Is it safe to go to Sri Lanka?

I am thinking of taking a holiday in Sri Lanka next year, probably April. I have considered this before several times and each time I am about to book the holiday, fighting seems to break out and it puts me off. Is it safe to go to Sri Lanka as there has been unrest there again this past week I understand.

Also, can anyone recommend which part of Sri Lanka to stay at, which hotel etc. and what there is to do there. I want a hotel directly on the beach, with some night life, e.g. market stalls, shops, restaurants etc. I love history and want to be able to take excursions to places of interest, although I don%26#39;t particularly want tours or overnight stays in another part of the country, preferring to stay in a beach based hotel. I have been thinking of Taj Exotica or Eden Spa or Riverina. Has anyone stayed at any of these hotels and can therefore give first hand accounts of what%26#39;s recommended? Would appreciate any information.

Thank you.

Is it safe to go to Sri Lanka?

Hi Janny,

First question gets a full YES. See similar discussions in the forum, e.g. the recent

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293961-i8983-k866鈥?/a>

We%26#39;ll be there ourselves also in March-April, come what may!

On the 2nd question:

Beruwela (so Eden and Riverina) is not known of having many shops and restaurants close to the hotels. You always have to walk/ride at least 500 meters to the main road for those, and even then they can be a bit far apart. For an area with market stalls, shops, restaurants nearby, Bentota (e.g. Taj) is a lot better. Other similar areas are Hikkaduwa and Unawatuna more to the south and Negombo to the north.

For first-hand reviews of all three places, go to %26#39;Hotels%26#39; of Trip Advisor and then the reviews section.

Hope this helps a bit,

Have a nice trip,

%26lt;Erik%26gt; %26amp; [Sandya]

Is it safe to go to Sri Lanka?

Hi,

I%26#39;ve stayed at the Riverina a couple of times and wil be back there again for a few days at the start of December- not saying it%26#39;s the best hotel, I%26#39;m just going back there cos they were so pleasedtha t I went back last year :-) . As Erik says you have to walk to the main road for the shops, and they are quite spread out(or take a tuk-tuk), the shopkeepers will be pleased to see you :-) As for excursions, there are the boat trips and turtle hatchery not far down the coast, there%26#39;s the mosque in Beruwela, and there are a few interesting Buddhist temples not far away that you can easily do in less than a day, down towards Ambalagonda.

I think for the more awesome sights you need to go inland and take a little tour - but the coast is beautiful anyway and the people are simply the nicest I%26#39;ve met anywhere in the world.

Hope you enjoy it if and when you get there.

regards

Allan

www.wylamontyne.co.uk/pics/srilankapics2004/

We are returning to Sri Lanka in January after having enjoyed our trip last New Year. There was some trouble there then but unless you%26#39;re going to the North or spending a lot of time in Colombo I can%26#39;t imagine that it%26#39;s any more dangerous than anywhere else and remember that unlike some places they aren%26#39;t targeting tourists!

The coast in the Kalutara to Bentota area is a good bet but do bear in mind that the sea can be rough so don%26#39;t expect to snorkel. I also suggest you read some more posts on Tripadvisor about the beachboys and how it all works. We are planning to go down to the deep south to try to find the really unspoiled parts...

Wherever you stay you will discover that travel by road is a slow experience but it will be necessary if you want to see anything outside the immediate area.

Just got back this morning. Troubles? what troubles?

The biggest problem is that there are next to no tourists there at the moment, and the locals are suffering. Don%26#39;t let a few scuffles destroy this fabulous country. Please go. Take the same care you would visiting London, and above all, ENJOY!

Regards

Steve

The beaches in Colombo are pretty gad-awful. Try Trincomalee instead, but check up on their poloitcal situation beforehand. This island is quite small, and day trips are quite simply. Bargain HARD with drivers!

Also, worth it to make your way up to Kandy to see the Temple of The Tooth - quite a magnificent place. Just be careful where you stay - the country has not mastered the art (perfetced elsewhere in Asia) of good service.If you have achance to visit the tea plantations, unless you really HATE tea, it%26#39;s worth a trip. They are not only beautiful, but will provide you with an education in a part of the world where there grow some of the finest teas anywhere,

cheers!

Just back from 11 days in Sri Lanka and the answer to the safety question is YES its fine. There is quite a lot of obviouse police and military activity on some roads and close to the airport but most of the time it all feels very peaceful. The locals are all very friendly even when they are harassing you to buy something! We found that we only had to say no politely a couple of times and then we were left alone.

I would recommend taking a trip into the cultural triangle area but don%26#39;t try it just for the day as you%26#39;ll find it very rushed. We had a car and driver the whole time we were there but if you want to stay mostly at the beach consider arranging a tour up to Kandy and Sigiriya for 3 or 4 days. Sigiriya makes a good base for day trips to Dambulla, Polonnorua, Minneriya National Park. We travelkled with Journey Lanka Tours, http://www.journeylankatours.com, a local company, and were very pleased with the service. Nice car great driver and good prices. They got better hotel rates than we could have got by going direct.

In Negombo we stayed at the Sea Shells hotel which has just been refurbished. It was a very nice top end 3 star right on the beach. Negombo has enough local interest to keep you busy for a few days but the beach isn%26#39;t the best and the water not always the cleanest. Hotel has a good pool though.

Sri lanka is definately a safe place to go, the best part of sri lanka would be the south west as it is completely the opposite way to the troubles. i stayed in the club hotel dolphin which is in waikkal in negombo, also it is directly on the beach. You do have to take a taxi to get into negombo city where all the shops are, but we only went there one day because we found we had all we needed inside the hotel. I suggest you see the reviews of this hotel to learn more about it. There is some night life at this hotel with an evening entertainment program with hilarious shows every night, they also do quizzes and bingo. There are also disco%26#39;s every 3 nights. We took an over night excursion which was excellent, i would recommend an overnight one as the day one you will find you are cramming it all in and rushing around so you won%26#39;t get to spend as much time at each place as you would want to. But if you really dont want to stay over night there are just some day trips. Hope this helps x