by Nick
While Sri Lanka may be best known for its pristine beaches and producing some of the best tea in the world in the hill country, it also contains some of the finest archaeological wonders in Asia. North of the hill country lies the “Cultural Triangle” including ancient Buddhist caves in Dambulla, the giant rock citadel in Sigriya, the endless ruins of Anuradhpura and plenty more in between. With extremely high entrance fees and time for only one site we polled each group of travelers coming from the opposite direction …

by Lianna
Nick had good reason to be lazy after he returned from Adam’s Peak, so we decided to shell out the cash for a taxi ride to Kandy and avoid the routine of standing on an overcrowded bus getting a headache. When we arrived at our wonderful guest house, Mcleod Inn, we went for a walk and ended up spotting tons of wildlife in the second largest city in the country.

Kandy is situated around a man made lake where we spotted 5 monitor lizards which are the worlds second …

by Nick
Since our last bus journey proved to be a little exhausting to say the least, we were happy to be departing Ella by train to Nuwara Eliya. The train journey from Ella is listed as one of Lonely Planet’s “must do” activities in Sri Lanka, so to make the most of it we opted for the observation car expecting fantastic views. The views did not disappoint but the cultural side of the train trip was not there so I spent most of the time in the second class area …

by Lianna
When I had to take deep breathes and count to ten in order to hold back tears, I mentally checked off the bus ride from Tangalle to Wellawaya as (one of) our worst yet. Standing at the bus stop in Tangalle we saw a bus overflowing with people and when a man told us it was going to Wellawaya we figured we would have to wait for the next one, but he squished us on much to my dismay. Trying desperately not to get pushed to the …

by Nick
Travel along the south coast of Sri Lanka and it seems these two beach towns are constantly being compared to one another with various reasons why. We have enjoyed our time in both but found they have completely different personalities and there are definite reasons why some choose one over the other. This post will hopefully paint a picture for any tourists venturing this way.

Mirissa Pro’s

Mirissa is a tiny town and is usually the next stop for tourists heading east from Unawatuna looking for a less crowded stretch of …

by Nick
Another short bus trip further east along the Sri Lanka’s South coast brought us to Tangalla. With no accommodations booked our first attempt at finding a room failed but with a new recommendation we were checked into Panaroma hotel not long after. Bags thrown to the ground and it was time to hit the beach.

Tangalla beach is the place you dream about while enduring the brutal Canadian winters. An endless stretch of sand with not a single person to be seen and surf pounding the beach sending the visitor …

by Lianna and Nick
We left Unawatuna for the promises of quieter beaches and headed East to Mirissa. The hour long bus ride brought us along a coastal road with views of turquoise waves and lush tropical forest out our right hand window.

In Mirissa, we quickly fell into a routine of eating a cheap breakfast of roti with egg or fruit at a local hut for a meal 1/10th the price of the hotels. The extremely friendly owner is a testament to our first impressions of Sri Lanka which is …

by Nick
Leaving the chaos of India behind us our journey led us onward to the tiny isle of Sri Lanka. We arrived at 1030pm and after passing through the easiest immigration yet, we were in a taxi on our way to our hotel in Negombo, about 20 mins from the airport.

Negombo is a small beach side town which makes for a pleasant nights stay after arriving or just before getting on a plane to fly out. We didn’t linger long and the next morning we boarded a series of buses …