Sri Lanka Package Holidays and Family Beach Holidays
To check availability and view all Sri Lanka holidays, please use the Holiday Search.
All resorts in Sri Lanka
Click these resort links to view available accommodation:
Bentota
Beruwela
Galle
Kalutara
Negombo
Wadduwa
About Sri Lanka
To think of Sri Lanka, you imagine long sandy beaches, plodding elephants and colourfully dressed women picking tea while sharing the day’s gossip. Well, it’s exactly how you pictured it. From Sri Lanka’s ancient name Serendib comes our word serendipity, meaning ‘happy and unexpected discovery’. There’s no better way to describe it - friendly people, cultural delights and fascinating temples, not to mention amazing wildlife. It’s a tropical holiday paradise.
Our Travellers Guide
Beaches in Sri Lanka
The south coast has Sri Lanka’s finest beaches with Beruwela being a real holiday favourite. Hikkaduwa, Unawatuna and Mirissa are also popular. Bentota is the best on the west coast offering turquoise waters and white sand lined with coconut palms.
Sports
With more than 130 rivers, you can canoe, kayak and white water raft until your heart’s content. Arugam Bay on the east coast is one of the world’s top ten surf points and the west coast’s unexplored reefs are a great find for divers. The terrain is ideal for mountaineering, cycling and trekking, which are also popular on a holiday in Sri Lanka.
Local tastes
The food in Sri Lanka is best appreciated by eating with your fingers. Curry is a local favourite made from meat, fish or vegetables. Seafood is also popular, particularly pickled and dried varieties. Try mallung, shredded leaves mixed with grated coconut, red onions and limejuice and for dessert kavun, deep-fried cake made with rice flour and treacle. For instant refreshment, try the orange coloured King Coconut or thambili.
Evening flavour
Nightlife in Sri Lanka is all about relaxation and is very low-key. The capital Colombo offers a few Irish pubs, live-music bars and hotel-based nightclubs and casinos. Many of the hotels in other holiday resorts have cultural shows and live bands. Head to Bentota for an evening of traditional dance at its open-air theatre or try arrack, the local firewater made from coconut sap, in Kalutara.
Best buys
In Sri Lanka you’ll find handicrafts for sale everywhere including linen, cotton and beautiful silk clothing. Carved masks, coconut shell art works, batik, leather, jewellery, gems, traditional tea and spices and Ayurvedic potions are great buys. Go to Kalutara for basket making and Kandy for jewellery. There are shopping malls along Colombo’s Galle Road and in many of the big hotels.
Live the Experience
You can’t go to Sri Lanka without climbing the Sigiriya Rock Fortress; the view from the rock-top palace is really worth waiting for. Visit the fascinating elephant orphanage of Pinnwela or take an exciting elephant trek through the forest near Habarana. See the view over Anuradhapura’s great dagobas, Buddhist shrines, from the holy hill of Mihintale and cycle around Polonnaruwa’s stone ruins under the watchful eye of the Buddha of Gal Vihara.
When to go: Sri Lanka is a year-round destination with December to March a particularly popular time.
GMT: + 6 hrs
Language: Sinhala, Tamil and English.
Currency: Sri Lankan Rupee.
Dates for the diary: National Day 4th February - celebrating independence from Britain with parades, dances and national games throughout the country.
To check availability and view all Sri Lanka holidays, please use the Holiday Search.
