“We wanted to fly to the UAE, but the prices! Uhhhh, I have never seen such prices for holidays in this country. Now it seems to be more budgetary to go even to the Maldives or the Seychelles. The agency offered us an alternative – Sri Lanka. I have never been to this island, I didn’t know that there are tours there now, and the only thing I heard about this country is that now it is on the verge of a revolution and everything is very bad. Everything about the economic crisis is true, but tours are now being sold here, and they are not very expensive.” Was the holiday worth the money spent in Sri Lankan – find out from the review of the reader of “Subtleties” Irina. Hikka Tranz by Cinnamon 4 * hotel, all-inclusive, flight through Dubai (it turns out that I did visit the UAE), 226 thousand for two for 8 days. For summer, the price is lower: with such destinations, it is better to take care of booking in advance. This hotel is very popular among Russian tourists, it is in the top of the proposed options, so the majority of tourists are from Russia. Loading is now small, about half of the rooms are empty, but the beach is always sold out. The beach is good, the waves are very small, as the hotel is located in the bay. This is the best beach in the area. 1/1
Where we rested
About the beach and hotel
Sun beds are occupied by people who come to see the turtles (they sail right on the beach near the hotel). From the very early morning there are already crowds, this is probably the main disadvantage of the hotel. Although everything is quiet and calm on the territory, a vigilant guard will not let anyone through. But there were days when there were a lot of guests (mostly locals). Literally crowds that occupied the last places on the beach and filled the pool to capacity. It turned out that you can get to the hotel territory by paying for a day of rest without food and a room: for 50 USD you can use the sunbeds and the pool.
The food here is amazing, so we didn’t regret at all that we took the all-inclusive.
For the sake of variety, we ate several times in street cafes and restaurants: I didn’t like it at all, everything was very fatty and overcooked. Many cafes are closed, looking for food in Sri Lanka now is not the greatest pleasure, so all inclusive will save you, it will be tasty and calm.
The territory is well-groomed, green, beautiful, a lot of lizards, chipmunks and squirrels. But the rooms are a bit old: somewhere a hook fell off, somewhere a shelf was crooked, the furniture was peeling off. At first glance, it seems to be nothing (especially distracting from all this is the beautiful view from the window, almost from all the rooms), but on the second or third day you start to look at the details and notice that the room is not very fresh.1/ 1
Where were, what they saw
We did not go on excursions to the cities, it is not very calm there. Now there is a crisis in the country, political unrest and rallies. I don’t advise renting a car either, at some gas stations queues for gasoline stretch for 2-3 km. The only excursion that we booked with a local guide (his suggestions hung in our hotel) was a trip to Yala National Park, April-May-June are the best months to visit it.
There are many options for a safari: you can go just for half a day, or you can go for a whole or several days, staying overnight at a campsite, with a stop at the ocean coast, a picnic in the parking lot, and so on. We went for one day, with a sunset picnic; the cost of the tour is 120 USD. It seems to me that this is the optimal format, after a day of trips I really wanted to go to the beach and to the hotel, I would not have survived the second day. By the way, be careful with prices: on excursions they always add 10% to the price indicated in the price list, referring to taxes. In the restaurant, another +10% is a tip, they are almost always included.
