Reviews

This trip was the best Exodus tip we have done and I highly recommend it.

The accommodation we stayed in was of a high standard and the different parts we saw of Sri Lanka were very varied and I feel we saw so much of this special country during this trip.

The food was absolutely outstanding on this trip and we went to some amazing off the beaten track restaurants. One of our favorites was the ladies who cooked the vegetable curries, the dinner at a locals house, and another was the buffet at the old colonial hotel, you may burn 2000 calories cycling but you will eat 3000 calories of amazing food if you want too. Suresh has a saying ‘do maximum damage’ at the buffet and that we did! wait till you try the egg hoppers you will be hooked!

A bit of detail about the cycling: my husband and i were the youngest on the trip at 44 and 52 but we decided to go for the e bikes as it was our first cycle holiday. I highly recommend this option, whilst we had a good level of fitness, and I had trained for this trip doing 100km cycles. Even though we had done level 4 graded Exodus hiking trips before,we wanted to make sure we enjoyed the big climb days and did not slow everyone down, not that it is ever an issue with a lovely exodus group! We also didn’t know if everyone would be super amazing club cyclists and we would be the slow ones, but we had a complete mix of lovely people and we didn’t have anything to worry about. We have just booked our next Exodus cycle trip and have gone for normal bikes.

We had the e bikes turned off most of the time and actually felt after a couple of days we should of gone for normal bikes but it did mean we could enjoy the big climbs and not worry at all, but the van is close behind you on those days and very easy to jump into, so if you are worried you are not fit enough for this trip or not a super keen cyclist i highly recommend going for the ebike option as the trip is definitely worth it and an amazing experience, the ebikes were a very good standard and brand new. At the time of the trip I was a modest cyclist and cycled mainly during the summer months at home, I did properly train for the trip and made sure i had done the 100km distance on a few occasions but this was just to give myself confidence and I just wanted to make sue i was well prepared, don’t think you have to do a lot of training for this trip, the pace is good and no one was ever left behind, it is a level 4 so you do need some fitness but with a good level of fitness you could do it, if you are worried definitely go for the e bike option.

I would agree with some of the other comments that it wasn’t aways back roads and sometimes the traffic was crazy but we always felt safe with Suresh at the front another guide at the back and the bike mechanics were often following us, i really cant thank the whole crew enough just an amazing team who were brilliant and everything was seamless.

It can be hot and I recommend bringing some electrolytes with you, the crew carry more water and food than you could ever need so nothing to worry about there. Have cold gear for the mountains in the evening as it does get cold.

I felt there was also a good amount of things organised outside of the cycling and it felt we always had plenty of things organised in and out of the saddle, the tea plantation visits were amazing also the jewelry factory, the visit to the gardens in Kandy also really great mix of things to see and do outside of the saddle. Finishing the trip at the beach was fabulous as well, there are so many different sides to Sri Lanka I felt we saw them all.

We had a totally amazing group of people in the group who shared this adventure with us, and we all got on so well it was wonderful to get to know them all, we have always had great groups with Exodus. but this was the best group yet, so thank you also to all of them who made the trip so memorable.

Cycle the Back Roads of Sri Lanka

From start to finish, the trip felt thoughtfully curated rather than just ‘planned’. Routes flowed naturally through coastal roads, lush tea country, and quiet village back roads, giving a real sense of Sri Lanka’s contrasts in a relatively short time. There was a balance between time on the bike and cultural stops. Suresh chose routes that avoided the worst of the traffic and heat, favouring early starts, stops in small towns you’d never find on your own, favouring up-to-date routes. One day your riding past rice paddies and temples, the next you’re winding through ‘undulating’ tea plantations with cooler air and big views, constantly changing scenery, friendly faces at every tea stop and what incredibly tasting tea it was.
Suresh our guide set a clear standard of safety:maintained bikes, clear hand signals, calm, confident road positioning around buses, tuktuks, and the dogs. Hydration and breaks were planned at sensible pauses.
Suresh gave depth of local knowledge wherever we were and each stop became a mini-lesson in history, religion, food, wildlife: you never felt rushed away from a conversation with a local or from a viewpoint. His love for his country shone through as we too fell in love with their country.

Peacocks elephants and street dogs

We went there in December, just after the country suffered severe cyclone and flooding. Very nice hotels, plenty of food (maybe too much), and well looked after by the team. Nice relaxing pace of cycling. Plenty of interesting places to see on the way.
We made a Youtube video to share our experience: https://youtu.be/N06BHdyCL00?si=VRTgl8lFxGbMP4uA

Bike Sri Lanka

This was a great opportunity to bike and see Sri Lanka (even impacted by a typhoon) but marred by a seriously inadequate ebike. It was underpowered at best, power on my bike and another one cut out on occasion and the governor at 25 kph makes an ebike worse than useless since one has to pedal a heavy bike hard to stay up with the group sometimes doing 27-28 kph on good roads. After my complaints, guide Surech stried to help and swapped out my bike for a slightly better powered but much heavier urban stile bike but it was not really an improvement.
And I had a very heavy urban ebike on an Exodus Japan tour last year that I complained about with little result.

Amazing Holiday, Best Cycling Trip Yet

We arrived in Columbo to rain to be met by our smiling guide for the trip who introduced himself as Suresh. From there on, everyday was different, due to the time of year the weather was a little chilly in the hills but improved greatly as we descended to the lower levels. Suresh was amazing and everyday, he showed us something different and made sure our holiday experience was amazing. Suresh’s ability to spot wildlife on our cycling trips was unbelievable, almost as if he had planted the wildlife!!. I have taken some amazing photographs from the holiday and Suresh has provided us with his amazing photographs also. Suresh always seemed to go out of his way to make our holiday experience better and better, he is a star. The whole team was incredible, nothing was too much trouble and they were always looking out for our best interests, including keeping us safe. Best Exodus cycling trip yet, amazing wildlife, amazing Sri Lankan experiences, amazing leader, amazing team.

Excellent but title is probably a misnomer

I’ll try not to be too gushing about my praise of this but it was a truly excellent trip; at the end we felt like starting again. Exodus at its best, it’s all about the bits in-between not the usual tourist sights, though you do see those. Most of the time you are staying in hotels used by other tour groups and you do feel sorry for them being shunted from temple to city to viewpoint in a coach, all looking bored. They do not pass through villages where locals wash themselves and their clothing in rivers or see the smiles which greeted us, gaudily clad aliens in Lyra.
Thought the accommodation was the best I’ve ever had on one of these expeditions.

Great scenery, brilliant guide and support staff

I’ve been on many Exodus trips and this ranks as one of the very best!

Warm Weather and Warm Welcomes

Children (and many adults) universally waved and hollered hellos as we pedaled past–one man giving a few of us a Tour-de-France running push when he saw us struggling up a hill. We had a jam-packed schedule of riding, hiking, visiting temples, photographing elephants on a safari, getting a cooking demonstration (and recipes!), going on an epic train ride, swimming in the Indian Ocean, visiting a tea plantation and processing plant, seeing coconut husks turned into rope; taking tea, stopping for fresh pineapple, eating delicious Sri Lankan curries….it was an amazing adventure with really lovely, fun, game people.

Cycling Back roads of Sri lanka

2 weeks of breath taking scenery, superb quiet back roads , being guided round by a superb team , left wanting for nothing, Excellent

Fantastic trip

Brilliant mix of activity, history, wildlife, religion and culture.