A Multi-Centre Family Holiday in Sri Lanka - Part 2

By Rhonda Carrier

Continuing our jaunt around Sri Lanka (after visiting Sirigiya and Dambulla from our base at the Heritance Kandalama), we headed three hours south of these to Kandy, another World Heritage site that was the last capital of the Sri Lankan kings. It’s a lively, colourful place to just hang out and see local life in action, in bazaars, arts and crafts centres, everyday shops and Buddhist and Hindu temples tucked away off the thronged streets.

'After an exhilarating, rattling Jeep ride up rough tracks, we were delighted to check into the Rainforest Ecolodge with its quirky accommodation in repurposed old shipping containers and nature treks when you might spot purple-face leaf monkeys frogs, geckos, kangaroo lizards and perhaps the elusive loris.'  

You might want to catch one of Kandy’s fun cultural shows with dancers and drummers and fire-walkers enacting local myths and legends, and you can stay here in characterful style at a sister hotel to the Heritance Kandalama, the five-star Earl’s Regency with its lovely pool where, taking a night swim like we did, you might be surprised by the sight of Indian crested porcupines lumbering around – you don’t have to go into the jungle to spot wildlife in Sri Lanka.

But Kandy's iconic sight, one perfect for those visiting Sri Lanka with teens, is the royal palace complex, where The Temple of the Tooth (Sri Dalada Maligawa) houses the Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha, attracting Buddhist pilgrims from around the world. We were lucky enough to visit on the day before a big public holiday, meaning we were immersed in joyful, bubbling crowds of schoolkids and other Buddhists come to pay reverence to the Golden Casket containing the tooth and to light candles and make flower offerings.

Even relatively short distances take a long time there – which is why we recommend asking us to book you an English-speaking chauffeur guide rather than a hire car for your Sri Lanka family holiday itinerary. Hence, it’s another three hours to cover the mere 75km down to Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka’s hill country. This is where much of Sri Lanka’s famous Ceylon tea is grown, and it’s interesting to stop off at a tea factory such as Damro with its Labookellie Tea Lounge to learn about the process and sample different varieties (my sons are all tea-mad).

The biggest draw here, though, is another Heritance hotel, the fabulous Tea Factory in a heritage building that's been beautifully restored to include the original machine mechanisms, and that includes fine dining in an old railway carriage as well as great food (served by the loveliest of staff) in its main restaurant. The hotel's gardens are fun to wander around, with edible plants and herbs and giant animal topiary (and the chance of bumping into wild bison and boar on the driveway after nightfall), and you can book activities ranging from learning to tea-pluck to nature walks, bike rides through the hills and trips on Sri Lanka's iconic blue Ella railway.

But perhaps our favourite stop-off on our Sri Lanka family adventure was our night in the Sinharaja Forest Reserve, a UNESCO-listed biodiversity hotspot where after an exhilarating, rattling Jeep ride up rough tracks, we were delighted to check into the Rainforest Ecolodge – Sri Lanka’s first. With its quirky accommodation in repurposed old shipping containers, this is an example of sustainable tourism at its most powerful.

Among ways to discover it are nature treks with the resident naturalist Jagath, who will take you out in anti-leech socks (yes, you read that right – these little suckers are determined to get a nibble of you) to discover wildlife, waterfalls and rainforest plants of which 80% of species are medicinal. There’s the option to go out at night, when in addition to purple-face leaf monkeys frogs, geckos and kangaroo lizards you might also spot the elusive loris. Leopards also live here but you're highly unlikely to see them as they're even more secretive.

After all these adventures in Sri Lanka with kids, it’s good to round off your stay with some R&R at a beach resort, like we did. Three and a half hours west of the Rainforest Lodge, on the west coast of Sri Lanka, the Heritance Ahungalla is ideal for a luxury family holiday in Sri Lanka, with a vast pool overlooking the gorgeous sands, kids’ activities, and excursions including whale-watching (November to April) and river safaris on the estuary of the Madu Ganga river – one of the last remaining tracts of pristine mangrove forests in Sri Lanka.

The west coast can be wild, though,  so if you count on swimming in the Indian Ocean, be aware that the only reliably safe time is December to March.

With grown-up children (over-18s only), you might consider the Heritance Ayurveda further up the west coast towards the capital Colombo, for its health treatments, yoga and proximity to a surf school. Otherwise, you could finish up at the Sentido Heritance Negombo, another good Sri Lanka family resort 25 minutes north of Colombo Airport, well suited to a classic beach break.

Find out more about any of these Aitken Spence hotels, which include the Heritance properties, and ask us for a quote for Sri Lanka family holiday package including flights. At the time of writing, the only direct flights from the UK to Sri Lanka were operated by SriLankan Airlines, taking 10–11 hours from London Heathrow. Read more about Sri Lanka family holidays.