Known as the teardrop-shaped island, Sri Lanka has been one of the frequent holiday destination for Dubai expats. Why? Because of its quick access for only 4-hour flight you will be transported in to a beautiful tropical country. If you’re a Filipino reading this, the great news is you can get your visa upon arrival and online.
We booked our ticket for 600 dirhams each for a return flight from FlyDubai.
Visa is around 100 dirhams
What we think of Sri Lanka
- very clean
- friendly people
- safe
- tuktuks everywhere
- many ways similar to Philippines
- were so amazed by the religious culture like Buddhism
- beautiful beaches
- amazing waves
- beware of tourist traps like tuktuk dirvers took us to bars and resturants which is very expensive and they admitted that they get commision when taking us there
- don’t ride elephants go to the wildlife park instead thats where you see them in their natural habitat
- monsoon season, so not very many tourists but were lucky to not have too much rains
- food was okay – we end up in tourist traps similar price to Dubai! I recommend to try Sri Lankan food for example Kottu
- if you’re unsure go to Tripadvisor and look for local nooks
- staff are very friendly and accommodating
- give tips – they appreciate it so much
- one advice – find a tuktuk driver that you can trust and pay them for a day and ask them where they go for local food
Where we stayed
Costs 240 dirhams per night which is quite a good deal. It’s an hour and a half drive away from the airport. Our room was so clean with a lovely balcony facing the beach. We can actually hear the strong waves splashing outside. There are not too many people in the hotel due to monsoon so we have the place mostly to ourselves.
The restaurants close early so better to dine earlier like 5pm
The local beer is called Lion. It’s very nice and cheap for those who want to sample the local brew.
Sri Lanka’s local beer #lionlager #vscocam #srilanka #findmeabreak
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Turtle’s sanctuary
We met two lovely Japanese volunteers who were studying and taking care of the turtles. They put them in different sections such as hatching area, turtles with different breeds, turtles that are in need of medical attention etc. We paid 50 dirhams each for a quick tour. It was fun!
Buddhist Temple
Kandeviharaya Temple – our tuktuk driver took us to this temple just a couple of minutes away from our hotel. It was raining so hard when we arrived and we were told to take off our shoes as a sign of respect. The buddha statue was massive. We had a quick tour around the temple. Appreciating the wonderful carvings of the wall and paintings.
We saw an elephant that was chained outside the temple and we felt so bad looking at him. 🙁
Rule your mind or it will rule you 🙏🏻 #buddha #vscocam #srilanka #passionpassport
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🐘🐘🐘 #fujifilm #srilanka #vscocam
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We were all walking barefoot around the temple
Boat Safari
This is the best part of the trip. We were debating whether to do the wildlife safari but we were short in time so we’ve decided to do the boat safari instead. The tour lasted two hours. We’ve seen crocodiles, monkeys, monitor lizard, bats, tropical birds, mangroves etc.
Jet skiing
It’s crazy! It’s my first time to jet ski and it was in Sri Lanka! My cousin RJ let me drive and it feels amazing. Will definitely do it again in Dubai.
Precious stones
Sri Lanka is famous for their precious stones and gems. We had a bit of a tour around the shop and of course I bought a souvenir for myself. My birthstones are Topaz and Citrine but they’re too pricey for me so I’ve asked the guy to give me 100 dirhams worth of stone haha. He gave me Tourmaline. I have no idea what this stone is but I think it’s nice. 🙂
Food
Ricky highly recommends the Kottu roti, a famous Sri Lankan dish made from Godhamba roti and vegetables, egg or meat, and spices. Beware if you can’t tolerate spicy food then you need to specifically inform the staff to not make it spicy. The medium spicy is killer spicy but I love it.
🌴🍴#foodporn #srilankanfood #vscocam
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The waves. Wait for it. #SriLanka #bentota #findmeabreak
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Overall, Sri lanka is a place that we would happily recommend. On our next time we will surely go to the wildlife park to see the elephants and different animals in their natural habitat. I hope you enjoyed my little tour about Sri lanka. Have you been there? I would love to hear your experience! xoxo
I got all the time in the world #vscocam #srilanka #colombo #passionpassport
A photo posted by Myla (@findmeabreak) on
PS I’ve been featured from Read Magazine’s travel section. Check it out! 🙂
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