Ceylonara Tour is a small, locally owned travel company based in Colombo. We design private, tailor-made trips around Sri Lanka — the whole island, not just the parts on the postcards — for travellers who would rather have one person who knows the country than a booking engine and a call centre.
How we work
You message us. A real person replies, usually the same person you will still be talking to on the day you fly home. We ask what you like, what you do not, how much you want to spend and how fast you want to move, and then we write you a day-by-day itinerary with hotel options at three price levels and a complete cost breakdown.
You change it. We rewrite it. There is no deposit and no pressure at any point in that process, because a trip that does not fit you is not worth having.
What we will not do
- Commission stops. Most Sri Lankan drivers earn a cut for delivering you to gem shops, batik factories and spice gardens. Ours do not, and you will never be taken anywhere you did not ask to go.
- Elephant rides. We do not work with any venue offering elephant riding or bathing with chained animals. Wild sightings and the Elephant Transit Home are better, and they do not hurt anything.
- Hidden costs. Entrance fees, park charges and the things not included are all listed before you pay anything.
- Overselling. If you tell us you want ten days in July and three nights in Mirissa, we will tell you it will probably rain and suggest the east coast instead. We would rather lose the booking than have you write that review.
Our guides
Every chauffeur-guide we work with is licensed by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and speaks fluent English. More importantly, they are from here — they know which gate at Yala opens first, which stretch of the Ella road has elephants at dusk, and where the good rice and curry is in a town you have never heard of. For specialist trips we bring in guides with specific expertise in birding, archaeology or photography.
Why WhatsApp
Because email is slow and forms are worse. Planning a trip involves fifty small questions, and answering them in a live conversation takes days rather than weeks. The thread you start when you first enquire stays open for the whole journey — including while you are here, if a flight changes or a hotel disappoints or you simply want to know where to eat tonight.
Talk to us
No obligation, no sales script, no deposit. Just tell us roughly when you want to come.
Message us on WhatsApp