I saw some enthusiastic posts about Sri Lanka lately and I just wanted to join in and say: Yes, if you think about a trip to Sri Lanka, do it!

We really wanted to travel to South Asia but could not decide what country. Thailand and Vietnam were not our go to countries and India seemed like a bit too much for the first trip into the region.

So we thought, hey, what about Sri Lanka? And after 14 days we were blown away by the kindness of the people and the beauty of the country.

We booked everything from home and hired a local driver for the trip around the island. We did some of the classics like Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kandy, Yala and Anuradhapura.

But our favorite place were the mountains east of Haputale. Just small villages around, few tourists, great lookouts, roads and hikes through the endless sea of tea plantions. Very quiet, relaxing area with friendly locals.

In general we never had the feeling of getting hassled like it seems to be the case in India (never been there, just heard about it!). Even in bigger cities like Colombo or Kandy.

All around you can’t go wrong with Sri Lanka. Rich history, monumental holy sites, nice food, not too crowded with tourists (we visited in September), great beaches and more.