Sri Lanka with children

The one real obstacle is the driving, and it is solved by cutting the route rather than the days.

The six changes we make

1. Halve the driving. Two hours is the working ceiling for a day with young children. Main roads away from the expressways average 25 to 30 miles an hour (40 to 48 km/h), so this constrains the route hard, and the route is what gives way.
2. One hotel change every three days, not every two. A twelve-day family trip has four bases in it, not seven.
3. A pool every afternoon. Sightseeing from seven until eleven, back for lunch and the pool, out again at four. This is the shape of every good family day here.
4. Choose the park for the animal. Udawalawe rather than Yala, almost always. Elephants close to certain on a morning drive, an open landscape, shorter drives and no jeep race. Yala or Wilpattu explains the trade in full.
5. Use the train for one leg, not three. The hill country line is a genuine highlight for children and it is also three to four hours in a carriage. One leg, the Nanu Oya to Ella section, is the right dose.
6. Confirm the room configuration in writing. Family room means different things at different properties here, and villas with a private pool are frequently better value for four than two hotel rooms.

What works particularly well

Elephants at Udawalawe, in the morning, from a jeep, with a tracker who will explain what the herd is doing. This is the single best day of most family trips.

The beach, for four nights, at the end. Not two beaches for two nights. The south coast from December to March has calm bays where children can actually swim, and we will tell you which ones because the difference between a safe bay and a dangerous one here is not visible from a hotel website.

The tea country, which surprises parents. A factory tour is genuinely interesting for children over about eight, the estate walks can be as short as an hour, and the cold nights are a novelty after the coast.

Turtles at Rekawa, in season, on the community night watch. Sitting in the dark being quiet is a hard sell in advance and a lasting memory afterwards.

Cooking a rice and curry with a family, which children take to faster than adults because it is hands-on and involves a coconut scraper.

Galle Fort, which is a walled town small enough to let older children explore a street ahead of you, with ramparts to walk and ice cream at the end.

What does not work

Sigiriya with a small child. Roughly 1,200 steps, much of it on exposed metal staircases bolted to the rock, with a narrow section where you move at the speed of the person in front of you, and it is hot and congested by the middle of the day. We put families at the gate for opening, and if the children are small or anyone is unhappy on stairs, we climb Pidurangala opposite instead, which is a shorter scramble with the better view because Sigiriya is in it.

Four cultural triangle sites in three days. Two is the number with children. Polonnaruwa by bicycle in the early morning and the Dambulla caves, and leave Anuradhapura for the trip you take when they are older.

Adam’s Peak, at any age below the teens. It is 5,500 steps in the dark.

A long drive on the day you land. Most flights arrive in the small hours, we book the room for the night before, and day one is a pool day.

Yala in a shared jeep in the middle of the day. Hot, dusty, three hours, and possibly nothing.

Food, which is easier than parents expect

Sri Lankan food is genuinely hot by default, hotter than most Indian regional cooking, and every kitchen will make a mild version if you ask at the start of the meal rather than after the first bite.

What children eat happily: hoppers, which are essentially crisp pancakes with an egg in the middle, string hoppers with a mild dhal, plain rice with a coconut sambol on the side rather than mixed in, kottu roti without the chilli, short eats from any bakery counter, fresh fish grilled plainly, buffalo curd with treacle, and every tropical fruit in the country. Bananas here come in half a dozen varieties and children treat that as a project.

The illness rules are the ordinary ones and they matter more with children: sealed or filtered water including for teeth, hot food cooked in front of you, care with ice and cut fruit in the first days, and rehydration salts started early rather than late. More on eating well in what to eat in Sri Lanka.

When to go with children

December to March for the south and west coasts, the cultural triangle and the hills, which lines up with the northern winter school holidays. Christmas and New Year rates in the hill bungalows and south coast villas are the highest of the year and the good places go six to nine months ahead.

If your dates are the summer holidays, July and August, do not force a south coast trip. The southwest monsoon brings rough sea and genuinely dangerous rip currents to exactly the beaches you were picturing. Go east instead: Trincomalee, Nilaveli and Passikudah have flat sea in those months and the elephant gathering at Minneriya or Kaudulla is happening while you are there. That trip is better than the December version, not a consolation. See which month to visit.

October and November are the weeks we push families out of, because both coasts can be unreliable at once.

What we refuse to book

The elephant orphanage on the Kandy road, which is on most family group itineraries and is not on ours. Your proposal will say why, and we will offer a morning at Udawalawe instead.

Elephant rides and elephant bathing, in any form, under any description.

Roadside turtle hatcheries, which keep hatchlings in tanks past the point they should have been released. Rekawa in season instead.

Any swimming we have not checked. The currents on the monsoon-side coast kill people every year, including strong adult swimmers. We tell you which bays are safe on your dates and we would rather be tedious about it.

Practical notes from our Delhi office

• Car seats are not standard here. Tell us early and we source one and confirm which vehicle it fits.
• Sun. Stronger than the temperature suggests, particularly on the water and on a jeep with an open roof.
• Mosquitoes. Cover up at dusk, use a repellent your children tolerate, and talk to a travel clinic six to eight weeks before departure about your specific route.
• Poya days. Every full moon is a public holiday, when no alcohol is sold and religious sites are at their busiest. We flag the dates.
• Temple dress applies to children too, and stone courtyards are very hot by ten in the morning. Bring socks.
• We open a WhatsApp group with your consultant and our local representatives for the whole trip, which for families is mostly used for the small things: a pharmacy, a doctor, a lunch that is genuinely mild.

Plan this trip

Tell us your children’s ages and how long they last in a car, and we will build the route backwards from that. Free, and with no obligation.

Start planning

Keep reading

• Sri Lanka: the complete guide to planning your trip
• Sri Lanka with children, 12 days
• Yala or Wilpattu, and your real odds on a leopard
• What to eat in Sri Lanka, and where
• Asia with children: which countries are easiest
• Sri Lanka, planned around the monsoon that actually matters

Frequently asked questions