I need little encouragement to run off to a warmer climate in winter. But why choose Sri Lanka? As the years go by I get less and less keen on long-haul flights but Anne convinced me to go on an Exodus Travels tour of the island, and the more I read about Sri Lanka the more enthusiastic I became.

A wonderful holiday

I hate long flights because I don’t sleep easily on planes, or indeed anywhere, and the jet-lag and time-change (in this case, 5.5 hours) mean that I tend to wander round in a daze for days. But this trip was made more comfortable by our decision to book a hotel by the beach for four nights before our organised tour began. We arrived on 5 February. We were fortunate with the timing because it had been raining cats and dogs for weeks beforehand.

Sea Rock Villa in Induruwa near Bentota was an inspired choice. It has just nine rooms, plus a restaurant and pool, and is literally a few metres from the beach. It is a 90-minute drive from Colombo airport but the helpful hotel staff arranged a taxi for us. If you had the requisite time and energy you could opt to travel by train and tuktuk.

It is not often that I feel able to use a word like idyllic to describe a hotel, but it would not be out of place here. There are quite a few restaurants on the quiet stretch of beach (we liked Bamboo Shoot best) and it is possible to stroll along the shore rather than take the busy Colombo-Galle road. The night we arrived a turtle came to the beach to lay her eggs, but we were tucked up in bed by then.

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There are several attractions in the vicinity, chief of which are the house and gardens of Geoffrey Bawa, architect of the Sri Lankan parliament building in Kotte. It’s just a 15-minute tuktuk ride away. And it was there that we managed to lose our carefully annotated Rough Guide… after just two days!

Also close at hand is Brief Garden, the home of Bevis Bawa, Geoffrey’s brother. It is also well worth a visit.

Sri Lanka has a huge amount to see, and I can now recommend it without reservation. I am still writing up my notes, so another blog or two will be coming along soon.

For those who like to read about a country before – or indeed instead of – going there, try these: