Couples and Families
Sri Lanka Honeymoon and Family Nights in the Forest
Two or three nights in the forest near Sigiriya, in the middle of most routes round Sri Lanka, with the safari, the climbs and the drivers arranged around them at what they cost.
Seven cottages in the forest make the Cultural Triangle leg of a honeymoon or a family trip. Safaris, drivers and site tickets are arranged one by one, at what they cost.
What We Are
Two or Three Nights in the Middle of Your Trip
A Sri Lanka tour package is a chain of hotels, a driver and a fixed route, sold by one company. We are one stop on that route: seven cottages 12 minutes from Sigiriya Rock, close to the things most people come to Sri Lanka to see.
Book your nights here and we arrange the days around them. For the rest of the island, a Sri Lankan tour operator or a driver will do it well, and we are glad to say which routes work from here.
Everything below is about making those two or three nights work.
For Two
What a Honeymoon Looks Like Here
Quiet, mostly. With seven cottages the land is never crowded. Breakfast comes out into the garden, and on a cool evening the outdoor fire is lit.
The Double Room Cottage is the cottage couples ask for: 19 m², a queen bed, air conditioning and a door onto the garden, with clay walls finished by hand. It is a forest cottage rather than a five-star suite.
Couples who love it here came for the forest and the quiet. There is a pool for the hot afternoons; for a spa, the larger resorts along the road to Habarana are the place. Here is the Double Room Cottage.
For Four
Travelling as a Family
Three of the four kinds of cottage take families, and two of the days out here could have been made for children.
The table shows every bed there is, and anyone aged 13 or over counts as an adult.
| Cottage | Beds | Size | Sleeps | How many |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quadruple Family Cottage | 1 king and 2 singles | 38 m² | 4 | 1 |
| Triple Room Cottage | 1 king and 1 single | 34 m² | 3 | 2 |
| Economy Quadruple Cottage | 2 doubles | 24 m² | 4 | 2 |
The Days Children Enjoy Most
The jeep safari wins every time, and the cooking lesson is a close second because it involves fire and a coconut scraper. Village cycling is flat and easy. The garden itself does a lot of work, with squirrels, monkeys and something loud in the trees at all times.
Sigiriya Rock means steep metal staircases near the top, and Pidurangala ends in a scramble over boulders, so take them at the children's pace or choose one. The full list of days out is here.
Fitting Us In
Building a Trip Around These Nights
Sigiriya is the middle of almost every route through Sri Lanka, which makes it easy to place. Here is where it usually falls.
Nights one to two
Land and Come North
The airport is 3.5 to 4.5 hours away by road and you skip Colombo entirely. Arriving here first, while you are still adjusting, is better than doing it at the end when you are tired.
Nights three to four
The Cultural Triangle
Sigiriya, Pidurangala, Dambulla, Polonnaruwa and a safari, all within about an hour and a quarter by road. Three nights here covers the lot without a single early departure.
Then south
Kandy and the Hills
2.5 to 3 hours to Kandy, then the train into the hill country. Doing it in this direction means the scenic train ride happens when you are rested rather than jetlagged.
Or east
The Beaches
Trincomalee is 2 to 2.5 hours from here, which surprises people. A honeymoon that pairs three nights of forest with four of coast is an easy trip to put together.
Included in Helping
What We Will Arrange for You
- Jeep safaris at Minneriya, Kaudulla or Hurulu, at cost, with the park fee shown separately
- A driver for the airport run or for the whole island, at the driver's own rate
- Tuk-tuks for the rock, the village and anything within a few minutes
- The village cooking lesson and the cycling
- Help finding a licensed site guide at the rock, if you want the frescoes explained properly
Nothing is added on top; you see what each part costs.
For the Rest of the Island
We do not book hotels in other towns or sell a fixed route with one price on the bottom. A Sri Lankan tour operator does that well: book your nights here separately and slot them in, as every good operator will let you.
When you leave, a driver we know can take you onward to Kandy, the hills or the east coast, at the driver's own rate.
Tell Us the Shape of It
Send Us the Trip and We Will Tell You Where We Fit
How many days you have, who is travelling and what you already have booked. We will tell you how many nights here make sense, what to do with them and what the rest of the route should look like, even the parts that are nothing to do with us.
Trip Questions
Questions About Planning the Trip
Do You Offer Honeymoon Packages?
No. We sell nights in a cottage and arrange the days around them. Tell us it is a honeymoon and you get a Double Room Cottage or a Triple Room Cottage, whichever is quieter that week, and care over the small things.
Is Sigiriya Good for a Honeymoon?
For part of one, yes. It is quiet, green and the sort of place where you spend an evening doing nothing. Most couples pair it with a few nights on the coast, because the Cultural Triangle is about sites and wildlife rather than about lying still on sand.
How Many Nights Should We Stay in Sigiriya?
Two at the minimum, three if you can. Two covers the rock, Pidurangala and a safari. The third is the one people tell us afterwards was the best day, because nothing is scheduled in it.
Can You Book the Rest of Our Sri Lanka Trip?
No. We can arrange a driver to take you onward, and we will say what we think of a route you have drafted, but the hotels elsewhere are yours to book.
Do You Take Family Bookings for Several Cottages?
Yes, and it works well, because seven cottages means a group of up to about twenty effectively has the place. Message us early with the dates. Groups larger than that will not fit and we will say so straight away.
What About Children and Cots?
We keep no cots and no extra beds, and a child of 13 is counted as an adult. A Quadruple Family Cottage sleeps four, the Triple Room Cottage three and the Economy Quadruple Cottage four, and those are the limits.