Insight Guides: Sri Lanka

Insight Guides

• Publisher: Insight
• Print ISBN: 9781780051116
• eBook ISBN: 9781780056197
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

Insight Guides: Inspiring your next adventure Insight Guide Sri Lanka is a full-colour, comprehensive guidebook to this scenic island, combining detailed information and stunning colour photography. The Best of Sri Lanka section is full of inspiring ideas to enable you to plan a memorable trip, from the Buddhist temples and palaces of Kandy to the simple pleasures of a good rice and curry. This is followed by in-depth features exploring Sri Lanka's history, society and culture. We cover subjects from the obvious to the not-so-obvious: art and architecture, Buddhists and Tamils, where to buy Sri Lankan crafts and where to spot wildlife, but also Kandyan drumming, Ayurvedic therapies and the art of Sri Lanka's muralists. The Places section features everything you'll need to know about Sri Lanka's sights and attractions, from the capital Colombo to the beaches of the West Coast; the palaces and temples of Kandy to the ancient ruins of the Cultural Triangle; and the tea plantations of the cool Hill Country. Discover the East Coast, Jaffna and the North, areas that are welcoming visitors since peace has been restored. Each chapter has clear, detailed maps with key sights linked to the text by numbered dots. Finally, the Travel Tips cover all your practical needs, with a wealth of information and our author's selection of the best hotels, restaurants and cafes. About Insight Guides: Insight Guides has over 40 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce around 400 full-color print guide books and maps as well as picture-packed eBooks to meet different travelers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture together create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure. 'Insight Guides has spawned many imitators but is still the best of its type.' - Wanderlust Magazine

Accommodation

Price Categories

Price categories are for a double room, no breakfast:

$ = under $30

$$ = $30–60

$$$ = $60–120

$$$$ = $120–200

$$$$$ = more than $200

Where to Stay

There’s a huge range of accommodation in Sri Lanka, from basic family guesthouses offering a handful of simple fan rooms through to five-star palaces and dozens of alluring boutique hideaways, often in magical beachside or rural locations.

In the main tourist areas, budget travellers will find plenty of inexpensive guesthouses, most of them family-run. The best places offer comfortable lodgings, good home cooking and the chance to rub shoulders with the owners, grab some insights into local life and enjoy the kind of spontaneous hospitality which you won’t find in more upmarket places. Rooms in most guesthouses come with attached bathroom, fan and (except in part of the hill country) mosquito nets; some also offer air-conditioned rooms and hot water.

Mid-range hotels are relatively thinner on the ground, although again all the main tourist centres boast a decent selection of places halfway between the island’s simple guesthouses and the fancier hotels. These include traditional government Rest Houses, many of which have now been attractively upgraded, but which often preserve something of their former colonial ambience.

Large-scale four- and five-star hotels can be found throughout the country. Many are clustered along the west and south coasts, and there are also a few upmarket city hotels, plus hill-country and Cultural Triangle resorts. These generally offer stylish rooms and a good array of facilities including pool, restaurants and bars, and often an Ayurveda centre or spa.

A beguiling alternative to the mainstream five-stars is offered by the island’s burgeoning number of boutique hotels, usually with fewer than 20 rooms and often in marvellous natural settings – remote stretches of beach, idyllic tea plantations and the like. These offer visitors the chance to sample contemporary Sri Lankan style at its most memorable, with superb design, an intimate atmosphere and top-notch cuisine – equal to anything available anywhere in Asia, although at predictably expensive rates. Many boutique hotels occupy suave contemporary buildings, usually following the tropical-modernist template established by Geoffrey Bawa, although some can be found in restored colonial-era coastal and hill-country villas, offering an atmospheric taste of colonial Ceylon complete with all its period trappings.

An alternative (sometimes cheaper) to the island’s boutique hotels is provided by the numerous private villas (a kind of Sri Lankan equivalent of the French gîte) which have sprung up in recent years. Many of these are found along the south coast around Galle, Unawatuna and Tangalla, and there’s a further selection in the hill country, many of them in restored colonial-era tea planters’ bungalow. Properties are too numerous to list here. For a good idea of what’s available see www.villasinsrilanka.com, www.boutiquesrilanka.com or www.reddottours.com.

Hotel Chains

Surprisingly few of the major international hotel chains are represented in Sri Lanka. Colombo boasts a Hilton, Taj and Ramada – and that’s pretty much it. The island’s main hotel chains are all locally owned, although quality and service are generally of international standards, as indeed are prices. The big three are Jetwing Hotels (tel: [phone]; www.jetwinghotels.com), Aitken Spence (tel: [phone]; www.aitkenspence.com), who operate a number of hotels under the “Heritance” brand, and John Keells (tel: [phone]; www.johnkeellshotels.com), who operate hotels under the “Chaaya” and “Cinnamon” brands. Other leading local operators include Amaya Resorts (www.amayaresorts.com), Tangerine (www.tangerinehotels.com) and Serendib (www.serendibleisure.com).

Making a Reservation

Despite the continual opening of new hotels and guesthouses, Sri Lanka still struggles to accommodate the increasingly large number of visitors flocking to the island, and in popular tourist destinations from November to March, rooms can be in very short supply indeed (although f...

Table of contents

• How To Use This E-Book
• Introduction: Remember My Name
• Sri Lanka’s Top 10 Attractions
• Editor’s Choice
• Lie of the Land
• Decisive Dates
• Ancient Civilisation
• Colonialism and Kandy
• Independence
• People
• Contemporary Society
• Religion
• Insight: Shrines and Offerings
• Festivals
• Dance and Music
• Art and Architecture
• Insight: The Art of Sri Lanka’s Muralists
• Food and Drink
• Shopping
• Wildlife
• Introduction: Introduction
• Colombo
• West Coast
• South Coast
• Kandy and Around
• Insight: Elephants: Lanka’s Friendly Giants
• Hill Country
• Cultural Triangle
• Anuradhapura
• Mihintale
• Polonnaruwa
• Sigiriya
• Insight: Ayurveda
• East Coast
• Jaffna and the North
• Transport
• Accommodation
• Eating Out
• Activities
• A-Z: A Handy Summary of Practical Information
• Understanding the Language
• Further Reading