Planning for a trip to Sri Lanka

Although spring is trying to peek through, our hearts are thinking of the warmer summer months already. For those who travel with a big family, it is wise to start looking up which holiday destinations are right for you and yours this year. Especially since many countries are now opening up their borders and ready to host eager tourists. One such country is Sri Lanka.

Prepare early to have fun
Because it is a bit of a ways away, a trip to Sri Lanka will be something no one in the family will forget, but it will also take a bit of prep ahead of time. Proper clothing for both beach fun as well as light, loose clothing that can help with muggy treks through the city are a definite must. You might start deciding early if you want to stay in an all-inclusive resort the whole time, or explore parts of the city and stay in more local, off the beaten path areas.

Also take note that everyone in the family, including children, need a passport and a Sri Lanka visa. Everyone’s passport needs to be valid for six more months upon arrival in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka visa can be attained online, and is also called an ETA. One of the ways to make prepping easier is to apply for the entire family’s Sri Lanka visa as a group application. This way, you only have to fill in a majority of the information once.

Beaches and Resorts
While many parts of the country are indeed warm and quite muggy at this time of year, but places like Ahungalla are full of gorgeous resorts that are chid friendly and even offer deals specific to families with children. Many of these resorts are of high quality, all-inclusive, and located on the coast, ideal for a summer holiday.

Stay cool in the hills
Luckily, if you head up into the hill country towards Kandy, the altitudes allow for a much more manageable temperature throughout the whole year. In the hillsides of the country, in places like Kandy, the temperature is a relatively stable 20 – 28 degrees all year. As the capital of the Central Region, there are plenty of things to do throughout the city, and there is no shortage of amazing temples to visit.
The most famous of these temples is the Temple of the Tooth, a World Heritage Site that holds a sacred relic, the tooth of Buddha

Sri Lanka visa
As mentioned, a group application for the Sri Lanka visa is the ideal way to easily plan for a nice summer getaway. When you fill in a group form, you can fill in one form, and simply continue to “add a traveller” with a button at the bottom of the form. When you click this button, new empty fields are created for the additional traveller.

The date you put in on the application form can be up to 90 days before or after your actual arrival date. This makes planning ahead for a holiday much easier since you can have your Sri Lanka visas squared away before even booking your flights , ensuring you know there won’t be any last minute trouble. Once you are in Sri Lanka, your visa will be valid for 30 days, which is more than enough time for a lovely family holiday.

Photo by sidath vimukthi on Unsplash