lanka inherits a rich cultural & historical heritage. The written history of the country goes back to more than 2500 years and there is evidence that this country was inhabited by humans even 5000 years ago. Sri Lankan ancient powerful kingdoms which had healthy diplomatic relationships with contemporary global powers such as Rome, Persia and India. But things changed when the country was colonised by three European empires ; Portugese, Dutch & British starting from 1505 to 1948. British were the only nation who controlled the entire country while the other two colonial nations controlled only the coastal stretch of the island.  Human settlements in the central hills of the country were started during the British colonial period mainly due to plantation industry and also the preferable English weather in Sri Lanka with mild heat. The most popular area for the Culture & Heritage of the country is the Cultural Triangle in Sri Lanka. This is the area where most of the ancient kingdoms were located before the western colonisation. If you are in love in history and heritage, you should not miss this part when you travel in Sri Lanka.  Ancient Kingdom – North Central Dryzone There are several historical ruins and monuments that can be witnessed in places such as Anuradhapura, the first kingdom of the country, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kurunegala & Kandy. Based on your choice, these well-known areas for Culture and Heritage and also some hidden less popularistic historical sites are located around the north central dry zone of Sri Lanka for you to visit. Colonial Heritage Since colonial administrations were placed towards the coastline of Sri Lanka, the colonial cultural monuments also located around the western coastal belt. Colombo city was named as the capital of Sri Lanka during the colonial period and therefore it has a large number of colonial heritage sites to visit. Forts built by Dutches are located all around the country while Galle Fort, Jaffna Fort, Matara Fort, and Colombo Fort are much popular among the travellers. Hill country capital – Nuwaraeliya used to be the administrative centre during the British colonial period, as it is the centre of the Tea Plantation of Sri Lanka. Several Colonial bungalows were converted as Luxury Boutique hotels as of today due to the beauty of those bungalows and their location. Ancient Heritage – East & South East of Sri Lanka.​ South Eastern cultural and historical places are something which has not been exposed to the travellers in Sri Lanka. According to the history, while the main kingdom had been controlling the country from the North Central area, whenever an invasion occured from an Indian kingdom, the kingdom had temporarily moved to the Southern Dry Zone areas. There are some ruins can be still seen around Yala and Monaragala areas. Most of those sites are not crowded with foriegn tourists and can visit the locations without any charges.  Buddhist Temples & Culture & Heritage of Sri Lanka​ If you have a conversation on the history, culture or heritage of Sri Lanka with a typical Sri Lankan, they normally tell you about the temples in Sri Lanka. This is due to two main reasons. One is Sri Lankan ancient kingdoms are very much attached to Buddhism and most of the historically preserved sites have some kind of religious background. Ex – Anuradhapura, the first kingdom of the country is the most sacred place among Sri Lankan Buddhists due to the Bo Tree of “Sri Maha Bodhiya” and other large stupa (Pagodas). If you are keen on visiting unpopular historical attractions in Sri Lanka, one of the best ways is to visit an ancient temple located anywhere in Sri Lanka and those temples are the route of an interesting ancient story of the area and place. Nature & Wildlife of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Elephants National Parks in Sri Lanka How to fit in National Parks in Sri Lanka into your travel itinerary.​ Rainforests of Sri Lanka​ Birds Watching​ Sri Lanka is gifted with a unique nature & wildlife. Even though Sri Lanka is a small tropical island, compared to other countries, the rich biodiversity is unbeatable by any other country in the world. Diverse natural beauty has spread across the island and wildlife is mainly living in the dryzone of the country.  If you are a fan of wildlife & nature, I would like you to divide the Sri Lankan Nature & Wildlife into a few areas.  READ – Tour Operators & Travel Agents in Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Elephants One of the best God-gifted is the large population of Elephants in Sri Lanka. Elephants one of the most common reason of many people to travel in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has the third largest Elephant population in Asia after India & Myanmar.  According to the World Wild life Organisation, Sri Lankan elephants are the biggest among the Asian elephants. According to an archaeological research, there is a long history to the relationship with elephants and humans in Sri Lanka which goes beyond the prehistoric period. 

UPDATE – 18th March 2020 Bandaranayaka Airport of Sri Lanka, the only international Airport in the country has stopped arrival flights from 18th March 2020, 12 midnight onwards. This will effect untill 31st of March. Since the number of new COVID-19 positive patience are increased upto 50 (as on 18th March 2020), government of Sri Lanka is taking strict procedures to control the pandemic to spread in Sri Lanka. 12th March 2020 Sri Lankan government has suspended the on-arrival visa facility for all countries from 12th March 2020. Therefore anyone who is planning to visit Sri Lanka has to obtain the visa from online. Please visit http://www.eta.gov.lk/slvisa/ to apply online visa.  Sri Lanka found 1st local COVID-19-positive person on 12th March 2020. The person is a Tourist Guide who handle Italian Tour Groups. The country is following strict procedures to identify any new COVID-19-infected people around the country, especially from the people who are coming from other countries. COVID-19 INFECTED PEOPLE IN SRI LANKA Earlier, one Chinese national COVID-19 infected patient found inside the country who was a traveller from China and she was treated in a Sri Lankan hospital and fully recovered. The cured virus infected women was ceremonially sent back to China. Apart from the above incident, there were a number patients tested negative for COVID-19 tests who arrived from numerous countries to Sri Lanka. RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA It is estimated that around 10,000 Chinese nationals are living in Sri Lanka and Chinese embassy has postponed their nationals to come back to the workplaces in Sri lanka after the Chinese new year season. China is the second highest tourism source of Sri Lanka but almost all the travel plans are cancelled due to the outbreak. Sri Lankan students who were studying in China (including the estates where COVID-19 heavily spread) are back in Sri Lanka and the quarantine process of 14 days was applied for the students who came from the high risk areas of CoronaVirus. None of the students were identified as corona infected and they are back to the families now. COVID-19 IS SPREADING ALL OVER THE WORLD As the Covid-19 is spreading all over the World, especially in South Korea, Iran & Italy, Sri Lankan authorities have introduced special measurements to control outbreak in Sri Lanka. Anyone who arrive from South Korea, Irand or Italy has to go through 14 days compulsory quarantine period in a special allocated place in Sri Lanka. It is also advised by the goverment any local who are coming from abraod to stay 14 days inside the home before come in to the society for day-today work.   IMPORTANT SOURCES Official Daily Situation Update from the Goverment of Sri Lanka is available here. TripAdvisor has a travel update on Covid-19 which is available here.

Summary Of The Article Is This Article for You? Do you like a fully personalised tour, with the assistance of a local expert? Do you want to reserve your holiday in advance? Do you like your comfort and staying in nice hotels? Then, getting the experienced and expert assistance of local tour operators/travel agents in Sri Lanka is the way to go. Advantages of Using Local Tour Operators / Travel Agents to Travel in Sri Lanka Looking for massive price advantages and getting a local expert to fully customize a tour depending on your personal preferences, time frame and budget Disadvantages of Using Local Tour Operators / Travel Agents You won’t get to meet them physically, and your overall experience of getting assistance for your holiday planning will be different when compared to an agent that you work with regularly. Types of Tour Operators / Travel Agents in Sri Lanka There are luxury travel focused tour operators / travel agents, budget tour operations and a wide variety in between. You can surely find one that suits your budget and style of traveling. Things to Check Prior to Selecting a Local Tour Operator / Travel Agents Check their online presence, customer reviews and testimonials, their responsiveness to your queries, their language proficiency and their knowledge prior to select the local tour operators / travel agents in Sri Lanka Who are The Best Local Tour Operators / Travel Agents in Sri Lanka A list of 10 local tour operators / travel agents in Sri Lanka with their contact details, reviews. The Internet is bridging the World as we know it. A swift development in communication and information technology has eliminated all the barriers to a connected world, bringing everyone together. Travel and tourism industry is apparently one of the major industries that has been disrupted by this digitalisation and the overall globalization. Let’s look at how you booked your holidays about 25 years ago, you must have to fully depend on local travel agents to plan your holiday. But nowadays, due to the advancement of information technology, you are able to plan your own holiday without any hassle after researching every single concern you have, through the internet and with the support of similar online communities. However, there are still a good amount of pros and perks of getting the assistance of a tour operator, especially if you are planning to visit a country like Sri Lanka. Are you thinking of traveling to Sri Lanka and need some credible assistance in booking and planning your holiday to be seamless? Your best bet is to go for a local tour operator in Sri Lanka. This will avoid the traditional cycle of the holiday reservation and you will be able to get a good price advantage. Ex: – If a person from the United Kingdom prefers to visit Sri Lanka, normally they tend to go to a travel agent such as Trail Finder or Kuoni which are based in the UK. That travel company then contacts the Sri Lankan Destination Management Company (DMC) for the ground handling. DMC will execute the plan arranged by your company back in your country after discussing it with the client.  But instead of contacting Kuoni, now the person from the UK can directly contact a local tour operator in Sri Lanka and ask to plan their holiday in Sri Lanka. Cut out the middleman! That’s right. This can be simply done by visiting the websites of the Sri Lanka local tour operators Bellanvila Temple, Colombo. There are number of historical temples are available around the city of ColomboPlease read This Article, if you are not familiar with the wordings of Destination Management Companies (DMC) and Tour Operators / Travel Agents. Do you belong to any of the following categories? Then this article is for you! 1. I would like to have a personalized tour. When you want to have a holiday which is perfectly customized and tailored for your specifications. In this case, contacting a local tour operator in Sri Lanka is the best option. They are the ground experts who can provide the best options for you. 2. I did my research before travel, but I would like to have the assistance of an expert You might have thoroughly researched the travel destination before reaching the destination. However, a place like Sri Lanka where the information is not properly organised, can be a hindrance to maximize your budget and time. Get the assistance of a local tour operator to fill the gap of the ground reality and what have written in the books or the internet. 3. I am not a backpacker, and I want to have a comfortable holiday For backpackers and budget travelers, consulting an online travel agent is always a good way to go since they offer a wide variety of accommodation options that include hostels, homestays and more. However, if you like your comfort and the safety of a nice hotel room during your vacation, reserving through a tour operator / travel agent is ideal in Sri Lankan setup, as agent’s rates are always better than the online rates when it comes to star-rated hotels and other high end specialized accommodation. 4. I would like to prepare my tour well in advance You prefer planning and fully confirming your annual vacation well in advance. Great! By booking through a local tour operator, you can lock the best prices for your reservations with a small advance payment, may be with an Early Bird Discount! Why Should You Use A Local Tour Operator To Plan Your Holiday? 1. Price Advantage The main advantage of using a local tour operator is the massive price advantage that you get with it, when compared to a non-Sri Lankan travel agent back in your own country. There are many reasons for it. The first reason is simple, by contacting a local travel agent directly, you are skipping a few parties in the loop – hence avoiding their mark-up/profits on the final price. The second reason is that compared to the UK, Australia

TABLE OF CONTENTS  Weather In Sri Lanka​  For Beach Lovers School Holidays In Sri Lanka Best Events In The Country When You Visit Sri Lanka. Closures Of National Parks​ Times Crowded With Locals Most Expensive Periods To Travel Be Adventuristic Sri Lanka is considered a year round destination where anyone can travel around the country, anytime of the year. Whatever the time you visit Sri Lanka, you can easily stay for more than 10 nights (10 nights stay is the average time spend by all the tourists to Sri Lanka) of fully active travel itinerary by selecting your favorite spots to visit. However, there are few considerations you MUST take into account prior to making the decision of the best time to visit this beautiful island Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is considered a year round destination where anyone can travel around the country, anytime of the year. Whatever the time you visit Sri Lanka, you can easily stay for more than 10 nights (10 nights stay is the average time spend by all the tourists to Sri Lanka) of fully active travel itinerary by selecting your favorite spots to visit. However, there are few considerations you MUST take into account prior to making the decision of the best time to visit this beautiful island Sri Lanka. 01. Weather in Sri Lanka When it comes to the best time to visit a country, the weather is the most crucial factor to consider. If you have done a little bit of research on Sri Lanka, you might have found that Sri Lanka has two main rainy seasons. Goverment Website of Meteorology of Sri lanka Following are some insights on Sri Lankan weather. 01. South West Monsoon Season This is the heaviest rainfall Sri Lanka gets. Because of this reason, the area covered from this rainy season belongs to the wet zone of Sri Lanka. During the period from the end of April to the end of June, an ample rain can be expected in the areas mentioned above. But during the month of July to mid September, it will be a considerably dry season overall but you may get occasional rain in some  part of the areas mentioned. However, I should emphasise that this rain will not affect the day today lives or activities of anyone in the country. Therefore, I would suggest if someone is planning to visit Sri Lanka during May to July please avoid south and south west part of the country (areas mentioned above) while it is open to travel from July onwards. Please refer below notes, if you are a beach lover. 02. North East monsoon North East monsoon season only lasts for 3 months mainly in the areas mentioned above. This is the main water source to the north and north-central dry zone where the ancient civilization of Sri Lanka was. The first kingdom of Sri Lanka started nearly 2300 years ago in Anuradhapura and shifted to other areas thereafter to Polonnaruwa, Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa, Kurunegala which were spanning to be the kingdom for more than 15 centuries. All the cultural and heritage hotspots are located in this area and it receives a limited amount of rain throughout the year. Therefore, you would notice that there are hundreds of man made water tanks located in the north, east and north central provinces. Therefore, if you are a fan of culture and heritage and tropical nature and wildlife, Sri Lanka is open for you almost all the time. 03. Inter Monsoon Seasons Apart from the two monsoon seasons, Sri Lanka has two inter-monsoon season bridging the gap between two major monsoon seasons. Normally, this inter-monsoon rain does not last throughout the day but starts in the evening with thunderstorms. Inter-monsoon can affect the entire country but mainly the wet zone such as south, south west and south and west part of the central highlands. 04. Floods & Landslides Floods and landslides has becoming more common during the era which climate change hit the world. Historical weather patterns are now being changed and unexpected weather calamities are happening. Sri Lanka cannot escape the effect of climate change as a tropical island country. The diverse weather cannot be predicted but there are few instances that we could avoid such situations. Please avoid visiting areas which will be affected by highest rainfall during the monsoon rains. Normally, the month of May, it can be Galle, Matara, Rathnapura, Matugama, Aluthgama & South-west parts of the highlands such as Kitulgala, Watawala & Ginigathhena. There are few roads which can be affected by the landslides. That is mainly the Hatton – Colombo road mainly and other subsidiary roads around the area. Please avoid the central highland trains during heavy rains. 02. For Beach Lovers If you would like to read about all the beaches please read about Sri Lankan Beaches here. If you are a person, who would love to have a few leisure days at a sunny and sandy beach where you can surf or take a dip in Sri Lanka, it is better to select the right beach area depending on your time of visit to Sri Lanka. Best time to visit Sri Lanka matters on the quality of your beach stay. Please follow the chart below. Majority of Sri Lankans (Sinhalese & Tamils) celebrate their traditional new year in the month of April, particularly for 2 days although it will take a festive vibe for almost 10 days. Moreover, a semester break is given to schools for 3 good weeks and most of the government and private sector organisations will have at least a week holiday except essential jobs. Since there are a number of traditional events, most of the families will keep to their homes to celebrate the new year, partying and visiting relatives and city of Colombo can be deserted without people who travel to it daily from outside. Be prepared when travelling in New Year in Sri Lanka. 03. School Holidays in Sri Lanka Holidays abroad is not