4 independent reviews for Sri Lanka tailor made tour & Maldives holiday
Reviews for Sri Lanka tailor made tour & Maldives holiday
Robert Downes review 28 Feb 2026
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Seeing elephants and other wildlife, visiting ancient sites, being at a anuradhapura when Sri lankans were there are for ceremony, local village walk and lunch, hapu tales accommodation specifically although 4 out of 6 hotels were very good too, our driver guide was brilliant, so helpful and knowledgeable. We cannot speak more highly of him. He really made our vacation tick and he did so much behind the scenes. It was great learning about Sri lankan daily life from our guide. Sri lankan people are very friendly and want you to be happy.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Ask to go through the itinerary in detail even after hotels are all booked and if you are told everything is fine! The driver guide uses the final itinerary and they are limited to using that route. Make changes and get your itinerary finalised before traveling. Check out your hotels before booking.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes, we stayed at a mix of small locally run accommodation, plus 2 larger chain type hotels. The local village walk and lunch was superb, we always tried to tip well as not all employers seem to treat staff that well. We did have one car all the way, which isn't as good. Safari guides were sensitive to wildlife.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
We had an excellent vacation and got to experience Sri lankan past and present. It's a beautiful country with wonderful people. We did have two hotel issues. One of which we were never informed of a change to our itinerary. The other involved a dishonest manger trying to put us in worse accommodation. Thankfully, our operator resolved both issues, moved us from one hotel, paid for an elephant safari and got us up graded at the last hotel, which was a lovely thing to do. Sri Lankans really want you to have a great vacation and remember their country fondly, which we do. We loved it and would love to return over day. I would give 4.5 out of 5, due to hotel issues.Jules Castenskiold review 19 Feb 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Has to be arriving in our island ( Lux South Ari Atoll) in the Maldives. Just so beautiful and unique - it blew us away. The whole experience of our stay there was so special -as we had hoped for our 25th Wedding Anniversary. In Sri Lanka - our favorite place was Ella - staying up in the hillside with fantastic views of Little Adam's Peak from our hotel window (98 Resort & Spa) truly magnificent view of the countryside and a lovely,relaxing place to stay with good facilities and good food.2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
For our Sri Lanka part of our trip, we completely underestimated the impact of all the traveling and distances involved in trying to see so many places. It's important to check out the distances yourself and how much traveling you realistically want to do each day. Also some of the accommodation we chose was significantly further away eg Safari Tents at Big Game than their website had suggested - suggested inside the Safari park but was actually 1 hour away from Safari park which was not ideal when needed to be back again the next morning at 6am safari. Good to check these things and also agree with your driver if you want to make extra stops or not on the way.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes, in part. Our visit to a village outside Kandy was no doubt an income generator for the village and the guide that led us through the village /rice fields which was so interesting to see in real life and how they all do their farming and manage their resources collectively as a village or commune. We supported a local family by eating a meal in their house too. which was wonderful to meet real Sri Lankans and understand a bit more how they lived although strange that they did not then sit or eat with us. However, the choice /location of village seemed rather at odds to our direction /journey that day so added a lot more time to our traveling. Good to check locations of these suggestions with your guide. I am not sure we supported any reduced environmental impacts whilst we were in Sri lanka as it was plastic water bottles everywhere and given to us each day -they must create a better system for this in Sri Lanka. In the Maldives, we chose an Eco resort with commitments to sustainability and this was really evident to see every day - no plastic /battery bus, Eco notices in all the rooms re washing and electricity use and Big bottles of water - reusable cups on all the boat trips so didn't see a single plastic bottle for our whole stay . It was wonderful.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Overall just amazing /wonderful experience to have had both Sri Lanka and Maldives in one visit. We would have appreciated a little more information guidance on luggage allowance for sea plane/Online Entry forms for Maldives and also tipping for the Maldives in our pre travel pack from our tour company but otherwise they were a great support.Steve Harridge review 9 Dec 2021
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Swimming with the reef fish at the Dhigali Resort in the Maldives, absolutely excellent2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Aleem was very good, particularly when Turkish Airlines made some serious mistakes at Istanbul Airport. Aleem was very good with support, even though he hadn't booked these flights. If you're going to the Maldives, don't go too cheap. Go for an inclusive package, something we have never done before, because we don't normally 'do' that sort of trip, but the cost of things on an isolated island will be expensive if you break the cost down, and it will detract from the enjoyment of the vacation (or it would have done with me!)3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Other than providing employment and, in the case of Sri Lanka, injecting some extra cash into an economy hard hit by the pandemic (although you could say that of British resorts too, which is why we have also supported them), no.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
Very good. In this case, it wasn't just being in the sun for a goodly while (and I suppose that going for as long as we did has some environmental benefit in that the damage done by the long-haul flights was spread over a longer period away), getting away from UK in late Nov / early Dec is good, and simply jumping the fence after too long caged up lifted the spirits. The trip started badly because of Turkish Airlines and we will never travel with them again because their ground staff are more or less brain dead (their flights were fine) but the administrative hassle, with both them, and the post-Covid malarkey, was hard work and was only fun (more as a challenge) after the event.Jane Meesters review 3 Mar 2019
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?
Hard to choose, but the visit to the Temple of the Tooth was fascinating - as was the Navam Perahera festival in Colombo (an add on - it wasn't mentioned by the tour company but I found out about it on the plane out.) And the elephants were wonderful!2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?
Do plenty of research before you go, take the Lonely Planet guide book, a bird book (if that interests you - we saw 98 species!!) and a good map. Make sure you tailor the trip to what you want - it took several goes for us to negotiate the perfect package. Don't try and do too much; journey times are longer that you think! Ask your guide to stop at places where you would like to visit.3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
I presume entrance fees to national parks support conservation. A couple of the hotels/lodges were going plastic free - but not all. I chose smaller hotels which hopefully benefited small local businesses.4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?
The itinerary was superb overall; a good balance of wildlife, history and culture.. Aleem from the tour operator was very helpful organising everything to suit us. However I heard a few things about the local agent not paying their bills - local people didn't think much of them. The car and accommodation was comfortable. Our guide was helpful and friendly - however his driving was hair raising at times. His spoken English was OK but could have been better. We had asked for an experienced guide knowledgeable about local birds and wildlife - my husband's hobby. Our guide was a 21 year old student, taking time out of college...Holiday Reviews
You can trust Responsible Travel reviews because, unlike many other schemes, reviews can ONLY be written by people who we have verified have been on the holidays. In addition, we don't run these holidays ourselves - our only interest is giving you the best independent advice.
