Sigiriya Rock and Village Tour from Colombo

We booked this tour for my mom and her friend based on the reviews that were stated. It looked like an overall exciting tour with the village tour and bullock cart rides. We completely understand the pandemic situation which has impacted the tourism in Sri Lanka, but we double checked with the tour operator and they confirmed till the last day that it’s all fully organised and set. The tour guide who was driving them from colombo to Sigiriya was extremely friendly and helpful. The travel was comfortable. They were taken to the Sigiriya rock which they enjoyed. Then comes the most disappointing part. The village tour was cancelled as non of the carts were available and the person who had confirmed was not picking the phone. The tour guide tried so hard to reach out to the company (tour operator Lakpura) absolutely no luck. He went out of the way to try Habaran safari which was also of no luck. Very disappointing for the money that we paid (£126) all what we got was a ride to Sigiriya from colombo and a complimentary lunch as an alternative for the village tour! Lunch had just friend rice and Chop suey! We reached out to Lakpura tours requesting for a refund of what was not provided or at least to issue a voucher to be used later. Unfortunately they did not respond! We are highly disappointed as we did check with them many times. We gave them enough time to have the trip prepared and organised and all eventually to be very disappointed for the money paid! A terrible experience!

We enjoyed the trip, but the harrowing drive with a new tour guide was a minus. He knew the route but had never been on this trip. He had limited English. When booking the trip, and for the price of a private tour, we had anticipated that he would be the guide through out the day but we were handed to other guides along the way. With that you have to factor in the expected gratuities of 500-1000 Rupies for each guide 5. Overall, the trip was good hence four stars. Hiriwaduna was better than Sigiriya, which is on par with experiencing Chitzen Itza in Yucatan- fascinating and valuable experience but cheapened by the tourist trap feel due to all the poor hawkers of inexpensive souvenirs and guides for hire. Hiriwaduna is a good experience, but it is not an authentic village but an accurate recreation of a traditional village. It was still worth the trip.