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Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe Traveller Reviews

Reviews of Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe

Overall Holiday Rating
99%
Excellent 57
Good 3
Average 0
Poor 0
Terrible 0
Reviews Submitted: 60
Reviews Accepted: 60
Reviews Rejected: 0
60 reviews
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Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe by Trish, 2 Oct 2017
Holiday Rating:

Memorable tour of Sri Lanka

A tour of Sri Lanka starting in Rural Gampha, then on to Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Dambulla, Sigiriya, a village tour, a Jeep Safari, Polonnaruwa, Anuradapura and finishing off with 4 days on the beach at Trinconmalee. We had a private tour guide/driver which was a great and helped us get the most out of the tour. The beach at Trinconmalee was fantasic and we then flew back to Negombo with Cinnamon Air saving the 6 hr drive which was a good choice.

A tour of Sri Lanka starting in Rural Gampha, then on to Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Dambulla, Sigiriya, a village tour, a Jeep Safari, Polonnaruwa, Anuradapura and finishing off with 4 days on the beach at Trinconmalee. We had a private tour guide/driver which was a great and helped us get the most out of the tour. The beach at Trinconmalee was fantasic and we then flew back to Negombo with Cinnamon Air saving the 6 hr drive which was a good choice.

Rating for tour operator:

Experience Travel made sure that everything went without a hitch and our tour guide was the nicest guy. Thank you for such a memorable holiday.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 16 Oct 2017:

Hi Trish,

Thank you so much for posting this lovely feedback and I'm so happy to hear that you had such a great time on your trip and got on well with your guide. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if we can be of any assistance in the future for another Asian holiday.

Kind regards,
Toni

Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe by Sri Lanka , 21 Sep 2017
Holiday Rating:

Great trip - with lots of great memories

Well thought out itinerary. Hotels all good in their own ways. Driver wonderful. All tours interesting some better than others

Well thought out itinerary. Hotels all good in their own ways. Driver wonderful. All tours interesting some better than others

Rating for tour operator:

Efficient with good support in U.K. And Sri Lanka.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 21 Sep 2017:

Hi Susan,

Thank you for taking the time to fill out this feedback. It is great to know you had such a good trip!

Best wishes,
Lauren

Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe by Bob, 12 Sep 2017
Holiday Rating:

25th Anniversary hliday to Sri Lanka

It was an excellent experience from start to finish. The itinary planning was personnal to us and the hotels and trips taylored. From start to finish ncluding flights it went smoothly. The quality of guide and the staff in the hotels was exceptional.

It was an excellent experience from start to finish. The itinary planning was personnal to us and the hotels and trips taylored. From start to finish ncluding flights it went smoothly. The quality of guide and the staff in the hotels was exceptional.

Rating for tour operator:

Experience Travel gave a personalised servce and met our expectations and needs fully.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 12 Sep 2017:

Hi Robert,

Welcome back! I am so pleased that you had such a good trip. Thank you so much for taking the time to send this feedback. I am thrilled you enjoyed the experiences and hotels we organised for you, in particular the Notary's House will be thrilled with how much you enjoyed your stay there. I will make sure to pass on all of your

I will give you a ring in the next few days to hear more about your trip.

Becky

Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe by Mr D R 17, 17 Mar 2017
Holiday Rating:

An Experience we will never forget.

An excellent visit and tour of Sri Lanka

An excellent visit and tour of Sri Lanka

Rating for tour operator:

EXtremely helpful and we were given superb personal attention/service

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 20 Mar 2017:

Dear David,

Great to hear that you enjoyed your holiday. We appreciate yoru posting this review and, of course, your kind words too. We'd love to help you again in the future.

All the best,

Sam
Co-founder & MD

Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe by Mr F, 14 Mar 2017
Holiday Rating:

Experience Travel really lives up to the name

We wanted to go to Sri Lanka and do something different and we certainly did that. We stayed in mostly boutique hotels and were extremely well looked after by both the hotel staff and by our guide. The views from our hotels were breathtaking and were like scenes from a movie. We visited some real off the beaten track places too, including 2 farms where at one of them the farmers wife cooked us a tradition meal on an open wood fire. We also went ...

We wanted to go to Sri Lanka and do something different and we certainly did that. We stayed in mostly boutique hotels and were extremely well looked after by both the hotel staff and by our guide. The views from our hotels were breathtaking and were like scenes from a movie. We visited some real off the beaten track places too, including 2 farms where at one of them the farmers wife cooked us a tradition meal on an open wood fire. We also went on a river trip where we seemed to be far away from it all and were treated to seeing a great diversity in river dwelling creatures. We also visited some ancient archaeological sites that really gave us a good feel for the history and past culture of the island. It was worth every penny for an experience that we will never forget.

Rating for tour operator:

Their organisation was superb. I discussed with our consultant the sort of things we wanted to do and she came back with a choice of options. When we settled on a set of activities and hotels I was given a full itinerary breakdown so I knew exactly what we were doing. We had one of their guides with us for 10 of the 14 days and he went out of his way to ensure we were always looked after. He even arranged to the hotels to make sure they had my favourite sambal dish available. A real well oiled machine of a travel company that do out of the ordinary experiences.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 16 Mar 2017:

Dear Michael,

That's fantastic feedback - so great to hear. Really pleased you had such a good holiday and obviously arranging 'out of the ordinary experiences' is what we are all about. Do please recommend us to others and we'd love to hear from you to organise a return trip or to one of our other destinations.

Kind regards,

Sam
Co-founder & MD

Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe by Neil & Fiona, 13 Mar 2017
Holiday Rating:

absolutely amazing.first timers into Asia

Just blew us away. beautiful country Sri Lanka & Beautiful people.

Just blew us away. beautiful country Sri Lanka & Beautiful people.

Rating for tour operator:

ETG. don't look any further.they look after you from start to finish.great team and also have a base in sri lanka . they are never a call away.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 13 Mar 2017:

Hi Neil,

That's great to hear - thank you. We do belive that our base in Sri Lanka gives us a very clear advantage over the alternatives as there is always someone on hand to answer questions and generally ensure that your experience is the best it can be. We appreciate your highlighting this.

Please do tell others about us - word of mouth is vital to us as a company.

Kind regards,

Melissa Nicholas
Product Director

Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe by Penny S, 12 Mar 2017
Holiday Rating:

We had a wonderful holiday in Sri Lanka.

We had a wonderful two and a half weeks in Sri Lanka visiting Colombo, Kandy, The Hill Country, Uda Walawe and the south coast near Galle. We were looked after so well everywhere we stayed , the staff were friendly and the food fantastic. We enjoyed all our excursions and guided tours and our driver Iresh, who was with us for nine days, went out of his way to help and advise us. Thushni the Experience travel rep in Sri Lanka was efficient and ...

We had a wonderful two and a half weeks in Sri Lanka visiting Colombo, Kandy, The Hill Country, Uda Walawe and the south coast near Galle. We were looked after so well everywhere we stayed , the staff were friendly and the food fantastic. We enjoyed all our excursions and guided tours and our driver Iresh, who was with us for nine days, went out of his way to help and advise us. Thushni the Experience travel rep in Sri Lanka was efficient and helpful too on the few occasions we contacted her Our favourite hotel was Horathapola Estate, a Coconut plantation near Colombo - perfect in every way as a starting point and we would have happily stayed there longer. We ended our stay at the luxurious Why House near Galle and were grateful for five days relaxation in such lovely surroundings.

Rating for tour operator:

Our Experience Travel advisor was Becky Grainger and her help and advice at every stage of the planning and booking was excellent and particularly thoughtful. The itinerary was perfect for us, with good spacing between our stays and we especially relished the last five or six days of being 'at leisure'. Overall our holiday in Sri Lanka was all we had hoped it would be and we would recommend Experience Travel Group without any hesitation.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 13 Mar 2017:

Dear Penny,

Great to hear that you had such a great trip. Always great to read that there was a good balance of activity and relaxation as that is sometimes a tricky balance to achieve in Sri Lanka. We very much look forward to hearing fro you again in the future.

All the best,

Sam
Co-founder & MD

Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe by Mrs S h 17, 7 Mar 2017
Holiday Rating:

Fantastic introduction to the cultural wonders of Sri Lanka

We spent a wonderful week in Sri Lanka, visiting many temples, climbing Sigiriya, finding elephants on an afternoon safari, meeting local farmers and appreciating their way of life. Everyone we met was incredibly friendly and made us feel very welcome. We saw some fantastic wildlife and ate some amazing food - we will definitely be back as a week is not long enough!

We spent a wonderful week in Sri Lanka, visiting many temples, climbing Sigiriya, finding elephants on an afternoon safari, meeting local farmers and appreciating their way of life. Everyone we met was incredibly friendly and made us feel very welcome. We saw some fantastic wildlife and ate some amazing food - we will definitely be back as a week is not long enough!

Rating for tour operator:

Great itinerary put together for us - Becky was very knowledgeable about what we could realistically achieve in the week that we were in Sri Lanka. Everything flowed very well for the week and we had no problems whilst we were in Sri Lanka. Our tour guide was extremely knowledge and went out of his way to ensure that our first visit to Sri Lanka was a memorable one.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 07 Mar 2017:

Dear Sarah,

That's great to hear and I very much hope you do manage to return another time. We'd love to be part of that when you do!

All the best,

Sam
Co-founder & MD

Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe by Leelee, 28 Feb 2017
Holiday Rating:

Tuk tuks and peacocks

A chance to view the ancient Sri Lankan relics of a tropical island, enjoy the fabled cuisine so rich with rare local fruits, vegetables and delicious curries in exotic residences or on the roadside both from the turbulent tuks tuks squeezing us through the rush hour traffic or graciously touring in aircondition comfort.

A chance to view the ancient Sri Lankan relics of a tropical island, enjoy the fabled cuisine so rich with rare local fruits, vegetables and delicious curries in exotic residences or on the roadside both from the turbulent tuks tuks squeezing us through the rush hour traffic or graciously touring in aircondition comfort.

Rating for tour operator:

Becky at ETG took a lot of trouble understanding what elderly tourists, one with sight impairment but a lot of travel experience would find stimulating and manageable. The variety of hotels suggeted gave us the opportunity to feel we were properly involved with the planning as well as controlling the budget. Additional information was well presented and the whole package was very tidily managed in a thoroughly friendlyt, proficient and helpful manner.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 28 Feb 2017:

Dear Leonie,

I'm so pleased to hear that you had a wonderful holiday in Sri Lanka. I'll pass your kind comments to Becky as she'll be pleased to hear. Thanks for taking the time to review!

Kind regards,

Sam Clark
Co-founder

Essential Sri Lanka - Deluxe by Rederic, 12 Feb 2017
Holiday Rating:

First time Sri Lanka

My wife and I have just got back from a two week holiday in Sri Lanka . We experienced such a range of activities, including a jeep safari, to a journey up the mountain tracks at nearly 2000m above sea level to see tea leaf picking. We also visited ancient sites and holy relics, all very interesting. Our journey and range of accommodation was planned and arranged by Experience Travel Group and we would say that everything ran like clockwork, ...

My wife and I have just got back from a two week holiday in Sri Lanka . We experienced such a range of activities, including a jeep safari, to a journey up the mountain tracks at nearly 2000m above sea level to see tea leaf picking. We also visited ancient sites and holy relics, all very interesting. Our journey and range of accommodation was planned and arranged by Experience Travel Group and we would say that everything ran like clockwork, except for the Sri Lankan railway ( which is never on time). Their local representative on the island and especially our guide/driver were exceptional and made our stay very safe, comfortable and enjoyable; apart from the unseasonable rain. Thouroughly recommend the organisation and experience: beautiful country and people.

Rating for tour operator:

Long time planning of this holiday, which was supported by the tour operator with amendments to suit. Good communications and personal service. Excellent range of activities and mix of accommodation all at a reasonable price.

Experience Travel Group responded to this review on 14 Feb 2017:

Dear Eric,

We have heard of the Sri Lankan railways running on time - but not that often! Anyway, great to hear you enjoyed the holiday. We'll pass on your comments to our local representative.

All the best,

Melissa
Product Director