Travelon increases holidays on rail frequency

Travelon Ltd., the providers of holidays to the high end Sri Lanka domestic market, will have two ‘holidays on rail’ packages during the August vacation.

The Anuradhapura tour is scheduled for the weekend, 17 to 19 August, and will include Thanthirimale’s and Anuradhapura’s cultural heritage sites. The group will travel from Colombo Fort to Anuradhapura on the afternoon on 17 August on the Vavuniya Express which boasts the Expo carriage.

With the estimated time of departure scheduled at 4.20 p.m., the train is expected to arrive in Anuradhapura at 8.30 p.m. Afternoon tea and dinner will be served on board the Expo train. The group will stay overnight at Hotel Dulyana (a member of the ASB group).

After an early breakfast, the group will travel to Thanthirimale (40 km from Anuradhapura town) where some relics of Arahath are enshrined in the Dagoba. After lunch will be a full city tour of ancient Anuradhapura with a professional archeological site guide. Buddhist devotees can also participate in ‘Atamastana Vandana’ (eight places of religious significance).

Dinner and an overnight stay will be booked at Hotel Dulyana for 18 July as well. The next morning, the group will travel back to Colombo by train and will arrive at the Colombo Fort station at 10.30 a.m.

The second tour will be to Nuwara Eliya (Nanuoya) from 31 August to 2 September (a long weekend). Incidentally this will be Travelon’s sixth tour to Nuwara Eliya. On 31 August, the group will travel by the 9.45 a.m. Badulla train and will reach Nanuoya around 4.00 p.m. Snacks, lunch and tea will be served on board. Transportation during the group’s stay in Nuwara Eliya will be handled by Onely Travels, who will offer a door-to-door service in Nanuoya and Nuwara Eliya. Hotel stays will be arranged at Avian Breeze. Dinner will be served at the Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya.

The Horton Plains/World’s End excursion is scheduled for the morning on 1 September. A visit to the New Zealand Farm is also on the agenda. The elderly, who have the option of staying back, could relax in their respective hotels.

For lunch, the entire group will meet at the Kande Ela area near Blackpool. Lunch will be a unique experience with an open air picnic spread laid out overlooking Kande Ela reservoir (incidentally most local movies and tele-dramas use this picturesque site as a film location due to its romantic setting).

The afternoon will feature a visit to the Seetha kovil and Hakgala Gardens. Dinner will be arranged on board the ‘floating dinner cruise’ in the middle of Lake Gregory. This new experience in Nuwara Eliya will have a buffet dinner and a live band providing soft music to serenade or for dancing.

On 2 September, that is Sunday morning, the group is scheduled to visit the Japanese Garden, go around the lake area, Bale market and Nuwara Eliya market.

At 12.30 p.m., the group will board the train once again to travel back to Colombo and the estimated time of arrival at Colombo Fort is set at 7.35 p.m.