Essentials
GETTING THERE
Your biggest expense, relatively, will be your flight. If you want to fly UK-Sri Lanka direct, the only current option is Sri Lankan Airways (srilankan.com); a return costs £750 to £900. If you are prepared for a stopover, try Gulf Air (gulfair.com) or Qatar Airways (qatarairways.com): prices can be as low as £500 at the moment
STAYING THERE
This is where the payback begins. At the time of writing, a double room at the five-star Marino Beach (marinobeach.com) with balcony and partial sea view costs £62 a night, breakfast not included
Right now a luxury sea-view double at the five-star Le Grand Galle (legrandgalle.lk) costs £135, including a generous Sri Lankan/ European breakfast buffet
Or try the five-star Cinnamon Grand (cinnamonhotels.com). One of the most prestigious hotels in Sri Lanka, in the middle of Colombo, it boasts multiple restaurants, all good – Chinese, Indian, Anglo-French, seafood – plus cafés and bars, the works. A premium double room for two, with pool or garden view, costs £74 a night with breakfast
GETTING AROUND Trains are quite slow but very cheap. You can generally turn up 20 minutes before your journey and buy a ticket in first or second class; third is “characterful”. See rome2rio.com for times. For short journeys, tuk-tuks are best
WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK
The Gallery Café is 15 minutes’ walk from the Marino Beach, in Colombo. See paradiseroad.lk. The revered black pork curry with rice, dhal and all the condiments costs £6
The Fort Printers (thefort printers.com), in Galle, is an exquisite hotel, beautifully carved from an 18th-century townhouse in the heart of the city. It also features 39, a bistro and wine bar. A G&T will set you back about £2.50
The Galle Face Hotel (gallefacehotel.com) is one of the most famous colonial hotels in Asia (think a Ceylonese Raffles). The food is good, the drinks are great, the views are peerless. At night it comes alive with the gilded youth of Colombo, who really like to party with exuberant expats and tourists. A dry martini costs £3
To try Sri Lanka’s mud lagoon crabs in the country’s most celebrated restaurant, visit the Ministry of Crab (ministryofcrab. com), housed in an airy, sensitively converted colonial building in central Fort. You can order a giant (“Godzilla”) crab in a delicious pepper or chilli sauce for less than £10. Enjoy