Having just read Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel for 2013, we were both disappointed and elated to see Sri Lanka take the top spot. Disappointed because we just went in 2012, when it didn’t count, and elated because we DID go to Sri Lanka. And boy was it AWESOME!
Civil war over. 2004 tsunami all but forgotten. Sri Lanka was as every bit marvellous as we had expected. Sure, there were a few rough patches along the way. But what would travel be without them???
Lonely Planet did get it wrong though when they claim Sri Lanka is “one of the planet’s best-value destinations“. What wasn’t mentioned was the exorbitant foreigner tax for just about everything. We’re used to paying a foreigner premium while traveling, but Sri Lanka by far has the highest tourist surcharges we’ve experienced in Southeast Asia. From hotel rooms, food, transportation, and even water, we noticed it most when we wanted to actually do….well, ANYTHING! Most of the sites worth visiting in Sri Lanka are in a national park. Fair enough, it makes sense to pay to protect them, right? What about paying 50 TIMES the amount a local pays? It starts to hurt after a while, that’s for sure.
That being said, we were told Sri Lanka was pricier than other destinations in Southeast Asia, so we were ready. Now the question still stands…do we need to go back in 2013 to “make it count”? Perhaps! :)
GATE20.com 
Leave a Reply