Practical info & FAQ

First-time guests usually send a part of the price in advance, and pay the rest during the trip. Guests who have travelled with Kumar before often just bring cash on arrival.

Kumar confirms the details with you before you book anything, so you always know what to send and when.

Kumar prepares the proposal for your group and your itinerary, so the number of people, the length of the stay and the accommodation you choose all affect it. You get one clear price for his services before you decide.

English. Kumar and his team speak English and Sinhala, so the planning and the trip itself both happen in English. Nobody in the team speaks Czech or German.

It does not have to be polished English. Short, simple sentences are enough, and because most of the planning happens in writing, you have time to read and answer at your own pace. On the trip your guide is the one who talks to everybody else, from ticket offices to restaurant staff.

Yes. Sri Lanka uses an online ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) that you apply for before flying, at the official site eta.gov.lk.

Fees and rules change from time to time, so check the current ones on that site rather than on travel blogs. If anything is unclear, ask Kumar, he goes through this with guests regularly.

The south-west coast around Bentota and Aluthgama is at its best roughly from December to April. The east coast has the opposite season, roughly May to September.

A round trip works most of the year, because Kumar plans the route with the monsoon in mind. Even in the greener months the rain usually comes in bursts rather than for whole days.

Light clothes, something with shoulders and knees covered for temples, sunscreen, and shoes you can walk a rock staircase in. Everything else you can buy locally, and your guide will know where.

Not at all. Many guests spend their whole stay relaxing in Bentota or Aluthgama with everything arranged around them. The road trip is an option, not an obligation, and you can also mix the two: a few days on the road, the rest by the sea.

The trip itself is private: your car, your driver, your itinerary. Nobody else joins your travel plan.

Some individual activities work differently, because they are booked per jeep, per boat or per guide rather than per person. If there are only two of you going on safari, you will usually share the jeep with about four other guests, since a jeep for two would be either unavailable or very expensive. The same goes for things like scuba diving, whale watching, and the main temples, where a temple guide takes a group around.

Kumar tells you in advance when an activity works this way, and if you would rather have it to yourselves, he can ask for a private option and what it costs.

At the popular sights you will of course meet other visitors, but Kumar times the visits and suggests alternatives so that you avoid the busiest hours.

Sri Lanka is a safe country for visitors, and it feels even easier when you have a local with you. Serious crime against tourists is rare.

What travellers more often run into are pushy sellers, inflated prices and the occasional small scam, and that is where Kumar's team helps. Travelling with a guide means you are not an obvious target, someone next to you knows the fair price, and problems get sorted before they become yours.

A few practical things stay worth knowing. Traffic is busier and less orderly than in Europe, which is one more reason guests prefer a driver to a rental car. The sea has strong currents in places, so ask locally before swimming, and Kumar will point out which beaches are calm in that season. Water and food are arranged so you do not have to guess what is safe.

Kumar arranges money exchange at a much better rate than the airport counters, a local SIM card on arrival, and makes sure clean water and safe food are always within reach.

More on that on the Services page.

By private car with your driver, and by tuk-tuk, boat or train where that is the better experience. The Transport page shows how it works.