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 Colombo, Sri Lanka travel tales
Our customers share their travelling experiences in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation.
Also, you might want to read our
Sri Lanka city guide.
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| P Meffan |
28 January 2004 |
Stayed at Galle Face Hotel - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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Sri Lanka is a fantastic country and Columbo was our least favourite place, once away from Colombo the people are so friendly and the food cheap and accomodation. We travelled on all modes of transport and wouldn't recommend the local buses as although very cheap they get packed, the Govt air con buses are fine. You don't need to do a "tour" it's a lot more fun and cheaper to do it alone and you then can choose where you want to go and how long to spend, the tours will take you to all their friends shops which you may want to see but how many spice gardens can you take?
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| A Lee |
10 November 2003 |
Stayed at Galle Face Hotel - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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Tours: My visit was 2.5 days, so I only took one tour. For convenience and reliability, I arranged for a hotel car and driver to take the 3 hour drive up the mountain to Kandy, for a full day tour (55USD). My driver spent most of the time braking and honking to pass on the one lane roads, but drivers seem used to this system. Kandy is most noted for the large, colonial-built Buddhist temple (“Tooth Relic temple”). Other touristy stops include the Baby Elephant Orphanage (which I skipped); the Botanical Gardens (spice garden, nice selection of local and rare species); handicrafts shops; and of course, the ubiquitous jewelry shops. Fortunately, it was a holiday (every full moon), so most of the shops were closed, and I was able to stroll along without too many hawking shopkeepers. Non-locals are charged a small entrance fee for the Temple (200 LKR) and Botanical Gardens (300 LKR).
In front of the hotel and during my walks, the tuk-tuk drivers were persistent but not overly aggressive. Advice: carry lots of 50 and 100 LKRs, and bargain, and agree on the fare before entering the tuk-tuk otherwise you will be charged an outrageous price. The fare from the hotel to the downtown area should be only about 100-200 LKRs. Of course, gem and jewelry prices are very inflated for tourists, so bargain hard.
Touts: can be avoided with a friendly "no,thanks" but two, in particular, to watch for: 1) a friendly, elderly gentleman will start a conversation while you are walking down the road, he will tell you he is a teacher for a Blind and Deaf school and then will ask you for a donation, showing you a list signed by donors (all western names). 2) A friendly man will tell you about some special local event he is on his way to attend and invite you along. For example, that today is a special day at the Buddhist temple, when they are showing the bone relics. He will also try to show you the sacred elephant that carried the bone relics and take you to a jewelry factory with the “best, non-tourist,” prices. His tuk-tuk driver will try to charge you USD40 for the “tour.” If you are curious and go along, make sure the tuk-tuk cost is agreed in advance, for each leg of the “tour.”
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| T Vaidya |
30 May 2003 |
Stayed at Taj Samudra - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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Was there on business so did not get to see much. Went up to a hill station called Nuwara Eliya - pretty, amidst tea estates and clinging on to its colonial past which is refreshing.
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| M Crain |
16 April 2003 |
Stayed at Colombo Plaza, The - Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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Sri Lanka is a truly lovely country. I don't believe April is the best time to visit as it is coming into monsoon season and the sea was fairly rough. Was told that the eastern side of the island is better at this time of year. The mountain areas are a must see. My advice is hire a car or van with a driver as their road rules are very very different to anywhere else in the world and it makes for a far more relaxing visit to be driven rather than self drive.
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