Sri Lanka - The Island Country

Stay : Sleep Cheap. Decent option at around 1200 INR per night if you just want to stay for a night or so. Host was quite friendly. He dropped me to the Negombo bus station and also to the Airport in the morning(At 3AM) for free. :)

You can also try The Rock House Hotel for your stay. However, for some rooms it doesn't have attached washrooms and that is not clearly specified in Booking.com. So better to confirm before booking/cancellation. I had stayed there during my return on the last day.

I had earlier booked some other hotel however it was cancelled and I had to wait for around 1hr and fight with booking.com to get a cancellation confirmation. So a tip would be to message the host before your travel just to be safe.

Travel : You can get an AC bus from Negombo bus station or from the Airport(Buses are standing just at the arrival). Frequency is approximately 1 bus every 30-60 mins. Buses weren't crowded. No one was standing, everyone gets his/her seat and total fare from Negombo to Colombo Bus Station was 150 LKR. In case you are staying in Negombo, make sure you leave Colombo before 7.30 PM for your return as the last bus from Colombo bus stand approximately leaves at around this time. Alternatively, you can travel by Uber or Pick Me car which would cost you approx 2000 LKR one way.

Food : Ministry of Crab, &Co Pub, Harbour Court Kingsbury are really nice places. Zomato recommendations work in Colombo so you can try that as well. Personally, tried & Co Pub : Nice ambience, Good food. Unfortunately, couldn't try the booze there as it was a dry day

ii. Colombo Lighthouse : Kind of in a secluded place, can walk from Fort Area. Photography is not allowed here. Found it to be overrated.

iii. Galle Face beach : Again, found it to be overrated. A toned down version of Marine Drive maybe. Getting a cab can take a lot of time during the evening, so the best thing would be to travel to a few places as possible. I sat almost for 1 hr at the Galle Face beach waiting for a Cab(Uber, Pick Me).

iv. Gangaramya Temple : Out of all the places I visited, this was the only place I liked. There are two temples : one on land and one at the lake. The Lake Temple is just beside Colombo City Centre Mall. Your footwear can get stolen here so better to buy a token at the Main Gate to keep them safe. The same token can be used for the Lake temple. The token was priced at approx 400 LKR.

i. Elephant Orphanage : If you are interested in watching Elephants up close and have no problems in the concept of an Elephant Orphanage, you can take your first stop here. It is on the way to Kandy from Colombo. We didn't go for this but we saw some elephants from a hotel nearby. Don't remember the hotel's name and more importantly the food was pretty expensive (and not even good) there so do ask the menu beforehand before eating at nearby hotels. I have also heard you can negotiate the amount if the menu isn't available so do try those tricks :) Only drawback of this place you'll see the elephants from a distance rather than being close to them. So do choose as per your priority.

Without a doubt, the best pizzas we had on the whole trip. The booze is also not that expensive here. Nice place, nice food and a nice view. Food and booze approximately cost us 9200 LKR(for 6 ppl).

Talking about booze, Lion Lager is probably the best beer in Sri Lanka. Tried very few other options but this one was simply the best. Plus, it's almost available everywhere.

For evening, you can try Slightly Chilled Lounge & Sunset Bar. As the name suggests, it has a nice sunset view.

Places of Interest(Contd.) :

After food, we went on to watch a Cultural Dance Show. There are three places in Kandy which showcase the Cultural Dance. Chamli arranged for the tickets.

i. Lake club Kandyan cultural show

ii. Redcross Kandyan cultural performance

iii. YMBA cultural performance (We went here!)

The place is a bit far from the city but since we had a car and loved the Villa we decided to stay here. :)

Travel: We took the famous train ride from Kandy to Nanu Oya. Nanu Oya is the railway station near to Nuwara Eliya. There are mixed reviews on the internet whether you need to take the Kandy to Nanu Oya route or Nanu Oya to Ella Route. If you have time best is you take the Kandy to Ella route.

I found this link helpful if you still have a doubt on which route to take.

https://dereklow.co/sri-lanka-train/

Tickets: Chamli arranged for the tickets. Tickets were approx 150-200 LKR. We booked 2nd class reserved tickets, didn't carry the luggage and kept it in the cab. You can also book tickets on 12go.asia but the tickets usually are expensive there.

The trains in the 2nd class reserved section are clean. So, need to worry about that aspect as well. Sri Lanka overall was very clean IMHO!

We took the morning 8.45 AM train. The latest time table is available on Google. The train journey was around 3.5 - 4 hrs. Trains are usually late so the duration can increase at times. The first hour from Kandy towards Nanuoya doesn't have any thing to look for. The pretty views start after that. So be ready with your cameras and poses! :)

Food : Great place to have your food. The hotel is majestic and will give you a royal feel. Their buffet options (for Non Veg) seemed really great. Vegetarians might have to compromise "a bit". Buffet has a fixed time so make sure you check before you reach at the hotel.

Food : Definitely, a great place to hangout. As the name suggests, the cafe was a perfect place to chill. The place had a great vibe, the food along with the drinks was the perfect combo to Chill here. Don't forget to try the Lumprias here.

i. Nine Arches Bridge : Nine Arches Bridge is one of the most famous tourist spots in Sri Lanka. To reach there you have to do a small 15-20 mins trek. We were lucky to find a train on the bridge when we reached there but make sure you check the train timings on the route to get a clear shot of the train on the Nine Arches Bridge. The sight is treat for your drone camera :)

The Cliff Lodge Experience :

The Cliff Lodge is another perfect place if you want to experience a complete social media detox and have time for an extra stay. It's difficult to reach the place which involves some trekking but the pictures and reviews suggest its a surreal experience.

Some shots on our way to South Sri Lanka:

Stay : There are lots of good options in to stay in South Sri Lanka. But one should mostly stay either at Ahangama, Weligama or Mirissa.

All these three places are close to each other by Tuk Tuk and the whole road has patches of the beautiful coastline

Doctor's House is definitely is a must visit if you are a party freak. The vibe of the place is simply amazing. Food, Music, Drinks everything was great at this place. Price of 1 Lion Lager Mug was approx 500 LKR. It might be a bit tricky to get a table at this place so make sure you reach early, watch the sunset and enjoy the party at this place. There is an entry price also associated with this place if you reach after 4 PM : 1000 LKR.

Food : Weligama has a good number of cafes but we wanted to eat just next to the beach so we had our brunch at W15 Weligama. Good option for someone who wants to eat at a nice place and also take a dip in the sea.

i. Japanese Peace Pagoda : On our way to Galle from Weligama, we stopped at Japanese Peace Pagoda. It has a nice distant view of the Galle city and a good place to visit during evening(4-5 PM).

ii. Galle Fort : Definitely, the most famous tourist spot in Galle and a good spot to relax, enjoy the sunset(no sunset view) and listen to the constant hustle of the waves.

Food: Two top restaurants at Galle would be : Peddlar's inn and The Merchant. Peddlar's Inn has limited options and very less options for Vegetarian. Both the restaurants are at a walking distance from Galle Fort.

Peddlar's Inn:

The Merchant :

On our way back, we also stopped at Wijaya Beach Restaurant, they do serve some really good PIZZAS!!

Day 7 : Surfing(Weligama) + Mirissa

Weligama is the best spot for Surfing in South Sri Lanka. We did our surfing at Lucky's Surf School. The tutors were very good and patient in teaching the surfing tricks. Surfing can turn out to be a little hectic but it was fun. Cost of surfing was 2500 LKR per person which includes initial training, the surfing suit and 1 hour of surfing in the sea with the trainer accompanying you in the sea. The best time to surf would be early in the morning(Around 7-8 AM).

One best thing about all the beaches in Sri Lanka was we could carry our beer everywhere and no one did complain about it. After a tiring session of Surfing, we recharged ourselves with some beer :D

Food: At Mirissa, first we stopped at Sudu Weli Restaurant : A beach side cafe with a nice 90's, 00's music vibe. The food here was good except for the Pizza.

It was a nice place to take a dip, have good food and just relax. We got our own booze here and had it with the food.