What we would skip in Sri Lanka, and what we book instead

Three categories. Things we refuse to book at all. Things that are simply not worth your days, where reasonable people disagree and we will build them if you ask. And the structural mistakes, which do more damage than any single bad stop.

Things we refuse to book

The elephant orphanage on the Kandy road

It is on most group itineraries and it is not on ours. Large numbers of elephants, chained between sessions, bathed in a river on a schedule while several hundred people photograph it from a terrace, and a breeding programme whose animals are not going anywhere.

What we book instead: a morning drive at Udawalawe, where elephants are close to certain, in the wild, in an open landscape, with a tracker who will explain what the herd is doing. Or the Elephant Transit Home nearby, which rehabilitates orphaned calves for release and which you watch being fed from a distance rather than touching. Your proposal will name the difference rather than leaving you to infer it.

Elephant rides and elephant bathing, in any form

Including the versions described as ethical, sanctuary or rescue, and including the bareback ones. A queue of visitors scrubbing an elephant in shallow water is stressful and repetitive for the animal and less safe for you than it looks.

Roadside turtle hatcheries

The stretch of the south coast between Kosgoda and Hikkaduwa has a number of them. Hatchlings held in concrete tanks well past the point at which they should have gone to sea, for a photograph and a release fee.

What we book instead: the community turtle watch at Rekawa in season, which involves sitting on a dark beach being quiet until a female comes ashore, with no lights and no handling. It is the real thing and it asks something of you, which is part of why it works.

Photographs with any sedated or restrained animal

No exceptions, under any description, anywhere in the region.

Swimming where we have not checked the water

Not a welfare question, a mortality question. The currents on the monsoon-side coast are genuinely dangerous and they kill strong adult swimmers every year. We will tell you which bays are safe on your dates and we would rather be tedious about it than tactful.

Things that are simply not worth the days

The stilt fishermen at Koggala

They are on the cover of half the brochures. In practice the stilts are now largely a paid photograph rather than a working fishery: men sit on poles for an agreed fee and negotiate before you lift the camera. It is not a scandal, it is just not what the picture implies, and we say so rather than driving you there and letting you work it out.

Spice gardens and gem showrooms on the Kandy road

Commission stops, almost without exception, usually ending with an ayurvedic oil consultation and a shop at four times the price. This is the single biggest quality difference between Sri Lanka operators. Our drivers are booked through our Delhi office and our ground team, briefed that there are no shopping stops unless you ask, and paid a proper day rate so they are not relying on the alternative. If you want a spice garden, we will take you to a working plantation.

A second and third beach

The most common structural error in a Sri Lanka brief and the one that costs the most enjoyment. Four nights on one beach at the end of a trip is a rest. Two nights each on two beaches is two more packing days and a driving afternoon between them.

Nuwara Eliya as a base

It is the famous hill town and it is a slightly odd colonial imitation, cold, and busy with domestic tourism at weekends and in April. One night if the trip needs it, a lunch stop if it does not, and Haputale, Deniyaya or an estate bungalow above Ella as the better place to sleep.

The full Kandy to Ella train leg

The line is one of the best rides anywhere and the section that earns the reputation is Nanu Oya or Haputale down to Ella, which is under three hours. The Kandy to Nanu Oya section is pleasant and long. If your reserved seats did not release in time, or if the day is tight, run the shorter leg and drive the rest rather than losing seven hours. The booking mechanics are in the Kandy to Ella train.

Yala block 1 in the middle of the day

If you are going to Yala, go at opening. A midday drive in the most heavily visited block on the island is hot, dusty and crowded, with a dozen jeeps converging on any radio call. Two morning drives beat four drives at any hour. Yala or Wilpattu has the honest comparison, including the block 1 closure that usually runs for several weeks in September into October.

The Colombo city tour

Colombo deserves a day if you have a spare one, spent in the Pettah market, the Dutch Hospital area and a good restaurant. The three-hour coach tour of monuments is not that day, and Colombo is the first thing we cut when the itinerary is tight.

Adam’s Peak, unless you actively want it

Around 5,500 steps, in the dark, starting between one and three in the morning, with a queue on the upper section on a poya day in season and a following day that has to be a rest day. Worth it for people who want it. A poor surprise for the one member of the party who agreed without understanding.

A day trip to Sigiriya from Kandy

Three hours each way to climb 1,200 steps in the heat of the middle of the day, which is the worst possible version of the best-known site in the country. Sleep in the cultural triangle and be at the gate for opening.

The structural mistakes

Planning it as a small island. It is about 270 miles (435 km) top to bottom, and away from the two expressways main roads average 25 to 30 miles an hour (40 to 48 km/h). Ask for driving hours rather than distances, from us or anyone.

More than one hotel change every two and a half days. Above that you have bought a driving holiday, and these roads are not enjoyable enough to justify it.

Forcing the south coast in July or August. The southwest monsoon puts heavy rain and dangerous currents on exactly the beaches people picture, while the east is dry and empty. The fix is to flip the route, not to hope. See which month to visit and the east coast and Jaffna route.

Assuming the hill train can be booked whenever. Reserved seats release 30 days before departure and the good classes often sell out the same day in season. There is no way to buy earlier through the railway.

October and November without knowing what you are accepting. The second inter-monsoon can put rain and unreliable sea on both coasts at once. Prices are low for a reason. We will still build you a good trip, weighted to the cultural triangle and the hills, and the proposal will say plainly what the trade is.

The things people expect us to cut and we do not

Sigiriya. Worth the climb, at opening, with Pidurangala as the alternative for anyone unhappy on stairs or in crowds.

Jaffna. Frequently cut for being four hours from anywhere. It is Tamil, Hindu, culturally distinct, with its own food and its own recent history, and it is among the most interesting places we send people.

The Knuckles. Sold as difficult, which it is, and worth two days for anyone who walks.

Rice and curry at a roadside place. The busy ones with fast turnover are usually safer than a hotel buffet and always better.

Polonnaruwa by bicycle. Some itineraries drive it. Early, on a bicycle, is twice the day.

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Send us the itinerary you have been quoted, from us or anyone else, and we will tell you which day we would remove and what we would put in its place. Free, and with no obligation.

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Keep reading

• Sri Lanka: the complete guide to planning your trip
• The best two-week route through Sri Lanka
• Yala or Wilpattu, and your real odds on a leopard
• Which month to visit Sri Lanka, and why it depends on the coast
• Classic Sri Lanka, 12 days
• Sri Lanka, planned around the monsoon that actually matters

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