Northern Sri Lanka Tour Traveller Reviews

We spent 23 days in Sri Lanka. 17 of them with our driver guide Farzan who we cannot speak highly enough of. We covered a lot of the island from Jaffna in the north to Yala , Tangalle in the south and finishing in Bentota. Everything went so smoothly and this being our third year running to some of the properties we were made to feel so welcome. We will be returning as still so much to see.

East Travel have been amazing over many many years . Planning is probably the best bit of a holiday and can take a while . Many email exchanges , changing various bits until the jigsaw finally comes together and the day the ticket envelope arriving makes it all real. Red Dot the company they use in Sri Lanka are brilliant too.

Where do I start... we had an idea about where we wanted to go but had lots of conflicting advice from travel agents. We found Dorothy at East Travel and she invited us down to have a chat - finally a travel agent that put us first and really understood our needs! We spent 18 wonderful days touring Sri Lanka. Being July we avoided the South Coast, instead incorporating a few days on the stunning unspoilt East Coast!! We even shared the beach with a cow one day!!! On top of this we spent time in Kandy (cannot tell you enough how wonderful Villa Rosa was, at one point we were the only guests and treated like royalty). We then travelled to the tea region and Ella via train!! That in itself was incredible . Stunning hotel again 98 acres. The view was breathtaking. We took in nearby waterfalls and a tea factory whilst there. Then onto the beach for a break! After the beach we moved onto the cultural triangle where we once again hit the jackpot with Aliya resort - wow just wow!! We shared the pool with the South African and Sri Lankan cricket teams!!! We toured the cultural triangle climbing sigirya rock which we could see from the pool!!! We also spent an amazing afternoon on safari taking in lots of elephants so close you could almost touch them!! From here we went to our final destination a night at Leopard Safari -this was so unique. At one with nature whilst sleeping in a double bed under canvas!! We all met around camp fire for a 7 course taster dinner inc all drinks!! To top it all we saw two young leopards playing for ages on our second safari - breathtaking. Finally we headed home following a day in the capital.. we never travelled more than 3/4 hours in any one day and spending 3 nights everywhere meant we were refreshed and relaxed when we moved resort. I would not have changed a thing!

Cannot praise Dorothy and red dot (Dorothy booked us our break using Red Dot as our in country agent) enough. I spoke to Dorothy on many many occasions in the weeks and months leading up to our break. She was always quick to reply . We changed things a few times and she always made sure it was a simple process . The pack we got in advance told us everything we needed to know and much more! Once we were in country she kept in touch! I know had we had a proble she would have sorted but luckily we had no issues at all! We used a driver/guide which I think is essential to get the best and safest experience! I would have no hesitation to recommend Eastravel, we will defiantly use again! Thank you for everything Dorothy I’ve missed chatting to you 😀

Northern Sri Lanka was an interesting experience particularly seeing this part of the country 10 years after the end of the civil war. This is a genuine off the tourist trail trip with many interesting sights and stories to discover. The roads are much improved but be prepared for some long journeys. Our holiday also included a Singapore extension also arranged by the operator.

We got very swift responses right from our initial enquiries to the departure day. Nothing was too much trouble and we even got answers to questions which we sent out of normal office hours.