In total we were away 17 nights so more than two weeks but not quite three.  If I knew what I know now then I would extend our stay to the full three weeks.  So I am going to tell you what we did, give you the highlights and suggest possible improvements to a Sri Lanka travel itinerary for three weeks in case someone else is planning a trip to Sri Lanka any time soon!

We travelled at the end of the south west monsoon season (May to August) and although still hot and very humid, we did have more grey days and less full sun, We had two short spells of very heavy rain but it is always over very quickly!  You can read more about the best time to travel to Sri Lanka here.

We split our holiday into three main parts:

Well here I am, home from just short of three weeks away on holiday in Sri Lanka and what a country, I am not sure I can really do it justice, I am really struggling to find the right words to even start explaining all about it! However, I'll try to give an overview of our holiday in Sri Lanka!

We arrived and stepped off the plane in Colombo and the humidity really hit us, I have never visited a humid country before so I had no idea what to really expect.  I can certainly say that we needed the first 48 hours to acclimatise and adjust to a completely different climate and culture.

Our driver met us in arrivals and thank goodness!  We knew that hire cars are not recommended (and virtually impossible to find) and the easiest way to get about is to hire a driver with a vehicle for the duration of your stay.  For backpackers and budget travelling, trains and buses are popular and an excellent way to cover distances fairly quickly but for us it was definitely an air conditioned mini-van that worked.  Having a local with us to guide us, advise us and generally help out was an absolute essential.

Leaving the airport and seeing the reality of the busy, crowded roads was quite an eye opener.  There are motorbikes, tuk tuks, buses, cars and people everywhere!  It really is like the YouTube videos you see!.  And everyone sounds their horn continuously!  But no one gets cross or upset, there is no road rage.