Sri Lanka: Officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) is an island country in South Asia. It is located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal and southeast of the Arabian Sea. Sri Lanka is called “The pearl of the Indian ocean” because of its shape and location. It is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. Colombo is the capital city of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is a fast growing tourist hotspot because of its untouched tropical essence and unhindered wilderness. It is a beautiful country with lovely people. Many tourists from the European countries and also India are preferring to visit Sri Lanka nowadays without any second thought.
Me and my sister wanted to take my parents for a trip overseas from a long time. And then Sri Lanka happened. As it was a family trip, I did not wanted it to be completely a budget trip and also not a super luxurious one. I did a lot of research about the country and it's most convenient options with a perfect pocket pinch. This is how I have planed our trip. The total trip cost was INR 45k per head including visa, flights, food, shopping and also UBER cost in India. And from my personal experiences, I have penned down some of the important things which you should consider while planning yours.
Visa: E-Visa is the only option Sri Lanka has for Indians. We applied e-visa from Make my Trip. We got the visa approval letter within 4 working days of applying. We needed to carry the hard copy of the visa approval letter for our passports to be stamped.
Currency: The official currency of Sri Lanka is LKR. But both LKR and USD are widely accepted in the country. We exchanged INR to USD in India from Centrum Hyderabad. They have a lot of branches in different cities and usually have very good deals. Do not book from their online website as the exchange rates are fixed and negotiations cannot be done online. Just go to their office and ask for a good deal. After reaching Sri Lanka we exchanged USD to LKR from the currency exchange counters available at the airport. It is always better to carry cash instead of Forex cards or any cards. Transacting with cards from the ATMs levies a god amount of tax per transaction. But HDFC debit cards are saviors. Bank of Ceylon gives tax free transaction to people with HDFC cards. Bank of Ceylon ATMs are available widely all across the country.
Sim Cards: Sri Lanka has 4 options for mobile prepaid sim cards - Dialog, Mobitel, Hutch and Airtel. Dialog has the best coverage in the island country so we opted for the same.
Transport: UBER is the best transport option if you are opting for taxi without any price bargain. UBER Srilanka has many options to fit in the needs of the customers. It has both Intra city and Outstaion cabs of different capacities. The price is also reasonable for both intra city and outstation travel. Local buses are also available for intra city travel. Tuktuks, the Srilankan version of the Indian autos are available at every corner of the cities. The only limitation is, 3 members can travel in one Tuktuk. The price has to be bargained and obviously they charge more from tourists.
The Srilankan Railways is also a great option for traveling inter city. The railway claims the best scenic path across the country. It is better to book tickets beforehand around 2 months before the travel date. Because getting a confirmed AC compartment train ticket is difficult when booked from the railway counters on the travel day itself. You can book railway tickets from: https://12go.asia/en
Flight & Hotel Bookings: Try to book flights 6 months ahead of the travel date. In this process you can save a lot of money on international flight bookings. Indigo is the best and cheapest option available to fly into the country from India. The cheapest flights are available from Chennai and Bengaluru.
I always prefer to book hotels prior to my journey. I don't like to go anywhere with uncertainties. I have booked my accommodations for the entire journey from Agoda. Agoda always has best deals for the Asian countries. A standard three star or four star hotel would cost around INR 3500-4000/- per night including complimentary breakfast.
Food & Water: Srilankan cuisine is very similar to South Indian cuisine. Food is cheap in Sri Lanka. You can try buffet or a-la-crate meal in restaurants within LKR 3000 for two people. It is always advisable to drink bottled water.
Language: Most of the people in Sri Lanka understand English. It is not at all hard to communicate with the local people or the cab drivers or any shop keepers.
So after a lot of planning for Sri Lanka we finally started our day on 23rd Feb 2019. We flew from Hyderabad RGIA airport. The flight had a layover in Chennai where our passports were stamped. We boarded the flight from Hyderabad around 8am in the morning and reached Bandaranaike International Airport around 12pm. India and Sri Lanka share the same time zones. So there is no difference in the time. After de-boarding we went to the customs. Their we needed to fill a form with all our details including nationality, flights and accommodations. We handed over the form along with the visa approval letter to the customs officer. Our visa got approved and stamped. The overall process was very smooth without any kind of hassle.
After getting our visa stamped and collecting luggages we went to the currency exchange counter and exchanged USD to LKR. We took a sim card and booked an UBER for Hikkaduwa. On the way we stopped to buy some water bottles and food as it was pretty late and we haven't had anything from a very long time. My mom brought some dry food from home. It was a real savior.
Tip: Always carry dry food while traveling. It really saves us.
We reached Hikkaduwa around 5pm. I have booked Hotel Citrus for our stay of 2 days in Hikkaduwa. The hotel was on the beach. Literally.! It was a nice hotel with all possible facilities. The view from our room balcony was beautiful. The sunset was mesmerizing. We were in awe with the beauty of the sunset. It was such a wonderful place, we all felt like the ocean waves took our souls to heaven. For me and my sister our joy knew no bounds. We freshened up a little and went on the beach to enjoy. The weather was very soothing. The mixture of the breeze and ocean waves were creating some kind of magic. We enjoyed our family time to the fullest. At around 8pm we had our dinner from the restaurant. The restaurant had a great ambience. My parents also enjoyed the whole vibe created by the ocean. Me and my sister were already thinking of the next day as we have planned for a deep sea diving.
I woke up early the next morning. The alarm was belled by the ocean waves coming to the shore. It gave me the inner peace which I have longed so much in midst of my hectic work life. I woke up my sister. I still have a pic of her sleepy face but I cannot share it. DUH.! All 4 of us got ready and went to have breakfast. We had the breakfast included in our room package. It is always advisable to include breakfast while room booking because it saves a lot of money. The breakfast spread was huge and filled with Srilankan delicacies. I liked the Coconut Paratha a lot. After we had our breakfast we went to the PADI Diving Center - "International Diving School", Hikkaduwa. Here is the website: https://theinternationaldivingschool.com
I have already booked our slot over emails a month before. The divers guided us and showed us our gears which we needed to wear. They also assured us that we need to know swimming for the beginner level Scuba. Then they gave us preliminary training in shallow water. After the training we were taken by a boat to the diving location. On reaching we threw ourselves into the ocean to experience the mystical deep sea. The diving session was scheduled for 1 hour. We were taken down to a distance of 13ft deep into the ocean. I have done scuba diving before but it was the first time for my sister. After coming out of the water she was in her own dreamland. It was like, she was feeling a sense of deep relaxation. It was ecstatic. Scuba is the perfect opportunity to feel amazed by the truly beautiful natural environment and feel closer to nature. The divers were great and they guided us so well. I highly recommend International School of Diving for the people who want to dive or love to dive. They have awesome divers.
The diving cost was around INR 7k per head and for photos they took around $20 for both of us which is nearly INR 1500. The photos were given to us in the evening, the same day over WhatsApp.
We came back and had our lunch. In the evening we chilled on the beach and also went for some street shopping. We had a super market just outside our hotel. So it was convenient for us to get water bottles and other stuffs at a stone's throw. It was our last night in Hikkaduwa and we have already started missing it.
The next morning after breakfast we started for Kandy. We booked UBER and the cab arrived on time. We were on running around 9 am. The journey from Hikkaduwa to Kandy was such a stunner with so much of nature around us. We also came to know about 2 new fruits of Srilanka - 1. Mangosteen 2. Rambutan. The fruits tasted awesome. You should also try them out.!
At 4pm we reached Kandy. I have booked our stay in Ozo Kandy. The hotel was on a uphill overlooking the small town. We got a free upgrade for our booked rooms and that was a silver lining. We checked in and quickly got ready to visit the Temple of Tooth Relic and the Kandy Lake. We walked along side the lake to reach the Temple. The foreign nationals have to pay an entry fee to enter inside the temple. The fee was different for Asian Countries and other countries of Europe and USA. I had to pay around 1500INR per person. One important thing to mention here is no one with shorts or short skirts are allowed inside the temple. The legs should be full covered. The Temple was so beautiful from inside. The decor of the temple was simple yet elegant. After we came out we were very very hungry. We went down to the city center to find some good options. And VOILA.! We saw KFC. Packed, ate and slept.
The next day we had planned to go to the financial capital of the country, COLOMBO. We headed with an UBER. We started around 11am after having our breakfast. We picked up some water bottles from the Kandy supermarket. We reached Colombo around 4pm. I have booked Hotel Marino Beach Colombo for our stay for the next 2 days in Colombo. The Hotel was huge. It has the Marino shopping mall linked with it. The hotel also has an Infinity swimming pool at the top. After checking in we took some rest. I went to the shopping mall after some time to explore. After I returned me and my sister went to the bar to have some chilled cocktails.
Early morning next day we had the Colombo city tour. I have booked the city tour from the website: https://www.colombocitytours.com/ They have different city tour categories from which we can choose the best option.
We went for the "Glimpse of Colomobo" city tour which cost us around INR 1100/- per person.
They provided a Double Decker bus. We reached the destination by UBER, from where the bus was scheduled to pick us up. We got into the bus and we were given some snacks and a water bottle. And then the city tour started. The proctor was explaining the details both in English and Sinhala (the local language of Sri Lanka) My parents enjoyed the tour a lot. It was really informative and we came to know so much about the city's history. At the end of the tour they took us to the government souvenir shop where we bought many things for our family and friends back in India. The name of the store is Laksala. As it is approved by the government the price and the quality of the items are dependable. The tea gardens of Sri Lanka are very famous but we had to skip it because of our time constraint. So we particularly bought tea packets from the store for us and also for our friends.
After our tour completed the bus dropped us at the same point from where we were picked up. We reached our hotel from there and the evening we took rest remembering the wonderful memories of our 5 days journey as it was the last day of ours, in the country.
The next morning after breakfast, we packed our bags and left for the airport to return to India with a heavy heart and a trip full of wonderful memories for life.!
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