We have just returned from two weeks in Sri Lanka and it is a beautiful country. We flew with Qatar airways which we did not think as good as other airlines in quality and service.
I booked a car and driver for the first week to take us around the island and the hotels with reddot tours which are a local company and they are excellent. We were met at the airport by our guide/driver and then took the long drive to Cinnamon Lodge in the cultural triangle, this is a lovely hotel with plenty of wildlife to watch, and a lovely lake in the grounds for bird life as well. We did an elephant safari which was fun.Our driver took us around the area seeing temples, caves, wildlife ect.
After three nights we moved to the Tea Factory hotel which is an old tea factory, another brilliant hotel with fantastic views over the tea plantations, from here we took a trip to Horton Plains and world's end.
Our next stop was Yala village, from here we took a safari into Yala National park where we saw leopards, jackals,crocodiles, elephants to name a few. Yala village is a brilliant place to stay it is in the national park and the animals wonder around, we had an elephant,wild boars and monkeys outside our room one evening. You have to have an escort to your evening meal.
The next six nights we stayed at the Jetwings Lighthouse in Galle, this is beautiful hotel, in a lovely setting. We no longer had our driver so used the tuk tuks to get into Galle to look around. We did an amazing trip from near here by boat to see blue whales, we saw about 10 and it was fantastic to see them out in the wild.
The last night we stayed at Jetwings Beach, Negombo which is only 20mins from airport another lovely hotel with a massive bath in the room!
Sri Lanka is beautiful and the people really friendly would love to return one day.