Seven Warm Winter Destinations - #1 Easy Sri Lanka
Looking for a winter destination that's sunny and warm? Sri Lanka is easy to arrange and completely recovered from the Tsunami. If you want a private tour, surf over to Aitken Spence Travels, the largest tour operator in Sri Lanka. Prefer a group? Adventure Center (on the side bar), Intrepid Travel (bookable through Adventure Center), iExplore, GAP Adventures to name a few. Contact the Sri Lanka Tourism Organization for more information.
Sri Lanka has wonderful food, gorgeous hotels ranging from extreme luxury to bare bottom, and friendly, helpful people. Sri Lanka is also a mountainous country filled with historical sights, white sand beaches, national forests and reasonable in cost (if not downright cheap) to visit.
What to see and do?
- Sigiriya (Lions Rock), a fortress built from 477-485. You climb 600 steep stairs and ladders to see the colorful frescoes and a polished rock with original graffiti (verses) written between the 7-11th century;
- Sinharaja Rainforest, a World Heritage Site;
- Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage, home to about 60 elephants including babies abandoned in the wild. Leave your hotel around 5:30 am if you want to see the bottle-feeding. If that's too early, arrive in time for the elephant parade from the Orphanage to the river. They are taken to the river twice a day for a bath. This was my favorite site and Pinnawala's little shop sells paper items made from Elephant poop. How could anyone resist a souvenir like that! I sure couldn't;
- Polonnaruwa, the island's medieval capital from the 11-13th centuries;
- Kandy. The Temple of the Tooth dates from the 16th century and is an important shrine for Buddhists. It supposedly holds a tooth relic from Lord Buddha. All tourists and locals line up at a certain time in the evening, quickly parade past the golden casket for a fast glimpse and are hustled out. You never actually see the tooth. Other than that, Kandy is a nice little town with even more to see;
- Any beach resort. Bentota, Galle, Mirissa, Tangalle, Unawatuna are a few of the best. Boutique hotels, villas, big resorts, bungalows, guesthouses....take your pick; and
- Have a Marma Massage.
Basic Information?
- At this particular moment, Visas are free. When we visited, it was easy to get a Visa on arrival so if the Sri Lanka Government reverts back to this, no worries;
- Use ATM's to exchange money;
- No major problems with food or water as long as you use common sense. Drink bottled water, don't eat raw foods, "cook, peel or forget it...yadda...yadda" (I don't always follow my own advice); but
- There is still occasional Tamil violence in the North and Eastern areas. Check it out and just stay away. Better to err on the side of caution...
Now...wasn't that easy?
