14 Days Climate Diversity Tour In Sri Lanka

We had a driver, Dammika, for 13 days. He was a very safe driver. He helped us in lots of different ways. He helped us with communicating with locals, helping find accommodation, safaris and even recommended some places that we did not know about. He gave us space when we needed it and was always on time for when we were meeting. The car we had was very clean and comfortable. The owner of the company, Gayan, was also very helpful. He regularly got in touch with us to see if everything was going good. Overall, we would highly recommend the company, King Coconut Holidays, and driver. It really made our trip easy and allowed us to relax a lot more.

Perfect holidays with Dammika, best driver and better person. He did his best to make us feel confortables and safe. His suggestions were always a good option to live the best possible experience. Our tour: Sigiriya, Kandy, Nuwaraeliya, Ella, Yala, Weligama and Colombo. We will repeat in a few years for sure!

We did 13 days with our driver guide Roshan via King Coconut Holidays, visiting Kandy, Sigyria, Trinco, Argyam Bay and Ella in August 2024. From the first day, Roshan made us feel comfortable in his country, giving us control of our holiday whilst making friendly suggestions on where we could visit. One thing we noticed was how quick he was to learn about what we were interested in seeing. As nature lovers, he would frequently slow down the car and point out obscure birds, reptiles and animals. When we said we wanted to see crocodiles, he used his free time to explore a site near Arguam Bay where there were literally a hundred crocs and took us the next day! Personally, he was always smiling and laughing along with us. His sincere generosity saw him stop and pick up the most eclectic mix of fruit and savoury goods from roadside stands - and if we said we wanted a specific snack (triangle roti) he would scour the shops until we were satisfied. He was keen to share stories about his country in good English. To top it off, on our anniversary he bought us gifts to celebrate - something we hadn't even bought each other! Professionally, he is an exceptional driver in a country of slightly chaotic roads. He kept his car very clean and comfortable for the longer routes. He would leave us to our own devices when appropriate to do so (at the beaches etc.), but was never far away to help haggle and explain things to locals. On walks and at major tourist sites, he would accomany us to make sure we went in the right direction and disuade eager local guides and he seemingly knew every road and route! He would never rush us and - as we've seen in some reviews - push us towards places where he would get commission. At times, he even acted as concierge making phone calls for reservations, train tickets and cooking classes! If there was to be any impatience with last minute travel plans or uncommitted decisions from us, he never showed it. There is really little to complain about here - on a whistle-stop tour, having a driver helped us see and embrace as much of the culture, sites and nature in a short period without having to have constant conversations with hotel lobbies about taxis or trip packages. And if the journey is defined by the people you travel with, Roshan is the best of the best and felt like we were travelling with a friend. King Coconut Holidays, who organised our driver, were very responsive from the start. Other companies we contacted were either slow or tried to change our complete itinerary! They quickly sent over a day-by-day suggestion of what we could do when there to get us excited for our holiday (although a small suggestion would be a small paragraph saying what exactly some of the locations are!). During the trip they were in constant contact to make sure everything was OK and were flexible with things like when to pay etc. We've noticed in some reviews other companies are constantly harassing customers for the cash. The price itself seemed reasonable (about £45 a day, all inclusive) and there were no additional charges. So all-in-all an excellent experience and thoroughly recommend both the company and the driver.

We, as a family group of 8, made a 10-day customized trip to Sri lanka in July 2024 using King coconut holidays (KCH) and all of us went home highly satisfied with the service. Having had unpleasant past experience in other part of the world, we were well aware that a driver can make or break a trip. So we spent a substantial amount of time vetting through all quotations we received and made a decision to go with KCH because it did not have any negative feedback nor any red-flags at all from previous reviews. FYI, red-flag behaviors include excessive shopping stops for commission, being too manipulative, avoiding the use of toll road to save cost etc.... We did not specify any driver guide in our booking, and KCH assigned Sam as our driver with a very comfortable van (as mentioned in the quotation), whom we found to be highly professional and are convinced that there could not be a better alternative. Sam has previously worked in the hospitality industry in various countries, so he has that broad global perspective, which allows him to be culturally sensitive and understanding, also making him truly adept in his trade. In particular, we really appreciate a few traits of Sam: 1. Safe and excellent driving skill--> we felt very safe at all time and this is important as we are traveling with an infant 2. Flexible, adaptive and attentive to detail --> we have rather frequent plan changes and Sam had been very accommodating, furthermore, since a few of us had upset stomach early on during the trip, we became skeptical with food and almost never stopped for lunch break en route, Sam quickly realized this and did not ask us about lunch break even though meaning he has to skip lunch as well....in addition, he even bought us local remedy for upset stomach from the pharmacy, which we found to be quite effective. 3. Suggestive but not being too persuasive --> for example regarding what to do and visit as well as what would be the best time to start the day, he would often suggest but not pushing hard on us to follow his way.....such as, we often did not want to start out early and preferred to wake up later and took a more relaxed pace, of course then we would arrive later to the next destination, which would also mean a longer day for Sam. Despite this, Sam will not try to manipulate us. 4. Very knowledgeable --> not only about the tour route, but in general anything about Sri Lanka 5. Resourceful --> since some members of our group do not speak english, Sam was able to find us a guide in Sigiriya that can speak our language upon our request. All in all, we all found this to be a very pleasant trip, and much of this owes to Sam being our driver.