Шри-Ланка - страна, в которую мне хочется возвращаться снова и снова) Sri Lanka is a country that I want to return to again and again)

Good day! )
Just got back from a vacation a couple of days ago.
Rested with a friend at the Eden Resort & Spa from 20.11. 2013 to 27.11. 2013. Briefly about the hotel: a very worthy five, with a good number of rooms, excellent food (important - there is a dress code at dinner) + there is a SPA + yoga classes. The hotel area is quite small, but on the second day of rest you don’t think about it anymore). I highly recommend Thai massage (a tent near the Ayurveda SPA), done by a girl from Thailand. Ayurveda also has a lot of interesting things (both individual procedures and complex ones for several days).
Meals outside the hotel - on the beach 100 meters away is the Blu Laguna cafe, we went there, it's clean, everything is fresh, there is also a waiter Mahinda (we talked with him all the time about orders).

Since, in Sri Lanka, for the third time I will leave a story about other points - maybe it will be useful for someone when choosing a vacation spot)

Previously visited hotels:

1. Club Bentota 4* (Bentota) - was there in September 2011 (13 days).
A good middle-class hotel, with absolutely normal food, with a huge territory, a lot of animals climb right on the territory (chipmunks are the funniest and monitor lizards - they are not dangerous, because they are shy and afraid of people, and when they climb around the territory, there is no one at all touch). A huge plus of this hotel is that it is located on an island - washed on one side by the local Bentota River, and on the other side by the Indian Ocean. In this regard, local beach-boys are not allowed there (there is only one on the beach, his name is Pati, a normal guy, he is not imposed, many tourists go on excursions with him). According to the number of rooms - most of the rooms are in the form of bungalows, they were renovated, but obviously not very fresh. If you take, then I advise better Deluxe (they are in a separate building overlooking the ocean).
At the same time, due to the fact that the hotel on the island in the city must be reached as follows - from the reception on the hotel boat (free of charge) to the shore, and already there take a tuk-tuk (it is important to agree immediately on the price - from 100 to 300 rupees in both directions, and where to go - because they begin to offer places that you don’t really need - jewelry stores, souvenirs, etc. from which they receive% from the tourist in the store). In general, it is better to take food either BB or HB, because there are a lot of exotic fruits on the market (for our money, a penny) + seafood in cafes is quite cheap.

2. Tangerine Beach Hotel Kalutara 4 * - was there in June-July 2013 (11 days). A good hotel, with a good number of rooms (it is better to take a Deluxe - ocean view), good food, Internet is paid, the speed is excellent in the lobby, the hotel area is shared with Royal Palms, there are SPA and yoga classes.

There is a Fancy Seefood cafe behind the fence from the hotel - I recommend it for eating out of the hotel, you can negotiate with the owner so that he cooks something not from the menu (he just buys it in advance), I don’t recommend seefood at the hotel, it’s expensive ($ 40) and not very tasty (for my subjective taste). The hotel has a dress code for dinner. Behind the hotel fence on the beach there are beach fights, but if you don’t react to them, they almost don’t get it,
if you go to the city, I advise a boy named Anthony (he speaks decent Russian, we went with him while we were there).
For myself, I am considering this hotel for a second trip to the island, I liked it.

A few words about excursions on the island.
To be honest, all the excursions there are quite interesting, but very difficult in turn - due to the fact that it is difficult to move around the island, almost no one follows the rules of the road, in the daytime there are constant toffee, but there are also advantages - they opened on the island there are several paid autobahns, which greatly speeds up the experience, but the minus is that there is not yet this all over the island, which makes it difficult to get there.

I advise you to go:
1. to Sigiriya
2. Kandy + Royal Botanic Gardens + Elephant Orphanage (I advise you to ride an elephant), a tea plantation is also included there
3. Yalla National Park on a jeep safari (you need to leave at night, so that you can be there later than 6-7 in the morning, because you can see more animals, although usually the hotel guide suggests going there from 13 o'clock - there is risk in general except for elephants to see anyone)
4.
take a boat trip on the local river (there you can see flying dogs, crocodiles, even give small hands, spice garden... )
5. Galle Fort

I do not advise taking excursions for every day, it is very difficult, since it takes from 3 to 7 hours to go one way, and then you have to go the same way back, it is very tiring.

Personally, I am in love with this country)
Of course, it's a long way to get there, but as soon as you see this ocean, you forget about everything in the world : )

Special thanks to TimeToGo - a team of professionals in their field! Communicated directly with Evgeny Usov (Director of TimeToGo). We are grateful for the quality and prompt provision of tourist services.


P. S. - by the way, we have been riding with Evgeny for more than 3 years, special thanks for the best impressions of the rest organized by him.