25 holidays to the tropical island tipped to take off in 2024-by Katie Bowman
Image Source:Thetimes
Source:Thetimes
Nobody is more excited than me to say: Sri Lanka is back. After a string of tough years for tourism, visitor numbers are on the rise again. Almost 200,000 Brits travelled to Sri Lanka in 2023, which is more than double the figure for the previous year. So buoyed is the tourist board, it will launch a new campaign next month with the slogan “You’ll come back for more”, a nod to the 35 per cent of visitors who are repeat guests.
I am one such super-fan, already a repeat guest and keen to return. For a country significantly smaller than Scotland, Sri Lanka packs in so many incredible sights. My daughter will tell you it’s the blue-whale watching we love most, or swimming with turtles on Unawatuna Beach; my husband might declare it’s the easy-peasy elephant safari in Udawalawe National Park, or the cashew nut curries; for me, it’s all of the above, as well as ancient temples, chic tea-plantation hotels and watching cricket in Galle. But more than anything it’s the fact that such world wonders are never more than two or three hours’ car or train journey apart.
Growing visitor numbers means there are dwindling prices to keep momentum up; at the moment, discounts make it possible to stay for a week in a beachfront hotel from about £1,000 per person, flights included (see the On a Budget entry in my following list). Hip new hotels are opening their doors in anticipation, and more are set to launch this year, including two safari properties — Kotiyagala (kotiyagala.com) and Hilton Yala Resort (hilton.com) — in Yala National Park, which has the highest density of leopards on Earth, and two new openings from Resplendent Ceylon, the company behind the Ceylon Tea Trails hotel, one of the original boutiques.
Confidence is clearly growing. Even in the escorted-tour market — which is, some might say, favoured by more cautious travellers — Sri Lanka trips are quickly being booked up. Voyages Jules Verne has already sold 84 per cent of its holidays to the destination in 2024. And, unlike some long-haul destinations that tend only to attract certain traveller dynamics — honeymooners to the Maldives, for example, or intrepid adventurers to Cambodia — Sri Lanka welcomes all types of guests, be they families, birdwatchers, backpackers, surfers, luxury-hotel pilgrims, even tuk-tuk enthusiasts (I’ve included a wacky tuk-tuk escapade in the list). Here are 25 of my top trips for 2024.
1. The classic trip
Temples, tea plantations and a cricket match
Let’s start with the classic trip, shall we? You’ll want to see the highlights — temples, tea plantations, a national park or two, and have some beach time thrown in, so you’ll need about two weeks. At the top end of the market, Carrier differentiates its tours by including one-off moments such as a cricket match or surf lesson with locals and picks only the country’s very best accommodation, including converted tea plantation bungalows at Ceylon Tea Trails (12 nights — six B&B and six all-inclusive — from £12,785pp, including flights; carrier.co.uk). Less expensive is G Adventures’s 14-day Sri Lanka Encompassed itinerary, covering Kandy, Sigiriya Rock and Yala National Park (13 nights’ B&B from £1,286pp; gadventures.com. Fly to Colombo). Other operators of such grand tours include Wexas (wexas.com), Cazenove + Loyd (cazloyd.com), Turquoise (turquoiseholidays.co.uk), Fleewinter (fleewinter.com) and Wayfairer (wayfairertravel.com).
2. On a budget
Looking to keep costs down? Then buy a package holiday that includes great-value beach resort accommodation and plot your own day trips to see the sights. The coastline around Bentota in the southwest is where affordable and all-inclusive properties congregate, but that doesn’t mean ugly high-rises; even the cheapest Sri Lankan package digs are usually pleasant traditional whitewashed complexes with pools. From Bentota, you can make it to Galle, Kandy, Udawalawe National Park and even Yala on a long day’s excursion. The best deals we found are with Tui and First Choice and often include direct flights. Also try a package from Flight Centre (flightcentre.co.uk).
Details Seven nights’ B&B at at EKHO Surf Bentota from £1,034pp, including flights (tui.co.uk)
3. South coast villa
The ultimate villa with its own slackline and skate park
Multi-gen families or big groups are usually denied the boutique hotel experience, instead having to seek out larger properties that cater for every budget and sleeping arrangement. But Sri Lankan villas tick both the style and substance boxes, often sleeping up to 16 guests (and rarely fewer than 8) in surroundings that could star on the front cover of an architectural magazine. One example is hilltop the Villa Mine, which sits pretty 20 minutes’ east of Galle on the south coast. There’s a 13m pool, your own swimmable lake and ocean views, and it all sits within a spectacular two-acre walled garden. A chef, steward and housekeeper are on hand too, so there’s no need for supermarket runs. Children will love the slackline, trampoline, games pavilion and — get this — floodlit skate park.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for ten from £3,570 (edenvillas.com). Fly to Colombo
4. East coast secret
Swimmable beaches and whale-spotting
I’ve been to Sri Lanka a few times but I’ve never made it to the undiscovered east coast, where word is that the gorgeous landscapes match those of the jungly north and ancient south. The beaches too are said to be as good as the Maldives and swimmable, which can’t always be said for Sri Lanka’s popular wild west coast, where it’s often too rough to bathe. So it makes sense that the Maldivian-owned hotel group Sun Siyam has just opened Pasikudah in this pristine location, where guests stay in one of just 34 suites and villas, many with private pools — I foresee a new honeymoon spot. Doable day trips include whale-spotting off Trincomalee, visiting the fortress at Sigiriya Rock, and Minneriya National Park, home to elephants, buffalo, crocodiles and leopards.
Details Twelve nights’ B&B from £2,170pp, including flights (travel-gallery.co.uk)
5. Colombo culinary tour
Street eats, spice gardens and cooking in a mud house
See how many flavours you can squeeze into this six-night foodie circuit. It begins in the capital, Colombo, giving you pitstops for street food on a city walking tour. Next up, you’ll visit the Dambulla Cave Temple, with a bull cart ride followed by a cookery session in a traditional mud house. End this culinary adventure by taking the train through tea country and visiting Matale Spice Garden, where they both grow and cook their plants. In short, it’s the perfect itinerary for time-strapped foodies, or as a beach holiday add-on.
Details Six nights’ half-board from £1,849pp, including flights (tropicalsky.co.uk)
6. South for surf
A surf and yoga wellness retreat
From a plum position on Illusion Bay on the wavy south coast, Soul & Surf offer up exactly what you’d expect: retreats involving surf, yoga and therapy. Unlike many wellness breaks, this trip is great value for money too; it’s inclusive of most meals, as well as any drink with dinner each night, plus your surf lessons and yoga classes to boot. There are unlimited fresh coconuts and two trees are planted per person per visit. If your interest is solely yoga, contact Sri Lanka Bespoke instead, run by a team of UK-based Sri Lankans who can handle any special interest breaks; they’d recommend Glenross Living, a wellness retreat deep in hilly tea country (prices vary; srilanka-bespoke.com).
Details Seven nights’ full board from £1,045pp (soulandsurf.com). Fly to Colombo
7. Walk the Pekoe Trail
Trek the tea plantations
Ten years in the making and more than 300km long, the brand-new Pekoe Trail (“pekoe” meaning tea leaf) is Sri Lanka’s first long-distance hike. Beginning in Kandy and ending in Nuwara Eliya, you’ll stride through tea country and the Central Highlands along the way. Made up of 22 stages, walkers can take on one portion in an afternoon or tackle the entire trail over three weeks (thepekoetrailsrilanka.com). Where you stay and how active you are is entirely up to you, so we’ve provided two very different trips here. Scott Dunn takes in one day’s walking on the trail among the tea plantations as part of a two-week circuit of Sri Lankan highlights (14 nights’ B&B from £7,400pp, including flights and some extra meals; scottdunn.com), while Mountain Kingdoms offers up a small-group, 16-day walking tour (15 nights’ full board from £3,185pp, including flights; mountainkingdoms.com).
8. Maldives twin-centre
Sri Lanka by seaplane and Maldives luxury
As you watch your flight map cross right over the Maldives at 39,000ft, you might feel it’s a shame to fly this far and not take a peek at those paradise islands. The good news is, the luxury tour operator Black Tomato has created a See It All: Elephants & Emerald Isles package, which includes both destinations. It’s so luxe there’s even a seaplane journey across Sri Lanka to maximise your time and tick off both coast and central tea country. You’ll see gorgeous Galle town, go on safari in Yala National Park (staying at the wow-factor Wild Coast Tented Lodge), and walk the hilly plantations, before touching down in the Maldives on your way home for a little R & R. Gili Lankanfushi will be your base; the resort’s “Robinson Crusoe” over-water stilted villas are only accessible by boat. Go on, you’re worth it.
Details Fourteen nights’ B&B from £10,950pp, including private transfers (blacktomato.com). Fly to Colombo
9. Sri lanka for solos
A classic group itinerary for solo travellers
For lone travellers, Distant Journeys has launched a small group tour of the country’s highlights. Instead of simply waiving single supplements for solos travelling with others, this is a dedicated trip with just 19 individual places. The two-week itinerary is perfect for first-timers as it takes in all the classic Sri Lanka must-sees — Sigiriya Rock, Kandy’s temples, a Yala National Park safari and a train journey through tea country — but adds distinctive extras that’ll keep your Insta full for months. These include learning to pick tea leaves, shopping at Menikkumbura market by tuk-tuk and meeting an ayurvedic doctor.
Details Thirteen nights’ half-board from £3,595pp, including flights and some extra meals (distantjourneys.co.uk)
10. Outdoorsy family action
Full immersion from Kandyan dancing to dinner with locals
Children will love Sri Lanka’s elephants, crocodiles, surf beaches and fresh coconuts. Parents will love all this too, naturally, but it’s the price that they’ll really fall for. Intrepid Travel is discounting many of its Sri Lanka itineraries in 2024, with a 12-day family trip starting at about £1,000pp excluding flights. The classic circuit makes all the right pitstops — Kandy, Udawalawe National Park, Mirissa’s beaches — but involves child-focused activities at each place to ensure maximum engagement. For instance, there’s dinner with a Sri Lankan family and a fun lesson in traditional Kandyan dance, which helps bring the ancient city of Kandy to life. Meanwhile camping in elephant-populated Udawalawe is unforgettable, as is kite flying at Mirissa.
Details Twelve nights’ B&B from £1,071pp, including some extra meals (intrepidtravel.com). Fly to Colombo
11. Kandy mountain wellness
A healing holiday amid nature in the Kandy mountains
Santani, Sri Lanka’s upscale garland of resorts, is known as a spa brand first and foremost, but massages and manicures are just the start of the journey. Staying in extraordinary glass-and-timber villas set around a dramatic wellness centre in the Kandy mountains, guests come to find solutions to sleep problems, help with addiction, stress or bereavement, and even holistic management of the menopause. Founded by a Sri Lankan who used to camp with friends deep in the jungle but later lost touch with his roots working in the corporate world overseas, this retreat is all about natural healing and how it can be incorporated into our very urban lives.
Details Seven nights’ full board from £3,290pp, including flights (healthandfitnesstravel.com)
12. Hikkaduwa beach party
A three-day festival of music, surf and celebration on the beach
With all this mention of wellness, wildlife and ancient wonders, you could be forgiven for thinking Sri Lanka suits only the Birkenstock crew. However, the package holiday specialist First Choice has seen enough interest from party pilgrims flocking to Hikkaduwa to create this dedicated itinerary. Hikka Fest is a three-day celebration on Hikkaduwa beach (taking place every July or August) that showcases international and local musicians; there are also surf competitions, beach sports and fireworks. Even at other times of the year, Hikka Tranz, the beachfront hotel recommended by First Choice, places you at the core of Sri Lanka’s lively party scene, with vibrant bars, restaurants and clubs nearby.
Details Seven nights’ B&B from £1,276pp, including flights (firstchoice.co.uk)
13. Sri lanka on three wheels
A tuk-tuk self-drive with added challenges
Oooh, we love a holiday that sounds like a game show: “Each day you’ll wake up, be told where you need to be by sundown, and get handed a list of challenges to complete along the way!” Those willing must drive their borrowed tuk-tuk from central Sigiriya to Arum Bay on the coast in ten days (don’t fret: you get training and support en route). Tasks might include photographing a crocodile or gaining an invitation to a local’s house for lunch. On your marks, get set, go!
Details Nine nights’ half-board from £2,025pp, including tuk-tuk hire (largeminority.travel). Fly to Colombo and back from Delhi
14. Birdwatching break
Birds, leopards, whales and crocs
There are no fewer than 528 recorded bird species in Sri Lanka — not bad for a country so tiny it could fit inside India’s pocket like a magician’s dove. Of those species, 33 are classified as endemic and the best time to see them is November to April, particularly in the Wilpattu and Yala national parks, as well as on the Horton Plains. And those birdwatching spots also happen to be great Sri Lankan must-sees in their own right: Wilpattu teems with elephants, crocs and leopards as well as birds, and Horton is one of the most photogenic spots in tea country. Other highlights include whale-watching off Mirissa Bay and time in the Sinharaja rainforest.
Details Fifteen nights’ half-board from £5,850pp, including flights (bambootravel.co.uk)
15. Take a grand tour
Guided tour of the signature sights
For first-timers, or those nervous to travel independently in the region, the escorted tour master Jules Verne has an 11-night small-group escorted Grand Tour of Sri Lanka. This year, the destination is so popular among its travellers (84 per cent of places are filled already for 2024), the tour operator is adding additional departures for 2025. This circuit doesn’t scrimp on sights, managing to include Yala National Park for safari, the 1,000-year-old remote rock temple of Buduruwagala, the sacred city of Anuradhapura, and time in the tea hills too.
Details Eleven nights’ B&B from £2,875pp, including flights and some extra meals (vjv.com)
16. National park volunteering for families
Family trip to meet elephants in central Sri Lanka
As Sri Lanka’s farmland expands, the country’s wild elephant habitat dwindles; the number of deaths reached an all-time high in 2022. A local initiative in Wasgamuwa National Park, in the centre of the island, invites visiting families to work with researchers as they find ways to help the community and elephants to live in harmony. Your tasks might include behavioural observation, dung monitoring, footprint surveys and assisting villagers to maintain electric fences or plant orange trees. Trip duration can be 1 to 12 weeks and children must be over 9; you’ll stay in a simple but clean guesthouse.
Details Seven nights’ full board from £965pp, or £865pp for under-18s (responsibletravel.com). Fly to Colombo
17. The holiday that helps locals
Conservation and cricket
Explorations Company has been organising philanthropic-travel experiences since 1989, long before the idea of “giving back” was a buzz phrase. Its 11-night Sri Lanka itinerary helps to raise funds for the MJF Charitable Foundation, founded by the Sri Lankan family behind Dilmah tea and Resplendent Ceylon hotels, by donating £500 per couple to the charity. Your trip will start with an afternoon of delicious food at the Empower Culinary School in Colombo (run by MJF). You can also play cricket on the coast at the Weligama MJF Centre, join conservation efforts in Yala National Park while staying at the company’s gorgeous Wild Coast Tented Lodge hotel, or visit the Elephant Transit Centre, a rehabilitation outlet, en route to the Ceylon Tea Trails collection of plantation bungalow accommodation.
Details Eleven nights’ half-board from £8,315pp, including flights (explorationscompany.com)
18. Architectural trail
Stay in Geoffrey Bawa’s hotels and homes
If this entry has piqued your interest, the chances are that you already know who Geoffrey Bawa is — Sri Lanka’s greatest architect, whom many credit as the creator of “tropical modernism”. To the untrained eye, that means concrete or modern geometric constructions built incongruously — but with stunning effect — in the jungle or wild coastal spots. As well as visiting Bawa’s former home in Colombo (Number 11), the itinerary involves stays at and tours of the many hotels he designed, such as Lunuganga Estate in Bentota and The Last House, which sits on the beach in Tangalle.
Details Eight nights’ B&B from £3,600pp, including flights, transfers and excursions (cartologytravel.com)
19. Sri Lanka like a local
Let artists, monks and city folk be your guides
It’s called the Storytellers of Sri Lanka Experience, in which your trip is shaped as much by the people you meet as by the places you see. Over 11 days, you’ll discover the very best of the island through local and expert eyes; in Kandy, this means meditating at a Buddhist temple with monks. In Galle, you’ll be invited to paint traditional masks with artists, while in Colombo your walking tour takes in everything from street food to modern and ancient architecture.
Details Ten nights’ B&B from £5,885pp, including flights and transfers (fandptravel.com)
20. Pair the island with India
Add the Taj Mahal and Jaipur to your tour
For the time-poor traveller, it’s possible to see both Sri Lanka and India in a two-week itinerary. Travel Local’s twin-centre trip starts in Sri Lanka, dedicating the lion’s share of time to the teardrop isle (ten days); you’ll see the Dambulla caves, ancient Kandy city, Nuwara Eliya in Tea Country and end on the beach at Mirissa via elephants at Udawalawe. Then, with only a six-hour flight to catch your breath, you’ll witness India’s Pink City, Jaipur, before squeezing in a glimpse of the Taj Mahal at Agra and then departing from Delhi. Phew.
Details Fourteen nights’ B&B from £1,481pp, including some extra meals, transfers and a private driver (travellocal.com). Fly to Colombo
21. Tea country farmstay
Stay in converted tea workers’ bungalows
One of the first locally owned tea estates on the island, Amba has transformed from a small farm with a big dream into a thriving hub of sustainable agriculture, community development and environmental conservation, all in just ten years. When it started, the farm had 12 employees; today, there are 42 full-time workers, all hailing from the local village. Amba gives equal pay to all workers (men used to be paid double for half the work done by women) and is slowly transforming the tea industry, one estate at a time. Tourists can stay in lovely, converted teaworkers’ bungalows; it’s a stunning location, perched on the edge of a 300m precipice, overlooking Ella Gap and Ravana-Ella Waterfalls.
Details B&B doubles from £47 (ambaestate.com). Fly to Colombo
22. Cycle Sri Lanka’s sights
Moderately challenging cycle tour
Whoa — before you skip on, assuming a cycle tour to be too tough for the average Sunday cyclist, just hang on a minute. Explore’s 14-day cycling itinerary is billed as “moderate” (scoring only 3 out of 6 on its cycling grade), with up to four optional days off, travelling on mostly flat terrain, and with bus transfers between destinations. Cycling is a brilliant way to see the country, be that the atmospheric back roads that wind their way to the Dambulla caves and the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, or the dramatic coastal highway passing the beaches from Tangalle to Matara. Explore provides you with a 27-gear hybrid bike; all you need to bring is your helmet.
Details Thirteen nights’ B&B from £1,516pp, including bike, transfers and some extra meals (explore.co.uk). Fly to Colombo
23. Hip hotel tour
Discover the cool new boutique hotels
Thanks to a relaxed visa policy allowing foreigners to start businesses and a spirit of growth across the country, hoteliers have opened some sensational new stays in the past couple of years, especially in the south. Tekanda Lodge sits on a jungle hilltop yet is minutes from the beach at Ahangama and can be taken in its entirety or as individual rooms (B&B doubles from £192; tekandalodge.com). Just inland, Trebartha East is a contemporary architectural masterpiece, offering four boutique bedrooms on a cinnamon plantation (B&B doubles from £185; trebartha-east.com). Uga Riva sits within a 180-year-old converted manor house in Negombo, not far from the airport (B&B doubles from £150; ugaescapes.com), while Ahu Bay on the southwest coast and Kayaam House, round the coast to the east, are the most recent launches from the Sri Lankan-owned luxury hotel brand Resplendent Ceylon/Reverie (B&B doubles from £1,770 at Ahu Bay, from £354 at Kayaam; resplendentceylon.com). The group will add a further two to its collection later this year: a tea country hotel at Kelburne Estate, and Canopy Lodge, a luxury property near Sigiriya. Another brand new option is the art deco Charleston, a merchant’s villa turned boutique hotel in the centre of Unesco-listed Galle Fort (room-only doubles from £79; wearecreativeleap.com).
24. Active adventure
Swim, sail, cycle and trek
In the words of the Original Travel team, this trip was designed for those “who just can’t sit still”. Throughout this 15-day adventure, there will be the chance for you to cycle, trek, swim, sail and walk your way around Sri Lanka’s greatest sights, including hiking the Knuckles Mountain Range and biking around the historic city of Batticaloa in Eastern Province. There is the chance to relax, too, namely on a boat cruise off Passikudah, an epic sweep of the east coast where Elephant Rock is to be found, and when you’re sitting in a safari vehicle, deep in awesome Yala National Park.
Details Fourteen nights’ B&B from £4,195pp, including flights and transfers (originaltravel.co.uk)
25. Literary Sri Lanka
Literary festival or bookish retreat
As we go to press, writers are arriving at “authors’ favourite” Galle Literary Festival, held every January. This year’s speakers include the Booker prize laureates Shehan Karunatilaka and DBC Pierre, the Sunday Times chief foreign correspondent Christina Lamb, and the bestselling authors Anthony Horowitz and Alexander McCall Smith. If you want to attend in 2025, Sri Lanka specialists Experience Travel Group will whizz you there with tickets (ten nights’ B&B from £3,450pp, including flights; experiencetravelgroup.com). Alternatively, bookish types can check in to the atmospheric tea plantation hotel Stafford Bungalow, the highest estate on the island, for a new six-day writers’ retreat. Three days are spent with the author and Sri Lanka expert Juliet Coombe, with two guided walks and a visit to a tea factory filling the rest of your time.
Details Five nights’ B&B from £2,340, including some extra meals (staffordbungalow.com). Fly to Colombo
Where do you love to stay in Sri Lanka? Let us know in the comments below
