This
‘Sri Lanka Honeymoon’ has been designed with careful
attention to the selection of Sri Lanka’s most chic,
peaceful and intimate hotels. We wanted to design a truly
special once-in-a-lifetime holiday. We understand that after
months of planning and preparation you could be exhausted
and in desperate need of some indulgent relaxation. So our
objective was to create a slow-paced holiday which starts
and finishes on the beach but in-between travels to remarkable
hotels in Galle, Sinharaja, the tea-growing hills and the
cultural triangle. If you like certain parts of the holiday
but would like to make changes please don’t hesitate
to contact us. We want you to have the trip of a lifetime.
Holiday highlights:
• Chic and intimate accommodation
• Idyllic palm-fringed beaches
• Breathtaking tea-growing hills
• Sinharaja rainforest
• Ancient cities
Day 1, 2, 3, & 4:
On arrival in Sri Lanka you will
be met at the airport by a Red Dot representative and transferred
immediately to Bentota, one of the most expansive beaches in
Asia. Depending on your time of arrival the journey will take
about 2.5 hours. But it will be well-worth it as you arrive
at the magnificent Taru Villas, the leading boutique hotel on
the west coast. Stay for four nights to unwind and relax.
Accommodation profile:Conceived
by Taru, Sri Lanka’s foremost fashion designer, as a source
of inspiration and a means of escape from the stress and tensions
of contemporary living, Taru Villas is a wonderful addition
to Sri Lanka’s growing choice of boutique hotels. Cool
cement floors, a garden full of fra ngipani blossoms, a turquoise
pool, individually designed antique-furnished rooms, king size
beds and an uncrowded beach just a few steps out of the garden,
all combine to make Taru Villas a very special hideaway.
Day 5 & 6:
After breakfast one of our chauffeur
drivers will pick you up for the 1.5 hour drive to Galle, a
laid-back south coast town with a magnetic appeal for most visitors.
You may prefer to stay on the beach, but we recommend staying
in the UNESCO-protected Galle Fort and the newly renovated and
opened Galle Fort Hotel – an immediate entrant into Conde
Naste’s Top 100 hotels in the world. From here you can
jump in a tri-shaw and travel to a wide selection of nearby
beaches.
Accommodation profile: The renovation
of Galle Fort Hotel is a triumph. The hotel evokes a subtle
sense of colonial grandeur, skillfully updated for the modern
age. The inner courtyard, wit h a tiny garden and 10-metre swimming
pool, offers a tranquil and exclusive area for guests. But a
sense of history does not mean that the Galle Fort’s guests
will gather dust; far from it. The small bar-cum-verandah cafe
is becoming a favoured meeting point, with the two Australian
owners encouraging a convivial atmosphere where intelligent
opinions are to be shared, not hidden. An exciting restaurant
offers classic Asian-West dishes, freshly and locally bought.
The staff ensure a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
Day 7 & 8:
While Sri Lanka’s idyllic palm-fringed
beaches are world-renowned its beautiful interior is equally
alluring. Travel inland from the coast and you enter a different
world, natural and free. We wholeheartedly recommend traveling
into the tea-growing hills and en route stopping for a couple
of nights at Boulder Gardens, a unique eco-boutique hotel close
to the Sinharaja Rainforest – there really is no more
peaceful and harmonious location in the island. The forest itself
is well-worth exploring early one morning as the suns rays start
to penetrate the thick tropical canopy.
Accommodation profile: Boulder
Garden is a quite remarkable new hotel, lovingly designed around
a crop of gigantic boulders 15 minutes from the Sinharaja rainforest
in south-west Sri Lanka. Sinharajs is UESCO protected and is
the country’s last area of virgin rainforest. There is
a medieval feel to the 10 large and immaculate bedrooms, with
their rock walls, tim ber beams and polished cement floors.
But it is medieval with modern luxuries attached. The open-air
restaurant, with canvas chairs and storm lanterns, rests beneath
the largest boulder of all, which supports its own mini-waterfall
when it rains. Food – traditional Sri Lankan vies with
nouvelle cuisine – is treated seriously here. The bar
is a converted cave and there is a spring-water swimming pool,
lit up at night.
Day 9,
10 & 11:
From Sinharaja you will drive up into Sri Lanka’s famous
tea-country, an area of stirring views, gurgling steams and
gushing waterfalls. While most tourists zero-in on Nuwara Eliya,
a hill-station retreat, we recommend staying in the southern
highlands which are incredibly beautiful. The quality of accommodation
in this region used to be limited but this year a series of
four bungalows, branded the Ceylon Tea Trails, have opened offering
old-world luxury in fabulously renovated planter’s residences.
Spend three nights here.
Accommodation profile: Nestled
among the hills of the Dickoya region in central Sri Lanka,
is Tientsin Bungalow, a superb new property opened in May 2005.
The bungalow was originally built for British tea estate managers
in the days of the Raj and has now been refurbished by Dilmah
Tea, a family run Sri Lanka company with a reputation for quality.
It is the perfect getaway, being private, spacious and indulgent.
Six glorious rooms and suites open onto magnificent English
gardens still standing loyal to the colonial planters' wives
who created 'a little bit of home' in a far away land. Each
suite is faithful to the original design with polished wooden
floors, high ceilings, and, in some rooms, large four-poster
beds. The graceful dining room and lounge, warmed by a blazing
log fire, provide old-world relaxation. The bungalow
Day 12, 13, & 14:
Your final inland destination is
the cultural triangle, an area to the north with a rich ancient
history. Sophisticated civilisations flourished here thousands
of years ago, farming the fertile lands with remarkably intricate
irrigation systems. A climb up Sigiriya Rock, a rock fortress
and palace designed by a playboy Sinhalese king, is a highlight
of any trip to Sri Lanka. Then there are the bright frescos
in Dambulla’s Buddhist Cave Temples and the ancient capital,
Polonnaruwa. The drive to the cultural triangle will take about
6 hours from Tientsin and many people stop in Kandy. But we
suggest skipping this lakeside town, which unfortunately lacks
a really top-class hotel and can sometimes be overrun by package
groups in their giant coaches. We’ve selected Elephant
Corridor as your hotel in the Cultural Triangle but you might
also consider the Kandalama Hotel.
Accommodation profile: The Elephant
Corridor Hotel lies on 200 acres of unfenced jungle land in
the cultural triangle, bordering a teak forest and a lake, with
a breathtaking view of the famous Sigiriya rock fortress. The
elephant is a frequent visitor to a super-luxury boutique hotel
striving for the highest standards of personal service in a
natural and tranquil setting. It’s an ideal setting for
those seeking private and romantic luxury. The property is laid
out over a large land area and bicycles are often used when
travelling between your room and the magnificent circular blue
swimming pool, which is adjacent to a spa and fully-equipped
gymnasium'. A highlight is breakfast in the morning, served
on your own private terrace overlooking the jungle.
Day 15 & 16:
You holiday will end with two more
days on the beach, at newly refurbished Negombo called The Beach,
a property that has been transformed from three-star mediocrity
into a chic five-star. A few more hours soaking in the sunshine,
or perhaps being pampered in the spa, will prepare you for the
journey home.
Accommodation profile: The Beach is the best
thing to have happened to Negombo in the past decade. The five-star
hotel was reopened in Jan 2005 after a complete refurbishment
which has transformed the property into a chic and stylish hotel
offering great luxury and a warm and attentive level of service.
Red Dot highly recommends it. The theme for the interior décor
is similar to The Lighthouse in Galle, another Jetwing Hotel,
with an emphasis on natural simplicity, but there is also a
slightly more modern touch. The rooms are spacious and furnished
with beautiful dark wooden furniture and high quality linen.
The bathrooms have showers like waterfalls and bathtubs.
Cost:Available on request
Package price includes:
- 16 night’s BB accommodation on twin-sharing basis
- Airconditioned car and chauffeur for tour and transfers
- Entrance fees: Dambulla Cave Temples, Sigiriya Rock, Polonnaruwa
- Entrance and jeep hire for Sinharaja Rainforest
Red Dot's Sri Lanka holidays and Sri Lanka tours
are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Authority as long as you buy Sri Lanka
flights from us. So, for full protection on your Sri Lanka holiday book your Sri
Lanka flights with Red Dot, as well as your Sri Lanka accommodation. Red Dot has
the largest selection of Sri Lanka hotels, villas and guest houses at competitive
prices and offers independent advice and flexible itineraries. Trust Red Dot for
your holiday needs in Sri Lanka, Kerala and the Maldives. ATOL protection extends
primarily to customers who book and pay for their Sri Lanka tours or Sri Lanka
hotels in the United Kingdom. [ Check
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