Sri Lanka has been at the very top of my bucket list since I was in middle school. I remember pointing to a map at this little (not so little actually) island and declaring that I would go there one day. I couldn’t tell you why I randomly chose this country but who knew that I would make that random middle school dream a reality as an adult! I started seeing Sri Lanka pop up in my travel research more and more and knew I had to finally check this beautiful country off my bucket list so we decided to visit 2 countries for our honeymoon and of course Sri Lanka was one of them. Tourism had been growing at a rapid rate in Sri Lanka the last few years…and then it happened. The Easter bombing attacks. First and foremost I want to send my condolences out to all those who were affected during these awful attacks. I can’t even imagine what these families are still going through and will continue to go through for the rest of their lives. Such a senseless hateful act for absolutely no reason. I know it’s not much at all but I send all of my love, prayers, and well wishes to you all.
If I’m being completely honest, like many other people, we thought about canceling our trip after the attacks happened. We would be going to Sri Lanka approximately 2 months after the attacks and we’re very wary about it all. After a lot of debate we decided to go forward with our trip. We mostly decided to go because as horrible and sad as it is you really never know when attacks like this can happen and it can truly happen anywhere. There’s been numerous terrorist attacks in Europe, mass gun shootings in America almost daily now, and the list goes on. We can’t let the fear of “what if’s” stop us from living life. I’ll be completely honest though, I was pretty worried the entire time we were there even though by the time we went the government stated they had caught pretty much everyone involved and/or they were killed. We definitely felt the impact on tourism during our time there. We were also there during low season so this combined with the attacks really reduced the crowds, however security was high during this time as well. Everywhere we went there were tons of military forces and police out and pretty much every tourist site and hotel were doing thorough security checks. We felt as safe as we could during this time but we were always on high alert just in case. I can only hope that security is still strong now, especially as Sri Lanka is working hard on trying to get tourism back up.
With all that being said, we still had a pretty good time in Sri Lanka. The country is truly beautiful with so much to see and do and the culture is truly fascinating. I especially loved all of the temples and historical sites and the plethora of outdoor activities. If I’m being honest, we didn’t always run into the friendliest locals but most people were nice enough to us and we were there at a time tension’s were very high so it’s understandable. I have a lot to write about during this trip and there will be a few posts in this Sri Lanka series. I want to reiterate that Sri Lanka is actually a pretty big island to get around and explore. Having your own personal transportation or hiring a driver is an absolute must if you want to see a lot of things which will usually require a 3-4 hour car ride between each major area/city. We decided to rent a car because we like to be on our own schedule and we’re pretty confident we could handle it since we’ve been driving around Asia for awhile now as well as some pretty fast countries in Europe.
Let me just say though that Sri Lanka was by far the sketchiest place we’ve driven at and you should definitely feel confident in your driving abilities before deciding on renting a car here. We read many warnings on TripAdvisor and other blogs but the driving was pretty crazy, fast, aggressive, and a bit dangerous at times. We had many close calls with accidents and I can confidently say that none would have been our fault although it doesn’t matter who causes the accident, the foreigner is always the one who will be in trouble from what I read in my research. I would say the scariest part was how the buses drive. They are pretty aggressive and will come at you full speed in your lane to make passes even on very narrow roads where you can’t get out of the way. We almost went head on with a few buses until they narrowly made it back to their lane in time. With all that being said we did survive obviously and I’m still glad we rented our own car and were able to go wherever we wanted on our own schedule. I can also confidently say that Joe can probably drive anywhere now with ease! Most people do seem to hire drivers which I would also recommend you look into if you are not used to driving in very busy countries. If you’re planning to do multiple stops around the island you may have to pay for your driver’s accommodations as well so keep this in mind. We saw quite a few hotels that offered driver’s accommodations for cheap. In terms of car rentals, we rented from King’s Rent-a-Car and they were awesome! They were great at communicating and super informative. We felt there rentals were reasonably priced and they also had unlimited mileage and insurance. You do have to put down a damage deposit as well but we did get ours back and the inspection didn’t seem to be very intensive. You can check out their website below for more information:
We first started off our trip in the Sigiriya area, then moved on to the Ella area, and finally the Dikwella area down south before heading back to Negombo the night before our flight. In my opinion, you just can’t miss the Sigiriya area during a trip to Sri Lanka and there is so much to see and do here. There are also tons of cool places to make your homebase here with varying price ranges. Since this was our honeymoon we decided to splurge a little and stayed at the Aliya Resort and Spa which I highly recommend! The rooms are spacious and really beautiful and the grounds and amenities are super awesome. The huge Olympic style pool with a view of Sigiriya rock was the icing on the cake. Due to low season and the Easter attacks there wasn’t a lot of people there our first 2 nights. The staff commented on how slow it had been and they were holding specials every weekend for locals to fill the rooms. I am not sure how the tourist crowds are now nearly 8 months after the attacks as of posting this but I did see that Sri Lanka is offering free visas to a lot of countries right now so I can only assume that tourism has not picked up greatly since we went. For 3 nights we paid $300.46 USD in June of 2019 and we pre-booked well before the attacks. Below are some pictures and website links for more information and booking:
As I mentioned before there are so many things to do in this area and I definitely wish we were able to spend a few extra days here to fit more stuff in. Listed below are the places that we were able to visit and that I highly recommend:
The Ancient City of Sigiriya
This is a no-brainer and chances are if you’re visiting Sri Lanka it is because the images of this iconic place caught your eye. Climbing Sigiriya Rock gives you some of the best views of the area and of course the history is also fascinating. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the palace ruins at the top are very well-preserved and fun to explore. The engineering of the whole complex is pretty cool to see and imagining how life was like back then at its prime. There is plenty to see here including terraced gardens, water gardens, boulder gardens, ancient pools, art work and so much more. My favorite part was definitely seeing the Lion’s Paws located a little more than halfway up the rock. You’ll also likely see tons of monkeys during your hike. In terms of the climb up it was actually a lot easier than I anticipated. There are approximately 1,200 steps and it took us maybe half an hour to get up there with stops for photos. We hike a lot at home though so this definitely factored into it. During the time of year we were there it was incredibly windy the whole time we were climbing so it never got too hot and the breeze was very much welcomed. There are also plenty of places to stop at so it never felt too congested with people around you. We went to climb the rock right at opening which I highly recommend to beat the afternoon sun and crowds. When we arrived to the top there were probably less than 10 other people up there with us which made for a great experience and we really felt like we were able to take our time exploring. The price for foreigners as of June 2019 was $30 USD. They did check our bag before we entered the complex and they also cut off the plastic wrappers from your water bottles before you hike up. My advice would be to make your way to the top so you can try to beat any crowds and then take your time on the way down exploring all the other little places and the gardens below.
Dambulla Royal Cave Temple
Here is another UNESCO World Heritage Site that I think you should definitely check out while in Sigiriya. The views from the top are also stunning and if you’re a fan of amazing architecture, statues, and artwork then this is definitely the place for you! The temple complex consists of 5 very old caves up at the top and each cave is full of Buddha statues and other Gods and Goddesses as well as Buddha paintings on the walls and ceilings. I was really impressed at how well preserved these caves and artifacts were and the entire complex itself was very well-kept. Down the hill is the infamous large Golden Buddha Statue which sits on top of a museum building. You’ll likely see monkeys on the way down to the Golden Buddha Statue. There are quite a few stairs to climb up to get here and we went around 4:00 so it was still pretty hot out. There was hardly anyone there when we went though which was definitely a bonus. Be sure to purchase your tickets at the entrance area booth because they do not sell tickets at the top and you’ll be sent back down to buy a ticket. You can actually walk up to the caves from the Golden Buddha Temple but they do not sell tickets over on this side so you’ll be sent back down when you reach the top so be sure to go to the proper entrance area on Google Maps. The fee to get in as of June 2019 was 1,500 Sri Lankan Rupees.
Pidurangala Rock
For how short this hike is it definitely has huge pay-off with spectacular views of the Sigiriya area and a crystal clear view of Sigiriya Rock across the way. The hike took us about 35 minutes to get to the top with photo breaks along the way. This is a popular hike during sunrise and sunset so since we wanted to avoid any crowds we went in the morning during a time when sunrisers were headed down and afternoon crowds wouldn’t be out for quite awhile (around 8:00 A.M.). That way we still beat most of the heat and got to enjoy the top to ourselves for about half an hour! The price to hike here is 500 Sri Lankan Rupees (approximately $3 USD) as of June 2019 and it’s basically a donation to the Buddhist temple that is on this trail. Because of the temple you will have to cover up your knees and shoulders during the beginning of this hike. I wore longer hiking capris and a t-shirt so I was good to go. They do have some cover-ups you can use but if you’re going during a busy time you may have to wait to use one. Another cool thing about this hike is there is a large reclining Buddha on the trail a little more than halfway up.
One thing to keep in mind about this hike is that you’ll have to scale some boulders at the end to reach the summit. Joe had no problem with this but I have pretty bad balance and kept psyching myself out when it came to grabbing onto the rocks and falling so it took me awhile to work up the nerve. Luckily nobody was around during this time but keep this in mind on a busy day and if you’re afraid of heights or have any health issues I would wait until everyone else has scaled their way up and then try to go. Feeling rushed when you’re doing something scary is never fun and you’re more likely to have an accident! Another thing to note is that while you’re on the trail it is pretty hot and muggy however when you get to the summit it’s super windy up there so be prepared!
Polonnaruwa (or Anuradhapura or both!)
A visit to either the Ancient City of Polonnaruwa or Anuradhapura cannot be missed while in the Sigiriya area (or do both if you have the time). Both cities are UNESCO World Heritage sites and are chockful of history. We were short on time in this area so we knew we wouldn’t be able to fit both and we also wanted to save some money since entrance fees are a bit pricey for both ($25 USD per person for both places as of June 2019). After doing some brief research on both cities we decided to visit Polonnaruwa because the general consensus was that it was the easiest to explore in a short amount of time as it is smaller and a bit closer together. Polonnaruwa was Sri Lanka’s second ancient capital and if you’re really into archaeology you will love exploring this very well-preserved city. There are a lot of ruins that are in easy walking distance of each other but some are further apart. There are many little parking lots throughout the site so the easiest method of exploring is by car, driving to the next site when necessary, and parking in the lots to walk around. I believe you can also rent bikes to explore the sites but we had a car so this is what we used. I would also recommend bringing socks on really hot days because you’ll have to take your shoes off quite often to explore some of the ruins. You will also have to cover your knees and shoulders in certain areas. My favorite sites at Polonnaruwa include the very tall headless Buddha at Lankatilaka (a must-see in my opinion), the Quadrangle (also a must-see), Rankot Vihara, the ruins of King Parakramabahu Palace, and Gal Vihara. You will also see tons of monkeys while exploring, they were seriously everywhere we went and it was fun watching them turn on water spigots to drink and running around the ruins!
Some other honorable mentions of things to do in the area that we didn’t have the time to make it to include: a safari at Kaudulla National Park or Minneriya National Park, Avukana Buddha, Mihintale, Yapahuwa, climb Rose Quartz Mountain, and a day trip to Trincomalee or Kandy if you are not planning to spend a few days in these areas.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve been to any of these places in Sri Lanka or are planning to go soon! I hope you check out my next post in this series coming soon all about the Ella area!
Until next time,
Kelsie