Top 6 Luxury Travel Package Experts in Sri Lanka
September 29, 2026
Olivia Colman has described her family holiday to Sri Lanka as “the holiday of a lifetime” and said the food there was “the best food” she has ever had. This guide covers what she said, why food from Sri Lanka wins people over, where to stay for a luxury version of the same trip, and how UK travellers can plan it, including the free ETA now available to British passport holders.
For UK travellers, few recommendations carry quite as much weight as one from Olivia Colman. The Oscar-winning star of The Favourite and The Crown is one of Britain’s best-loved actors, so when she named Sri Lanka as the place with the best food she has ever eaten, plenty of people took note.
Sri Lanka has long been a favourite with British holidaymakers, and it’s easy to see why. In a single trip you can climb an ancient rock fortress, sleep in a colonial-era tea bungalow, look for leopards on safari and finish on a palm-fringed beach, eating extraordinarily well at every stop. Below, we look at what Colman said, why the island’s cooking stays with people, and how to plan a luxury holiday to Sri Lanka that lives up to her description.
In a joint interview with Benedict Cumberbatch, her co-star in the 2025 film The Roses, Colman was asked to name her favourite food city in the world. Rather than Paris, Rome or London, she chose Sri Lanka. She described her family trip to the island as “the holiday of a lifetime” and said the food was “the best food” she had ever had. Cumberbatch’s reply, as reported by the Colombo Gazette, was a simple “wow”.
It isn’t the only endorsement the island has received. Sri Lanka appears regularly on lists from Condé Nast Traveller and Lonely Planet, and visitors often say it’s the warmth of the people, as much as the scenery, that brings them back.
Sri Lankan cooking is built on fresh coconut, local spices and slow-cooked curries. Centuries of trade added South Indian, Malay, Arab, Portuguese, Dutch and British influences, and the island’s own Ceylon cinnamon has been prized by traders for over two thousand years. Meals are generous and colourful, and a single table can hold half a dozen dishes at once.
These are the dishes UK visitors most often fall for:
| Dish | What it is | Where to try it |
| Rice and curry | Rice served with several small curries (dhal, vegetables, fish or chicken) plus sambols | Everywhere; best in family homes and private villas |
| Hoppers (appa) | Bowl-shaped, crisp-edged pancakes made from fermented rice flour and coconut milk, often with an egg in the middle | Hotel breakfasts and street stalls in Colombo and Galle |
| Kottu roti | Chopped flatbread stir-fried on a hot griddle with vegetables, egg or meat | Evening street kitchens; follow the rhythmic clatter |
| Pol sambol | Freshly grated coconut with chilli, lime and red onion | Served alongside most rice and curry meals |
| Isso vadai | Crunchy lentil fritters topped with whole prawns | Galle Face Green, Colombo, at sunset |
| Watalappan | Spiced coconut and jaggery custard | Dessert menus across the island |
Food from Sri Lanka is at its best when it’s cooked to order by someone who knows it well. On a luxury trip, that might mean a private cookery class in a villa kitchen, a market walk with a chef in Galle, or fresh hoppers made at your breakfast table. Our Sri Lanka food guide for UK travellers covers regional dishes in more detail, including how spicy to expect them.
Colman’s trip was a family holiday, and that’s one of Sri Lanka’s strengths: it works just as well for couples, families and groups of friends. For a more indulgent version, the right places to stay and a private guide make all the difference.
Many of the island’s most memorable stays are private. Luxury villas in Sri Lanka range from restored colonial homes inside Galle Fort to beachfront retreats along the south coast, and many come with a resident chef who will cook rice and curry to your taste. For families or friends travelling together, villas in Sri Lanka with a private pool give you space, privacy and the freedom to set your own pace.
If you prefer hotel service, luxury boutique hotels in Sri Lanka combine character with comfort. Think buildings by the celebrated architect Geoffrey Bawa, jungle lodges near Sigiriya, and hill-country tea bungalows where afternoon tea is served on the lawn. We hand-pick every property on our list of luxury hotels in Sri Lanka for its setting, service and kitchen.
Sri Lanka private tours with your own chauffeur-guide are the most comfortable way to see the island. Your guide handles the driving on rural roads, recommends the best local restaurants and knows where to find the finest hoppers in town. Your days run at your pace, not a coach timetable.
If food is what draws you, as it did Colman, build your trip around it. Spend a morning in a Kandy spice garden learning how cinnamon, cardamom and cloves are grown, join a chef at a Galle fish market before cooking lunch together, or take a private tea-tasting at a working estate in the hill country. In the evening, your guide can book a table at one of Colombo’s best restaurants or set up a candlelit beach dinner at your villa. These small, personal experiences are often what turn a good trip into the holiday of a lifetime.
Here’s how a 10-day trip could look. Every Silk Way Ceylon Tours itinerary is tailor-made, so treat this as a starting point.
| Days | Destination | Luxury stay | Food highlight |
| 1–2 | Colombo | Boutique city hotel | Isso vadai on Galle Face Green; dinner at a top seafood restaurant |
| 3–4 | Sigiriya & the Cultural Triangle | Jungle lodge or private villa | Village cookery lesson with clay-pot curries |
| 5 | Kandy | Hilltop boutique hotel | Kandyan rice and curry; spice garden visit |
| 6–7 | Hill country tea estates | Colonial tea bungalow | High tea with estate-grown Ceylon tea |
| 8–10 | Galle & the south coast | Beach villa with private pool | Fresh hoppers for breakfast; just-caught seafood |
Want more time? Add Yala National Park for a leopard safari, or finish with a few days in the Maldives, which is a short flight from Colombo. Travelling as a family? Swap the jungle lodge for a villa with space for everyone, and add a gentle elephant safari at Minneriya or Udawalawe, which children tend to remember long after the trip.
Yes, and it has recently become easier. Direct flights from London Heathrow to Colombo take roughly 11 hours, and one-stop connections via the Gulf run from Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and other UK airports.
Olivia Colman found the holiday of a lifetime in Sri Lanka, and with the right planning, you can too. As an SLTDA-licensed specialist based in Colombo, Silk Way Ceylon Tours designs private, tailor-made journeys around what matters most to you: cookery classes and spice gardens, tea bungalow stays, or a week in a beachfront villa. If luxury travel in Sri Lanka is what you have in mind, browse our Sri Lanka luxury holidays for inspiration, then contact us to start planning your tailor-made itinerary.
