[QUOTE=sfoactuary;20026277]A lot of great information in this thread as well as the Aman Sri Lanka thread. Hoping to get recommendations from you all that have been to Sri Lanka, and also have a logistical question regarding transportation:
1. I've just finalized by honeymoon plans for November and ended up adding Sri Lanka to the tail end of the trip for 3 nights before heading home. Based on what I've read thus far, it sounds like I should probably just choose just 1 destination to spend those 3 nights given the amount of driving required between destinations. At this point, Tea Trails is my #1 choice - my question is whether I should spend all 3 nights there or is it worth it to do 2 nights at Tea Trails and then try and squeeze in another night at Amangalla (not really considering Amanwella since we'll be coming from Maldives)
2. Has anyone had experience with early flights out of Colombo? My flight will depart at 9:45am - would it be cutting it too close to leave Tea Trails that morning, or should I plan to spend the night in Colombo closer to the airport. The information Tea Trails sent indicates a distance of 160km and travel time of 4.5 hours - just wondering if this is pretty accurate based on people's experience.[
I am not sure I would recommend going to Sri Lanka with tea trails for 3 nights and leaving so early. I think would be stressful and defeat the purpose. Tea trails is best case 4 hours with no stops and more likely closer to 5 hours from the airport. Colombo itself is a good 60-90 min from the airport as well.
If I were you and dead set on stopping by Sri Lanka within the given time frame I would probably do amangalla. It is more of a city experience but a beautiful hotel. You can arrange a private boat cruise one day or they can arrange for lunch and sunbathing at Why beach if you want some R&R while there one day. But it sounds like you will only have 2 full days given travel distances so you could do 1 day touring galle fort and using the Aman baths and pool. Second day could be one of the R&r options I mentioned. It however is a good 3 hours from the airport so you would need to leave by 5:00am for your flight.
The best hotel we found close to the airport is the Wallawaa. It is not what I would call luxury but a very nice small boutique hotel about 15-20 min from the airport. It has a pretty good restaurant. If ou stay there book a garden suite and ask for the original building. ( just spent a night there on either side our trip to Sri Lanka which was literally two days ago!).
I do think tea trails is an awfully long trip given what would end up being two nights and one full day given your flights. It is a lot if time on winding roads for that length of time IMO although we lived the place! But spent almost 2 weeks in the country!