Yet another well organised holiday. Over 15 trips with DialAFlight and they never fail to deliver .
Troy Morris always does an excellent Job
Stacey arranged an amazing holiday for us!
Our best ever holiday! We can’t thank Lucas and Harriet enough for making this our trip of a lifetime. We will be back for more
Another wonderful trip organised for us by Eric. Can’t wait to rebook again soon!
Huge thanks to Sadie and her team - excellent service and organisation.
Outstanding service from the outset. We had some difficulties due to personal reasons meaning our holiday had to change twice. Harvey was nothing put patient, courteous and professional. Out holiday was fantastic and went smoothly. I will definitely use again and would recommend to others.
John Huff arranged another perfect holiday for us. From start to finish he thought of everything. It’s so nice to travel stress free. The resort he chose was absolutely perfect. Big thank you's!
Over the moon with the experience from start to finish. We will definitely use you guys again.
100% perfect! Well done
Check in reminder for return flight would have been helpful but other than that DialAFlight delivered the goods yet again. Have been using them for over 10 years and their calm, professional and efficient service is always so much appreciated. A special thanks to Gino on this trip. It went like a dream in spite of some irritating last minute changes made by me.
All arrangements went like clockwork. Very good flight, transfers and hotel was excellent
Ethan Fell was first class. Everything went smoothly
Advance advice on Maldives entry requirements and forms would have been helpful.
Kennedy Thrower goes beyond the call of duty to make sure everything is understood.
We have dealt with Chris Coulter for more than 20 years and he always strives to provide the best possible service and advice.
Very helpful and professional. We had a great holiday and thanks to Michael we did much more than we intended
We are very pleased with the way Theo handled all our issues and questions. My mum is especially grateful for her January journey and she got back to England a happy bunny. I am recommending more friends and family to DialAFlight.
Top marks to Neil and his team again, wonderful trip.
My husband and I have just returned from a magical holiday in Mauritius. Towards the end of our stay our flights had to be changed. Conrad immediately contacted us to discuss options. He confirmed our new flight and transfers emailing the details that we needed. Without his professionalism it would have been a very stressful end to our holiday. I highly recommend DialAFlight.
Amazing hotel, amazing service - definitely would recommend and go back!
Taylor was fantastic. He listened to what we wanted from our honeymoon and went above and beyond to deliver. Absolutely top quality service
Awesome, thanks again Guy for your recommendation for the trip!
Once again, a fabulous holiday made effortless by DialAFlight
Really helpful and knowledgeable team
Thank you to Karl for choosing our honeymoon destination - it was the best experience and he was very patient
Another successful holiday booked by Ryan, many thanks.
Ryan was absolutely excellent and we had a trip of a lifetime!
Always provide a fantastic service. We have booked with Kylie for years, she s a real credit to the company!
We had an amazing holiday and everything was organised perfectly. The only minor thing was we weren't advised if we were booked as standard all inclusive or premium all inclusive at our first hotel and thought a sunset cruise was included but it wasn't.
Sri Lanka is a destination of glorious, shimmering sandy beaches, enthralling wildlife and relics of ancient civilisations.
Serendip is the island's ancient name, so it can claim to be the spiritual home of serendipity - lucky discoveries by accident - and this is the feeling you get all the time here.
Hoteliers and the rest of the tourist industry on this beautiful teardrop-shaped island are keenly looking forward to welcoming holidaymakers back following the relaxation of Foreign Office warnings about travel to Sri Lanka after the tragic terror attacks at Easter.
On one of my early starts for an excursion, serendipity was seeing dozens of candles flickering in the dense dark outside a Buddhist temple. Then a schoolgirl in brilliant white uniform striding through the dawn mists along a levee between paddy fields, while an equally white egret paced daintily in the water.
Or an old lady, knee-deep in a swamp picking blue water lilies, the national flower. And everywhere, games of impromptu cricket, with a stick for a bat and a plastic drum for a wicket, on bare mud patches, in gardens, on roads.
The island’s unique subspecies of elephants are a vestige of ancient Sri Lanka. You can’t miss them.
My most memorable jumbo encounter was at the Uda Walawe nature reserve.
We watched in awe as an extended family ambled across our track. One juvenile pushed over a tree, just for fun, it seemed. Last across was a harassed young mother, sheltering a three-week-old baby.
You might see 200 elephants at the lake in Minneriya National Park, while the distinguished star in Yala National Park is the ‘prince of the night’ – the leopard.
The nearest thing to cool in Sri Lanka is its green and hilly heart, where tea plantations are a fascinating sight. Kandy, where the British beat the last king of Ceylon in 1815, still feels like a charming, antique outpost of empire.
It is dotted with guesthouses that recall Tunbridge Wells. The colonial throwbacks include a bus station clock that chimes like Big Ben. There are red King George V post boxes and immaculate old Morris Minors, Hillman Minxes and Ford Anglias.
I stayed at the Queen’s Hotel, all echoing wooden corridors and polished staircases. In the Botanical Gardens I found the tree that Queen Elizabeth planted.
In the serenity of the Temple of the Tooth, what is said to be the Buddha’s tooth is kept safe within the innermost of seven caskets.
Sigiriya is a quarter the size of Ayers Rock, topped with the 1,500-year-old fortress of the playboy King Kasyapa. He killed his father and surrounded himself with a crocodile-filled moat to exclude his vengeful brother.
I decided against the one-hour, 900ft climb to the top for the ancient frescoes and spicy graffiti.
Instead I strolled into the jungle that smothers the massive defensive stones at the rock’s base.
Huge, golden-green butterflies fluttered past. A strange symphony of birds burbled out of the trees – Sri Lanka has many wonderful avian species.
In a gap in the canopy I caught a flash of orange at the top of the rock. It was a Buddhist monk in his vivid garb. Yet more serendipity.
Most visitors stay on the west and south coasts where there's a growing choice of chic boutique hotels. You can book trips by coach or car (with your own private driver) to most parts of Sri Lanka. For short distances the ubiquitous motorised tuk-tuks are fun.
My advice is not to even consider hiring a car. Roads are an all-day adrenaline rush. You need an expert at the wheel to dodge the massive Ashok Leyland Tusker lorries painted with idealised landscapes, jam-packed buses and wobbling bikes with impossible loads.
The little station on the Colombo to Galle line close by my hotel felt like a slumbering country halt from 1950s Britain. Behind the ticket office’s narrow arched window, a clerk consulted his tomes and solemnly outlined my choices – I opted for a 90-minute trip in second class for about 50p.
On the platform I joined goats and men there just for a chat. We lurched off down the beautiful coast to Galle. Another epic rail journey is Colombo to Trincomalee, a city on the east coast.
First published in the Mail on Sunday - August 2019
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