For the third time we went to Sri Lanka, this time we discovered the North side of the island.
Kalpitiya, Mannar Island, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Unawatuna as last stop to... read more have a beachparty and relax at the end.

Everything was nicely organized by our friends Namal and driver Podi.
For the third time we got a very warm welcome upon our arrival, which I love so much here in Sri Lanka.

This time the first part was in a much less touristy region. We found Kalpitiya very pleasant. We stayed in a small hotel with a view on the lagoon and the sunrise. On the other side of the peninsula you have a view of the ocean and sunset which might be a nice idea for next time.

At frist we went dolphin spotting. It was a fantastic experience to see so many dolphins in their natural habitat.
Wilpattu Reserve was the second stop on our tour. It’s a very beautiful and untouched reserve where we have seen animals that we haven’t seen in other parks. For the first time we saw a leopard, such a mighty animal. We also saw the mongoose, the bear and an elephant taking a bath in the lake.

After admiring the magnificent nature in Sri Lanka we went on to visit the ancient capital city, Anuradhapura. Drivers in Sri Lanka had provided us with an experienced guide on the spot who told us all about the old city. At Anuradhapura we were taken back in time. I found an immersion in the past. The idea that this old city was completely overgrown by the forest is almost unthinkable.
We liked Anuradhapura more than Polonnaruwa if you only want to visit one of them. But of course this is just my personal opinion.

Mannar Island is still very remote, as a tourist you are really an outsider. There are very few hotels on the Island and therefore we only passed through without an overnight stay. Maybe if you stay longer there are more nice places to discover.

Jaffna had a very special landscape with many islands that are connected with roads just above the waterline. I also found the Nallur Kovil temple and Nagadeepa Raja Maha Viharaya very beautiful cultural places.

In Trincomalee we started the quiet part of our holidays. The Inilana Hotel was very beautiful and luxurious. We visited the Koneswarem temple.

Unfortunately, the corona-virus had reached Sri Lanka as well by now. We spend more time in our hotel then initially planned and asked Podi and Namal what we should do. We changed our plans given the curfew and restrictions issued by the Sri Lankan government. We decide not to go to Unawatuna and stay in a hotel near the airport and Namal’s house, which made us feel a lot more relaxed. A big shout out and many thanks to Namal and Podi for taking such good care of us in these special and unforeseen circumstances.

Since some hotels no longer allowed foreigners to check-in it was quite a task for Namal to find us a good hotel. The Hibiscus hotel in Waskaduwa Kaluthara received us and took great care of us and did their utmost best to give us the best possible time given the circumstances. After a few days it was time for us to return back home. Podi took us safely to the airport during the curfew.

Thank you Drivers in Sri Lanka, Namal and Podi for helping us in this turbulent times and taking great care of us. We will certainly be back!

  We had a very good comprehensive 10 day tour with our excellent driver Mahesh. He was a careful safe driver, very professional, polite, perfect english and accommodating of all our... read more requests. The sites we visited were varied and always interesting. We did not realise the challenges of a couple of the climbs so I needed Mahesh's assistance which he readily provided but the sights from the top were worth the effort. Our accomodation was always clean and simple but mostly a few kilometers out of town which was peaceful but necessitated Mahesh driving us back into the towns to enjoy an evening meal.

Highly recommended well organised tour company.

  Booked an 8 day tour with Drivers in Sri Lanka after finding them on Trip Advisor and seeing all of the good reviews. We travel a lot and usually arrange... read more our own itineraries but after seeing that the 'done thing' in Sri Lanka is to have a driver we went with this option.

I emailed a couple of companies and found the response from Senaka to be the quickest and most informative reply. The price was also very competitive so we decided to book with them.

Throughout the entire process Senaka and Tarith were in contact with me via WhatsApp and email, they purchased our train tickets for us and were always available when we had any questions.

We arrived in Sri Lanka on the last plane in from Europe due to COVID-19 and was stuck at immigration for 3hrs, our driver waited that entire time for us, all the while Tarith was also in contact with me checking we were okay.

Our driver Amila was friendly and always on time. He made extra effort to show us things along the way (the national parks were closed so he drove slowly on the lookout for wild elephants and we got to see two!). He never left us until we had checked into our hotels and always made sure we were safe and not stranded! As the week progressed things got crazier in Sri Lanka due to the pandemic and hotels started cancelling on us, towns were closed down, police stopping tourists to ask where they were going etc. Senaka, Tarith and Amila assured us that they would take care of us and not to worry. They found us alternative accommodation (which was fab!) for the nights our original hotels cancelled on us and this was during a time that hotels had been told not to accept tourists!
Unfortunately we had to go home after 5 days of our 2 week holiday due to new foreign office guidelines and even then Drivers in Sri Lanka adjusted our bill so we didn't pay as much which we never expected considering all of the help and assistance they gave us.
This company really is one in a million and they genuinely care about their customers well being and giving them the best experience. I cannot recommend them enough and I wouldn't even bother looking elsewhere! We are hoping to return to finish off what we missed next year and Drivers in Sri Lanka will be our first point of contact.
*Note* we booked our own accommodation as we always do things ourselves but we would have no issue handing that over to Drivers in Sri Lanka as the accommodation they found for us was first class!
Thank you so much Senaka, Tarith and Amila!