Royal Palms Beach/Mobile/Currency/Trips.....

Hi

1. Has anyone stayed at the Royal Palms in the last 6 months if so whats your thoughts and how is the beach?

2. Is it best to get a Sri Lankan sim card and if yes where can i get one?

3. What is the best currency to use? is it dollars, pounds or SL ruppie?

4. What are the best trips to go on and where is the best place to book these? Can you do scuba diving anywhere?

thanks for any help/opinions!

Royal Palms Beach/Mobile/Currency/Trips.....

Hi,

2. A Sri Lankan SIM card will make your calls to e.g. UK less expensive. Network with widest coverage is Dialog GSM. You can buy a SIM at the airport. Dialog has a shop when you exit the airport (where you get picked up) and turn left towards the car park. Otherwise you can buy at nearly any communication centre in Sri Lanka (and they are everywhere, even in small villages).

3. The best and only currency to use is Sri Lankan Rupees. It%26#39;s a closed currency so import/export (except for a small amount) is illegal. If you can find Rupees in UK, don%26#39;t change there as the rate will not be favourable to you. Bring Pounds (cash or travellers cheques) and change at banks in Sri Lanka. Hotels will also change, but at much lower rate. There are 5-6 bank counters at the airport (just after exit from customs). They are open 24/7 and give same rate as banks all over the country.

4. If you can spare 3-4 days of your holidays you can either do

Northern Loop:

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

Kandy (Tooth Temple, Cultural Show, Botanical Gardens)

Cultural Triangle

- Dambulla Rock Caves Temple

- Sigiriya Rock Fortress

- Minneriya National Park

- Polonnaruwa Ancient Capital

or

Southern Loop:

Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage

Kandy (Tooth Temple, Cultural Show, Botanical Gardens)

Hill Country

- N%26#39;Eliya, Haputale, Ella

- Tea plantations %26amp; factories

- Waterfalls

Uda Walawe National Park

There will be plenty of free lancers outside Royal Palms that will be more than willing to arrange your tour. You can PM me if you want details of a driver/guide.

Diving season on the west coast is November to May. You can find more info here: http://www.divesrilanka.com/

Hans

Royal Palms Beach/Mobile/Currency/Trips.....

Hi there...

Agree with Hans on all his replies, so will just add a bitabout the hotel itself, as i stayed there for 12 days last August.

Reasonable, is maybe how i would sum it up,cetainly not 5 star as it sells itself as, but not that bad in anyway, maybe check out the review i did about RPBH after my stay there, i must admit that after i submitted it, i had a ';challenging'; e-mail from the General Manager there wanting to know in detail about my concerns, and it would seem that some of these had been listened to going by recent reviews.

The beach?, well obviously not one of Sri Lanka%26#39;s finest by some way, it slopes steeply and was not nice gold coloured sands, some patches of darker stuff.

Would i go back there?, well still my reply would be ';probably not';, but that is my own personal view.

Regards

Dave

Thank you for your help. How much is the sim card?

See www.dialog.lk for all details. In my memory a %26#39;bare%26#39; one (without any balance) is around Rs 500, but more expensive packages contain a top-up balance with discount...

All the best,

%26lt;Erik%26gt; %26amp; [Sandya] - tomorrow again switching on the dialog SIM in my mobile...

Hi Erik

Have a good trip, will be switching on my Dialog soon too :-)

Regards

Dave

Hi Erik,

I will switch my Dialog SIM on in 17 days - have a good trip.

Hans

hi. i have just returned from the tangrine beach hotel,which is next dood to the royal palms.had a drink in the r/p it was a lovely hotel the beach was grand there is quite a big drop when you get in first but once you get past this its ok.i got in every day that it was safe to do so.red/yellow flag.it was brill the waves were great and the water was very warm,just be carefull of the sun you can burn very easy in the water. I bought a sim in the shop beside the chemist its at the end of the road cost 3.50euro really for nothing.Rupeese is the best currency,you can change at the airport,but they will take pounds,euro,dollars.we done the trip to galle with the the tour rep,%26amp;we done the 2 night 3 day trip to kandy with the guy buddie in the green bamboo.he was half the price of the tour rep,plus we went where we wanted not what was on the itinary.i would recomend him. your last question i cant ans as i dont scuba dive.i hope this is of some help to you. have a lovely holiday,we did.Tina.