Travelling Beyond Wattala
Sri Lanka has so many places to go, things to do and see that you will be spoiled for choice. However, the activities do tend to fall into four categories and so your plans will depend on you category preferences and time you have. Most tourists come for two weeks and wish they stayed longer, but don’t try to cram too much into a short time. Sri Lanka, despite its recent past, is a quiet, peaceful country to be enjoyed at a quiet pace! If you don’t see everything you want, then just come back another time. The four categories are:
-
-
- Wildlife
- Culture/gardens (Buddhist and Hindu)
- Countryside (Hills and Tea Estates)
- Beaches (sun/bathing and surfing)
-
A 5th could could be Whale Watching.
Days out beyond Colombo
Most people tour the island over 2 weeks which is fascinating but can be exhausting. There is so much to see and there’s little time to relax and contemplate what they’ve seen and what more they’d like to experience. The advantage of being based in Wattala is that you can visit most places on the island in a series of mini tours, with return-to-home breaks in between.
Below are some general ideas as to what can be done and seen on a series of shorter tours. Of course, many of these places can be (and often are) combined into loner tours.
-
- Day trips
- Beach – Negombo, Mount Lavinia,
- Culture – Colombo
- Wildlife/Parks – Colombo
- 1 overnight (2 days)
- Culture – Galle, Kandy,
- Beach – Kalutara
- Wildlife/Parks – Pinnawala, Peradeniya
- 2 overnights (3 days)
- Culture – Dambulla, Sigirya,
- Wildlife/Parks – Wilpattu, Yala, Habarana
- Beach – Unatwatuna, Hikkaduwa, Mirissa
- 3 overnight (4 days)
- Culture – Anaradhapura, Nuwara Eliya (+whale watching)
- Beach – Kalpitiya (+whale watching)
- Wildlife/Parks – Singharaja Forest, Udawalawe, Horton plains, Kagala
- 4 overnight (5 days)
- Beach – Trincomalee, Pasegoda
- Culture – Jaffna
- Wildlife/Parks – Jaffna peninsular
- Day trips