We’ve been wondering about visiting new country in Asia after Omani adventure for a long time, but still not enough time. Perfect time was last weekend, because last Wednesday was an Islamic holiday (yes perfectly on my Birthday – 5th May), so we made a longer weekend in Sri Lanka. It was a 3 days’ trip and couldn’t be better.

• First question everyone asks – How was it? It was awesome! I have never been to such a beautiful nature. Completely different country to the others I’ve been to. I believe this wasn’t last time.

• Second question – Are 3 days enough? That’s the question… Depends on what type of holiday/ trip you are looking for. It isn’t enough if you want to explore more parts of the island – north, south, center. We were only at one place and wanted to enjoy surfing and the sea, so 3 days were OK. But next time I will definitely go for a longer time and make more trips to a neighborhood and visit more parts of the island.

And here is a complete 3 days’ story…

First day  – Colombo and train to Weligama

Colombo city is located 1 hour far from the airport. But our adventure began even at the airport. Once we woke up after a few hours of sleep at the airport’s bench, we just stopped to buy a sim card and a cup of coffee, then we went straight out to catch something going to Colombo.
How to get to Colombo? I think the best choice was tuk tuk taxi ( a small red/blue/green “car/bike” for 3 passengers. That was awesome! Never experienced before. The driver took us through small villages (also stopped at his home and wanted to show us his spa – would you trust him?). It took around 1 hour and we saw a lot from the island and have an idea how it looks like and how people live here. Unforgettable moments!
Colombo is the capital city but the treasure of this country lies in other parts of the island.
Our first stop in Colombo and in whole our trip was a Viharamahadevi Park. It is a small park with “White House” and with an amazing special stuff like bats on the trees, tree made of 3 kinds of tree, rare kind of flowers… We wouldn’t find out without a man who is working there as a park keeper who guided us through a whole park.
Next stop was Gangaramaya Temple, just next to the park. Peaceful place with men in orange and where you have to take off your shoes and cover your shoulders. Entrance fee only 300 LKR.
I was a bit surprised with the weather. It is 40°C in Dubai, there were around 33°C in Sri Lanka but it was worse. So sticky hot! Maybe it is because there is no AC anywhere and we walked a lot and traveled all day. Luckily our hotel room had a good AC. I believe we wouldn’t have been able to sleep during the night without that. So choose your hotel carefully, because a lot of small hotels and hostels have only fan or nothing.
I guess the best way how to travel through Sri Lanka is using a train. It’s damn hot inside but you can see a lot outside and don’t have to walk. It was very interesting experience, long but with a nice view of Sri Lankan beauty – banana palms, coconut palms, cows, sea, resorts… You can walk on a train track. All doors and windows opened during the journey. And there is a huge variety of what you can buy inside from the sellers going through whole train and back. Menu is wide – pineapple, water, nuts, shrimps, map, games… After 3,5 hours we luckily, I don’t know how, but we managed to get out of a train at the right stop and went straight to our hotel.

Hotel – Blue Star Villa
It is just a small hotel with a few rooms but very nice and clean. I can only recommend! Strong WiFi! The owner (young girl who also teach surfers) was very kind, helped us with everything and advised good places for a dinner, surfing, groceries… And it’s just next to the beach.
Swimming in Indian Ocean and dinner at Mirissa beach
We ended that busy but amazing day by swimming in Indian Ocean during the sunset – such a great feeling and experience. Another ad-on is we were almost alone at the whole beach (not only in that evening but all our days there) – I love off-season holiday!
And then that dinnerrr ooh We went to Mirissa beach, just a few minutes by tuk tuk from our hotel.  There is a restaurant called Zaphyr – the best one! So romantic, calm with friendly staff and shiny stars above your head and the ocean in front of you – that was my second birthday dinner uuuu well spoiled birthday girl. 🙂

Second day – surfing day

We chose south part of Sri Lanka because we wanted to surf and the best surfers’ spots are in south. So as planned we attended a surfing lesson. There is a Czech surf school at Weligama beach with a Czech flake, but sadly we didn’t meet anyone from the Czech Republic and our teacher was local. Never mind it was pretty good, fun but also exhausting. After 1,5 hour I was death. We made one stupid mistake – did not wear a t-shirt. At the end of the lesson my body was totally scratched. Later I was only taking pictures and making videos.
Overall It is very nice place for surfers, good waves, not so much high neither low, clean sea with a very long shallow sea bottom and jumping fish.
Our second dinner in Sri Lanka wasn’t as good as the first one. Sri Lankan food is similar to Indian but a bit poorer I would say. Anyway seafood is always well done. And a huge advantage is alcohol which is served with a meal. (something I forgot in Dubai hahaa 🙂 ) Later that night we tried also one bar at Mirissa beach. It was nice. Each restaurant or a bar has happy hours in the evening so drinks are even cheaper. Try Lion beer, made in Sri Lanka!

Third the last day – breakfast at the beach and breaking waves again

Last day we woke up earlier in order to have enough time to enjoy the rest of our holiday. We went for a breakfast just in a hotel next to us. If I say hotel (maybe it was a resort) don’t imagine hotel or resort we know from big cities, thi is much more like a bigger house with a few rooms and palms growing through the building. For example our “hotel” has a kitchen outside, which we were allowed to use. I liked it but it’s just another example of how different this country is. Breakfast was yuammy with a view of the ocean and squirrels and lizards (chameleon) on a tree. Love it!
Another round of surfing follows, for me it was more “making another videos” round, because of scratches at my body, but at least I could enjoy that peaceful and calm place.
At 2pm we took a taxi to get back to the airport. Our flight was 6,25pm. It was enough time to make it and also to buy a souvenirs at the airport.

***Sri Lankan Airline
And I forgot mention the airline we flew with – Sri Lankan Airline. I was well surprised by their standards, it was bigger plane with pillows,blankets, very good food (spicy), unlimited drinks, screens with games, movies and also internet (charged extra and only in a plane we went to Colombo not back). Very similar for example to Emirates Airlines.

If you thought about Sri Lanka, if yes or no, I am sure you know now. Book your tickets soon, it’s really worthy. I don’t want to talk about prices, everyone knows it’s much cheaper than anywhere else. I am talking about experiences you can have. Sri Lanka is a real paradise on Earth.

Bunch of Love
A.

Anna

I love to travel and make new memories around the world. Together with Lukas, we run Ithara – experience gift voucher platform in Dubai.