Solo Tours

Since I reached in the morning, I had booked a homestay at House of Le Meridien at Negombo through Booking.com. The distance was very close to the airport, hardly 30 mins. Traveling to short distances is really cheap using the cab services like Uber and PickMe.

The Colombo city can be visited in a day and you may spend sometime by the ocean near all the big hotel chains. Especially in the evening the Ocean line looks beautiful!

Lots of sea food available anywhere that you travel.

The entire country is surrounded by water on all sides hence, there are some good places for beach lovers. To name a few- Mirissa beach on the south, Trincomali on the east, etc.

Traveling is cheap by local transport across the country, but it is quite time consuming. I took a bus from Negombo to Dambulla (there are AC and non AC buses, both with reasonable cost Ask the locals/ at the bus station about the AC buses if you want to travel in that). And from Dambulla to Habarana another bus (here only non AC buses).

Accommodation : Jungle Paradise

I would especially like to mention about the accommodation here. All nature lovers would love this place! It is simply amazing! There is a tree house, mud house, camping. All in the lap of nature. Everything there is eco-friendly...in literal sense! The electricity is generated through the owner, Rukmal's personal solar panel. The food, stay everything will give you an authentic experience about how we should treat and respect Mother Nature. He is an amazing person who would help you in deciding your further journey and also might accompany for an adventure trip!

There are some places in Sri Lanka which are extremely famous tourist spots and you will find those everywhere on the internet and most of the people visit only those. Due to this the entry of foreigners to these specific tourist spots are extremely expensive!

But there are certain places where only a handful of travelers go and explore. I did that. These have equal importance and significance in history and are some of the most beautiful and adventurous places you can go for.

Ritigala - This is one of the places where parts of the Himalayan mountain fell while Hanuman was carrying it to cure Laxman, as per Ramayana. It is the ruins of an ancient monastery with beautiful ambiance and environment. It has around 70 rock caves that were believed to had been inhabited since first century B.C.!

Pidurangala - Climbing to Sigiriya and Pidurangala are different experiences and cannot be compared. But when I was climbing Pidurangala, the Nature was at its best!

Sigiriya - The famous Lion Rock of Sri Lanka. Famous for its giant structure and the ruins of ancient rock fortress at the top of it.

Next day the journey from Habarana to Kandy took around 3 hours in bus. In Kandy stayed at a place near the Kandy Lake. Reached around 11 am, freshened up and went to see Temple of The Tooth. The entry for Indians or in general foreigners is INR 1000. Yes it's comparatively expensive again.

After that had lunch at . In the evening roamed around the market. There are lots of beautiful flower shops. You may buy local stuffs but see to it which are local and which are imported as lots of things are imported from Chennai.

Now when it comes to traveling to Ella from Kandy, 99.9% people would tell you to take the train from Kandy Station. It is known as the most picturesque train ride. And yes it is! The train ride took around 6 hours! Yes, traveling takes a lot of time in Sri Lanka as compared to the given distance.

Started early in the morning. From Ella Station stop, it is walking distance. Trek up to the top of Little Adam's Peak. The view is mesmerizing! There's a Buddha status on the top of the hill. Climbed down and then Ella rock. It was too tiring altogether, given the weather was too hot

Have food at Flower Cafe. As the name depicts, the entire cafe and its surroundings are filled with plants and trees. It is a treat to the eyes and soul. They have their own Avocado tree and you get to drink the juice in the cafe made from that.

Downhill, there is a path, in a way short cut leading to Nine Arch Bridge. It is considered to be one of the best examples of colonial-era railway construction in Sri Lanka.

Finally the day back to Colombo. Took a bus from Ella since it takes less time than train. Sri Lanka in 7 days under INR 20,000 can be easily done by anyone. Go and explore for yourself!

Entire trip was a mix of adventure, relaxing, tiring and fun altogether. If you want to cover all the beaches, definitely choose to visit North eastern and Southern part of the country.

Happy traveling