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
Sigiriya
Sigiriya Trips
Crowning a titanic granite column, the ancient rock fortress of Sigiriya surveys the rainforest of Sri Lanka. These are the fifth-century ruins of King Kasyapa’s home and palace, with superb water gardens and paintings. And the location is truly incredible… Lion Mountain is a vast 200m-high monolithic rock pillar that juts from the middle of a plain. Reaching the summit is tricky enough now, with its steep steps and gangways; building a huge fort there 1,500 years ago, must have been near impossible.
From the top, there are breathtaking countryside views. There’s a certain sense of foreboding as you step between the paws of a huge lion carved into the rock to enter the site. And under the deep green and red leaves of the Indian rose chestnut trees below, giant golden Buddhas gleam, peacefully guarding colourful cave temples.
Sigiriya Holidays
Xiaolin WU Cycle the Back Roads of Sri Lanka
Alexandra Keefe Discover Sri LankaThis truly is an excellent trip, and way to see beautiful Sri Lanka at a good pace. You cover so much in 2 weeks, and every day is different with sightseeing, walking, cycling, wildlife – there really is something for everyone. Sri Lanka is a fantastic country with wonderfully welcoming people.
This trip really makes you feel you are benefitting the local communities that you are interacting with – spending time with local families, playing traditional games and getting a deeper understanding day-to-day life and traditions. You get a better understanding for the tougher and sadder side of the history of the country, while gaining a deeper appreciation for the resilience of the joyful people who live there. It really is a wonderful trip, made better by a great group and leader!
Gordon Bare Cycle the Back Roads of Sri LankaThis 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.
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