Reviews

Most Inspirational Moment

Cycling past elephants, and seeing all the wildlife Visiting tea plantations / tea factories Beautiful scenery in Nuwarya Elyria and waving at all the children when cycling The additional extras such as walking up Lions rock, tea with a local family ( food was amazing) and visit to Galle to do some shopping

Thoughts on Group Leader

Suresh was a brilliant leader and the crew were so helpful always smiling and happy to help Suresh was Very organised and nothing was too much trouble, he was Extremely knowledgeable on the history and culture of Sri Lanka and happy to answer questions whilst cycling and walking - he stopped many times to tell us about history or to point out a rare bird or crocodile! “Best leader so far”!

Advice for Potential Travellers

The weather was very hot and humid and made the cycling very challenging at times, we had to get in the bus a few times due to the heat, there are a couple of challenging days, and the train was an option for 1 day Which in hindsight I wish I had taken! A good level if fitness is needed Or consider an e- bike Half of the group were on e- bikes and I would consider for next cycling trip There was some busy roads at times but also cycling the back roads We didnt get the rabies vaccine as not mandatory- I would however recommend as there are lots of stray dogs and monkeys!

Suggestions

My husband and I loved the trip, it was a lovely group of people and suresh and the support crew made it run very smoothly Would highly recommended

Most Inspirational Moment

I loved the gorgeous scenery of the train ride from Kandy to Nuwara Elya, although I felt ill! The downhill cycling, the tea plantations, the Indian Ocean resort - it was all magical.

Thoughts on Group Leader

The support boys were fantastic - absolutely faultless and hard working. Suresh is a nice guy and obviously knows organisation stuff, and delivered a lovely two weeks. If I had to find a criticism of him it is that he didn't give us much in the way of general talks on the culture/history of Sri Lanka. Maybe he was a bit jaded with it all after 157 previous trips, but I felt he could have said more about the places we visited, not only in the evening before's talk but on the bus and bikes when we went somewhere. We didn't seem to know why we were looking at something or going somewhere a lot of the time. I only knew about places because of reading the trip notes, but as a local, I wanted him to tell me more, and really sell Sri Lanka to us. I've been on a number of these trips, and usually a lot more is told to you.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Pack light and maybe read up about the country before you go. I didn't have time, but feel that having been there, I don't really know much more about it than before I went.

Most Inspirational Moment

So many- mostly the interactions with the Sri Lankan people. Waving , smiling children and always friendly staff in hotels , shops , everywhere

Thoughts on Group Leader

Excellent leader - everything well organised, nothing was a problem- even getting rabies vaccinations organised after monkey scratch! All the team were excellent.

Advice for Potential Travellers

If possible arrive a day before trip starts - our flight was delayed and so 6.30 am start and big days were quite exhausting

Suggestions

2 in our group had problems with their e bikes - new bikes needed Bus also needs upgrade - a third of seats had no working seat belts

Most Inspirational Moment

Cycling up 2000m in one day!

Thoughts on Group Leader

Excellent

Advice for Potential Travellers

It’s hot!

Suggestions

Bus air con could have been better ie colder!

Thoughts on Group Leader

The group leader, Ruwan, was excellent and very knowedgeable about wildlife, plants and history of the country.

Advice for Potential Travellers

If you are not used to busy roads, or riding off-road, get some practice in.

Suggestions

We saw an enormous variety of landscapes and wildlife and some fabulous places, and learned a lot about the country and its history.

Most Inspirational Moment

Seeing the wild elephants. Cycling along the backroads and seeing all the wildlife. The descent down from ella was grt fun.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Suresh was great. Can see why he has been tour guide of the year twice. Very attentive, made sure everyone was happy. Gave some great insight into his country which he talked about with great passion and humour.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Do it. You won't regret it. Fab country. Maybe take a few days after to enjoy the beaches on the south coast near galle. They were fab.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Ruwan was excellent all round

Advice for Potential Travellers

Just do it!

Most Inspirational Moment

From a cycling perspective, making it to the end of the really hard hill climb was very inspirational from a personal perspective! I loved the view from the hotel in Lake Girithale, breathtaking view. The final beach hotel was wonderful. Standing on the sand looking out at the ocean at the surfers was wonderful and the final poolside BBQ was very special. The pools at that hotel were fab as well as the one at Chaarya hotel Seeing elephant and leopard on safari and a fin whale while whalewatching also very special.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Ruwan was a wonderful group leader. He was incredibly patient, knowledgeable, flexible, attentive, great wildlife knowledge too.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Bring your own loo roll and hand sanitiser. Bring cycling shoes and trainers because one will get wet. Bring high quality camera. Bring a sarong for easily going into temples to tie round your waist

Most Inspirational Moment

Too hard to pinpoint a single moment. Climbing Lion Rock at Sigiriya, the ascent to Nuwara Eliya, visiting Yala National Park, swimming in the warm Indian Ocean, having a cooking demonstration in a family home followed by delicious meal cooked in banana leaves...it was all good.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Could there ever be a better group leader then Suresh? He said at the beginning that we just needed to enjoy ourselves and to leave everything else up to him. True to his word, we barely had to think. He organised everything and any additional request or service, big or small, was no hardship at all. Always available, friendly and funny and always having everything under control to ensure we had a great time.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Just do it! The cycling was rated moderate and there were a couple of very hard uphill days, however, although I had done next to no training due to illness, I opted for an e-bike and everything was doable with the option of an air-conditioned mini-bus always available!

Most Inspirational Moment

Finally getting to the top of the big climb at Nuwara Eliya after nearly 3000 metres of climbing, group photo at the top with great sense of achievement! "Life saving cake" organised by Suresh half way up.

Thoughts on Group Leader

Suresh was the best - very experienced, has fine tuned the trip so things runs like clockwork. Nothing is too much trouble, he worked so hard to ensure all our needs were met and went the extra mile to make sure all our annoying requests were sorted for us! He is extremely organised and hard working and professional, very assertive without being rude (making sure we all were on time etc. and kept his team in order!). He was fun and enjoyed teasing us.

Advice for Potential Travellers

Be prepared for a couple of days of hard cycling, take wet weather gear (we were lucky, didn't get wet too often, just a couple of showers). There are quite a few days of heavy eating - easy to eat too much at lunchtime with big curry buffets - hard to get cycling sometimes after a big lunch, so pace yourself!!

Suggestions

Do book this trip, just about everyone who has done it has loved it, especially lucky if you get Suresh as a guide but as he leads most of the trips this is more than likely!