Travelling to Sri Lanka with Children
Like a good rice and curry, Sri Lanka offers a dazzling array of choices. This is obviously not a first-world country, so the child who
expects a packaged Disneyland experience won’t be happy. However there’s enough to see and do to keep a family busy for weeks. Although practical details may be a challenge at times, your time will be eased by the Sri Lankans themselves. They love children and they’ll go out of their way to help you if you’re travelling with kids.
Children’s Highlights
There are a lot of sights kids will love.
- Pinnewala Elephant Orphanage Near Kandy, a home for elephants with up to 80 ready to interact with visitors.
- Millennium Elephant Foundation A smaller, grassroots version of Pinnewala (which is nearby), with fewer pachyderms and smaller crowds.
- Uda Walawe One of the best national parks for wildlife-spotting safaris.
- Elephant Transit Home Not far from Uda Walawe, this is a well-regarded halfway house for injured and orphaned elephants.
- Minneriya A national park renowned for its herds of elephants.
- Turtle hatcheries On the west coast, these are popular.
- Polhena Near Matara, the beach here is safe and shallow for little ones.
- Polonnaruwa Kids can literally run themselves silly at the vast and car-free ancient heritage sites such as this one, with their very cool ruins.
- Three-wheelers Buzzing, blowing and completely unlike any ride anyplace else, these ubiquitous transport options are good for a thrill
- Finally Leisure world theme park is located in the “Seethawaka” Electorate this Theme Park is the first of its kind in Sri Lanka boasts of a rich Bio diversified surrounding in a serene atmosphere giving the kids a once in a life time experience of novel water and amusement activities. Out of the total extent of 52 acres 27 acres have been developed during the first phase. Well trained instructors, Operators, Life guards, Pool Attendants are at service
Eating with Kids
Sri Lankan hospitality means that people will go to any length to please young and finicky eaters; most places have a few Western style dishes. To ease your children into Sri Lankan food, try a breakfast of pittu. The coconut rice combination will be kind to their palates. Also try hoppers, especially the string variety or, nice and mild rotti. The profusion of fresh and exciting varieties of fruit should mean that everybody will find something they like.
