The secret to a successful family adventure in Sri Lanka

The secret? Don’t try to do everything.

Sri Lanka is a relatively compact country, but there is a lot to see. My advice for families is to resist the temptation to cram it all in.

We had two and a half weeks which was plenty of time to travel through the Cultural Triangle, Kandy and the tea country before heading south to the coast. That gave us a brilliant mix of experiences without spending our entire holiday in the back of a van.

In the Cultural Triangle, we explored the Dambulla Caves, climbed Sigiriya at dawn, went on a night safari looking for slender loris (and found them!) and visited a traditional village, including a boat trip across the lake. We moved on to Kandy for a taste of bustling city life, headed up to tea country for lush countryside, cooking classes and epic views, stayed in a tented camp for elephant safaris before ending our trip with a good dose of beach time (TURTLES!).

There were a couple of early starts and plenty of activity, but the journey times between stops were manageable, which makes a huge difference when your travelling companions are small and sometimes wingy.

Build in downtime, and embrace the pool.

For every early morning or adventurous day, I’d recommend having nothing-time built into the itinerary. We deliberately chose hotels with nice pools, and they became almost as important as the sightseeing. Sri Lanka has a great range of accommodation with something for every budget, from simple ecolodges to ultra luxury resorts.

After climbing ancient rocks or spending hours on safari, it helps to have somewhere nice to come back to for a few hours of pool time.

Give children different reasons to get excited.

Sri Lanka works brilliantly because it isn’t just about one type of experience.

There’s history and culture in Kandy and the Cultural Triangle. There are walks and incredible scenery in the tea country. There’s wildlife at every turn. Then you can finish with beaches, turtles and a day exploring the historic streets of Galle.

Our eldest (7) was fascinated by the wildlife. The youngest (4) was frequently more interested in playing shops [in the pool]. Neither was particularly impressed by the local food (we tried!). Our MO with the kids on this type of trip is to build in some points of  quiet ‘familiarity’ amongst the adventure. That could be stopping for an ice cream, an afternoon playing by the pool, or a morning in a toy shop in the mall.

And that’s fine. A successful family itinerary doesn’t require everyone to love every experience.

Go for the wildlife.

This was my favourite thing about the country.

Sri Lanka feels wonderfully wild. You can have peacocks wandering through the garden at breakfast, spot a monitor lizard next to a temple and suddenly realise you’ve got an audience of monkeys. I got obsessively into identifying birds.

Don’t miss the opportunity to safari, either in one of the national parks, or as a side quest while you’re staying near Sigiriya. The night safari was my personal highlight of the whole trip.

My top tips: keep the journey times sensible, don’t over-schedule, choose accommodation with pools, build in a few slower days and make sure there’s something in the itinerary for everyone.

Do that, and you get the magic combination of adventure + wildlife + culture + beach time, without anyone needing a holiday to recover from their holiday.

Thinking about Sri Lanka for your family? I can help you work out the right route, pace and experiences for your family, rather than simply trying to squeeze every highlight into two weeks.

Get in touch and let’s start planning.