My Ceylon Adventures
My Ceylon Adventures
5
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Monday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
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About
My Ceylon Adventures (Pvt) Ltd is specializes tourism company for classic, Eco, Wild Life, Nature and Adventures Holidays in Sri Lanka. We are group of passionate people with wealth of knowledge about Adventures, Cycling, Wildlife, and Eco tourism in Sri Lanka. My Ceylon Adventures conscious of our social and environmental responsibilities and every effort is taken to negate any negative impact when designing and operating tours. We would like our guests to takeaway only pleasant memories of their trip to Sri Lanka, while leaving behind only their footprints
Mirissa, Sri Lanka
Meets animal welfare guidelines
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
5.0
46 reviews
Excellent
42
Very good
1
Average
1
Poor
1
Terrible
1
Abs M
1 contribution
May 2022 • Solo
We had an amazing time cycling from Ella to Arugam Bay! Our tour guide was brilliant, and we felt really lucky to be able to have a unique route planned out for us. We stopped at a great place for lunch and saw amazing views along the way. Highly recommend this company :)
Written May 12, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
kukumbaa
Istanbul, Türkiye2 contributions
Jan 2020
The trip was perfectly organized. Beautiful scenery, wonderful guides, full of lots of active adventures. What we saw was amazing but even more impressive was the logistics behind our travel. Our trip was flawless. I will highly recommend ''My Ceylon Adventures'' to everyone. Thank you
Written February 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you Sir for the feedback and Hope had good drone video's.
it was pleasure to cycle with cool cycle team and look forward to see you again.
Written February 17, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Johnny H
Paris, France3 contributions
Jun 2013 • Friends
we came from France and I have participated once Tour De France too. we want to Cycling in Sri Lanka as day activity in Our Holiday. we have done Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa and Last ride was in Kandy. My Ceylon Adventures Team make our holiday more interesting and Ama, Micheal ride with us. they nicely demonstrated history, folktales, on and off Sri Lanka jokes! entire ride we did not feel boring. Kandy is awesome place for cycling and My Ceylon Adventures is the best team for cycling in Sri Lanka.
Written July 15, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you feedback!
Written February 10, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Mark J
Sydney, Australia2 contributions
Jun 2013 • Friends
We were two night in Kandy and 2nd day we cycled to “Ceylon Tea Museum”. It was amazing ride through tea plantations. My Ceylon Adventures Cycles are perfect and I got my favorite Scott brand cycle. Michel is great guide and he is has excellent knowledge about Kandy.
If you are visiting to Kandy! Don’t forget to cycling to Tea Museum…!
If you are visiting to Kandy! Don’t forget to cycling to Tea Museum…!
Written June 23, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you feedback!
Written February 10, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
NomadicBiker
Montreal, Canada130 contributions
Dec 2015 • Couples
This is one of the harshest reviews I have ever written, but with real justification. Please feel free to view my profile to see how level headed I am about my reviews, and how I strive to be as objective and helpful as possible.
Riding: in Sri Lanka can be very beautiful, and Ceylon Adventures showed us some of that. I had always dreamed of riding through tropical Asia, passing by paddies, fields, and forests, while having a close view of the vegetation, birds, animals, and see how people lived outside of tourist areas. However, too much of Ceylon Adventures bicycle tour consisted of riding on congested and polluted highways. This was especially unfortunate as there were often secluded rural roads that traveled along the same way, where there was a lot of pretty scenes bustling with flora and fauna. When we ended up researching our routes on our own after the second day, and instructing the tour guide where we wanted to go, the tour got a lot better, and most of those specific dreams were fulfilled. Both my wife and I agreed that we would like to come back to Sri Lanka and do a much longer self supported tour, as it is truly a spectacular country. It would be nice if Ceylon Adventures offered their customers the option of riding down fast busy roads, or slow peaceful roads in the future.
Day 1) The tour guide actually took us on an excellent first day of riding. A long climb from 500m to 1800m over about 80KM. The last 20 KM saw most of this elevation ride, so if you wanted to avoid slogging up the hill, you could hop in to the van. There were great vistas, beautiful flowers, tea plantations, and even waterfalls and lakes. We did a tour of the Glenloch tea factory that was very nice and informative (view my review of Glenloch Tea Factory by following my profile). The road was a highway with a large shoulder, and it wasn't too busy, but it was still quite polluted, as emission standards are lower in Sri Lanka. On a personal note, I think having the only real climbing day on the first day is a brutal way to start the tour, unless you are already in riding shape.
Day 2 & 3) Smoggy polluted and congested highways for the most part, with brief retrieves along less busy highways. The safari in Yala National Park was really nice. We mainly saw birds, but we also saw an elephant. Our friend went a couple of weeks later and saw a jaguar. Lucky him!
Day 3 (when we planned): bird sanctuary, riding along a beach on a narrow dirt rode with potholes that were easy to avoid. Some riding skills needed to make it smooth. Definitely not high speed, but lovely, and we saw a lot of country residents, their homes, and lovely views. Not for the type of rider who is looking to make record times, though. More for bike tourers and people who want to to get off the beaten track.
Bikes and equipment: the bikes are generally good quality entry level XC hard tail bikes (Felt and Giant), in generally good shape, but with some critical flaws in maintenance. The bikes provided had deep cracks in the tires and poorly aligned pads (which was dangerous given the huge downhills that we rode), broken derailleur housing resulting in ghost shifting, and cheap handlebar grips installed upside down, (which would always rotate as we rode, which could easily be fixed with hair spray, an old mechanic trick). Also, the company only provides medium or large bikes, and we could have used an XL for one of us. (The company did ask by email what size we generally rode, but since each bike is different, a fitting before leaving on a three day tour.) Lastly, they only provided one helmet size, which is great if you usually wear a size Large helmet. When we told them that we needed a Small and an XL, they did nothing, so we had to do the whole tour without helmets. If you are riding on a 1 day tour some of these issues are not real problems, but on a +200 km tour, they make a huge difference.
Tour guide & driver: Our guide and driver were nice, and very helpful. They tried to help us out for anything we wanted or needed, as long as it was in their power. They really seemed to care, and wanted us to enjoy our time. They frequently bought us fruit (coconuts, mangos, and bananas) as they knew we liked them. They also offered us other stuff like sodas, cookies, and bread, but we try to avoid sugar and grains, so we turned those down. However, in terms of "guiding" I felt underwhelmed. They didn't spend much time explaining the ride we were about to go on, as they just expected us to follow them. Also, they didn't tell us much about the history, geology, flora, fauna, religion, etc. It would be nice to learn about Sri Lanka and the surroundings we were riding through from the guide. This might have been partially a result of their low level of English. When we asked for information, they could usually only say, in my language it is X. If you have ever gone diving with a good guide, you will know that they explain what you will do and see on the dive, and then they point things out along the way with hand signs. Our tour guide could learn from this model. He should also study the English that he will need for the tour, and maybe get a bilingual dictionary for his smartphone. Also, the bus/van was in pretty poor shape, without even functioning seat belts, and very uncomfortable to sit in for long distances.
General organization: In terms of communication and organization, the company failed miserably. We were often shunted from place to place without any explanation of warning. As part of the tour, for example, we had a whale watching tour at the end of our cycling tour. When our guides dropped us off at our hotel on the final day of the bike tour, we still didn't know when or where we would be picked up for the whale watching tour the next day, even though it was already 9 PM and the whale watching was supposed to be at 7 AM the next morning. We had to ask the tour guide, as he was about to leave us for good. He didn't know, and we had to insist that he call his office for information. We then found out that transportation would pick us up at 6:30 the next morning. When we asked where we should meet the driver, the guide said he will come and get us. I asked somewhat incredulously, "at our hotel room?" He said yes. Anyway, 6:35 came, and no driver, so we went to the hotel office, and they finally they told us to go out to the parking lot. In the end we left approximately 10 minutes late. Some how the tuk-tuk driver knew who we were, and whisked us off to the boat, which was great. If we had been told this in advance, it would have been seamless. After the whale watching tour ended, we were thinking to ourselves, "how are we going to get back?" In the end, the same tuk-tuk driver that brought us was waiting for us, which again was great. However, it would have been even better if we didn't have to wonder how we would deal with a problem of returning to the hotel on our own unnecessarily. (Apparently the tuk-tuk driver was associate with the hotel, and the hotel manager had organized the transport at the request of Ceylon Adventures, so neither the hotel or the tour company gave use sufficient information.) Avoiding uncertainties like these, we felt, should have been the job of the tour company or tour guide. All that this would require is for the tuk-tuk driver to tell us, or for the tour manager to inform us. To make matters worse, Amaranath, the tour manager, actually got very mad at us and blamed us for delaying the whale watching boat, even though he had never communicated any directives, and even though he had our phone number. He actually raised his voice and shouted at us.
Poor communication happened multiple times per day, as we were unnecessarily kept in the dark, wasting significant time, causing my wife and I unnecessary frustration. Small things like being told that we could buy breakfast on our own by the tour guide either at the hotel or on the road, which we found surprising because breakfast was listed in the tour itinerary. We were then informed 30 minutes later that breakfast was included in the hotel service, so we lost 30 minutes of riding and almost missed breakfast (some food at the hotel buffet had run out). A comprehensive list of miscommunication resulting in mismanagement would be lengthy. These many issues is what we hoped to avoid when we hired a tour company, and which we would have avoided if we had just planned the tour ourselves, as it turns out that we actually plan much more seamless travels on our own, and depending on someone else actually took more time that if we had just planned it ourselves.
This lack of communication was particularly frustrating as the tour manager Amaranath met us at the airport, and asked us to please contact him with any problems so he can have a chance fix them. However, when we did contact him with problems he usually told us that we were wrong (that the bike was an XL (even though the Felt website claimed otherwise), and that the helmet was an XL (even though it was marked L and didn't fit my head, where an XL would), or he would tell us to fix the problem on your own (you don't like the hotel room, then find another hotel in the same budget range), as the only thing he would do is highlight the problems we informed him of to the hotel manager, which we could have done ourselves. He did buy us a bottle of wine when we complained, but really, we would have preferred to have our simple needs responded too, or better yet, to have a smart tour planned for us that would be relatively worry free.
General advice:
1. emission standards in Sri Lanka are pretty bad, so it is not unusual to see vehicles passing you belching out smog. I used a Buff to cover my face both from the intense heat and to filter the air, but a breathing mask would have been great here. The Buff did do a great job on its own, though.
2. Consider organizing your own tour. Hiring a van and a driver is cheap and easy. Booking hotels is also super easy, as is booking your own tours. You can do this with mobile apps or by contacting the managers and owners directly. You will end up saving about 60% of your budget. There is very little route planing done, so some brief research on your own will show you some great options. Also, if you hire a van, you can get your driver to take you past places that aren't good. (If you do get a driver, direct them to where you want to be picked up, instead of getting them to follow you. Rural routes are circuitous, and you are paying per KM). Aside from what I just stated above, Ceylon Adventures does very little. In fact, the prices they quoted they paid for hotels was higher than what you can get on bookings.com, so why bother. Also, you can negotiate better prices for tours like whale watching and safaris when you are on the ground, and you will end up getting a better price, and more comprehensive information. Furthermore, you have more options when you plan on your own. For example, the whale watching boat we were booked on was one of the slowest in the fleet, but kept you out at see longer. However, you might want to higher a speedboat, and spend less time. (Read my full review on the Whale Tour Company by following my profile).
3. If you do take the tour the Ceylon Adventures, ask your guide to take you on back roads ... It is much nicer than the highways.
Prologue--The horror story: The communication was so bad during our tour that sometimes we were actually given wrong information. When we went to make arrangements to our next destination after the whale watching, the hotel manager told us we would be getting transportation to our next destination from the tour company. This was the same hotel manager who had informed us of our tuk-tuk to the whale watching, so we believed him. We were surprised, but we accepted it, and asked him to tell the transportation we would be ready in 1 hour. After 1 hour we checked back to see how things were progressing. We were told it would arrive in 30 minutes. After another hour we contacted the tour company, and spoke with the hotel manager again. We waited for 5 hours, texting the tour manager frequently about the expected time of transportation, to which we only received unclear responses. We often got the feeling that the tour manager wasn't really reading what we were writing, as we asked when the transport to our final destination would arrive, and he responded, "I am coming to meet you today", which we interpreted as he was going to transport us himself. However, when he arrived, he told us that transportation was not included (5 hours of waiting in the hotel lobby!). We we're confused as to why he didn't tell us that earlier, why he had come to see us in the first place. In the end, it seemed that he wanted to take us out to dinner, but we had never been informed of this. We might have wanted to dress a certain way, shower, not eat, any of the decisions that people make before going out to dinner with someone you have just done business with. As it was, we had actually already made dinner plans with friends who were 100 KMs away in another town. Again, a simple text in advance from the tour manager such as, "I would like to take you out for dinner on the evening after your whale watching" would have been great. We might have prolonged our stay at the hotel, or be given the opportunity to decline and then save him the effort of coming to see us.
In the end the tour manager volunteered to take us to our destination, which was nice, but when we pointed out that better communication might have avoided many problems during the tour, and that it might be useful to think about for future tours, he actually threatened to kick us out halfway to our destination on some rural road, and pulled over to the side of the road to kick us out of his car. Luckily his wife, who was dressed up for dinner (so possibly he had advised her about his dinner ambitions), advised him that it was a bad idea. He was very hot tempered, so we agreed to no longer discuss the topic, as his anger was causing him to drive erratically, which we all felt was very dangerous. For some reason he interpreted our suggestion for more communication as a demand for a refund, which we actually never suggested. He offered to give us 25USD for the misunderstanding (1.7% of what we paid, and probably the cost of the dinner that he was clearly no longer going to take us to), which we declined as it wasn't about money, but about the inconvenience, and a desire of acknowledgement. We also strongly felt that if we could help him see these problems, that future bike tours could be conducted more smoothly, and in that way we would be paying it forward As future bike tourists might benefit. In the end my wife and I sat back and chatted, enjoyed watching out the window ... We just wanted to conclude our business with Ceylon Adventures, end our frustrations, and see our friends as it was very clear to him that his business was about money, and not about customer satisfaction.
In the end we realized that the only thing that Amaranath was clear about was where, when, and how he wanted to be paid: in the airport lobby (in plain sight of other travellers), in full, in US cash, before we even got in to his hired vehicle.
Riding: in Sri Lanka can be very beautiful, and Ceylon Adventures showed us some of that. I had always dreamed of riding through tropical Asia, passing by paddies, fields, and forests, while having a close view of the vegetation, birds, animals, and see how people lived outside of tourist areas. However, too much of Ceylon Adventures bicycle tour consisted of riding on congested and polluted highways. This was especially unfortunate as there were often secluded rural roads that traveled along the same way, where there was a lot of pretty scenes bustling with flora and fauna. When we ended up researching our routes on our own after the second day, and instructing the tour guide where we wanted to go, the tour got a lot better, and most of those specific dreams were fulfilled. Both my wife and I agreed that we would like to come back to Sri Lanka and do a much longer self supported tour, as it is truly a spectacular country. It would be nice if Ceylon Adventures offered their customers the option of riding down fast busy roads, or slow peaceful roads in the future.
Day 1) The tour guide actually took us on an excellent first day of riding. A long climb from 500m to 1800m over about 80KM. The last 20 KM saw most of this elevation ride, so if you wanted to avoid slogging up the hill, you could hop in to the van. There were great vistas, beautiful flowers, tea plantations, and even waterfalls and lakes. We did a tour of the Glenloch tea factory that was very nice and informative (view my review of Glenloch Tea Factory by following my profile). The road was a highway with a large shoulder, and it wasn't too busy, but it was still quite polluted, as emission standards are lower in Sri Lanka. On a personal note, I think having the only real climbing day on the first day is a brutal way to start the tour, unless you are already in riding shape.
Day 2 & 3) Smoggy polluted and congested highways for the most part, with brief retrieves along less busy highways. The safari in Yala National Park was really nice. We mainly saw birds, but we also saw an elephant. Our friend went a couple of weeks later and saw a jaguar. Lucky him!
Day 3 (when we planned): bird sanctuary, riding along a beach on a narrow dirt rode with potholes that were easy to avoid. Some riding skills needed to make it smooth. Definitely not high speed, but lovely, and we saw a lot of country residents, their homes, and lovely views. Not for the type of rider who is looking to make record times, though. More for bike tourers and people who want to to get off the beaten track.
Bikes and equipment: the bikes are generally good quality entry level XC hard tail bikes (Felt and Giant), in generally good shape, but with some critical flaws in maintenance. The bikes provided had deep cracks in the tires and poorly aligned pads (which was dangerous given the huge downhills that we rode), broken derailleur housing resulting in ghost shifting, and cheap handlebar grips installed upside down, (which would always rotate as we rode, which could easily be fixed with hair spray, an old mechanic trick). Also, the company only provides medium or large bikes, and we could have used an XL for one of us. (The company did ask by email what size we generally rode, but since each bike is different, a fitting before leaving on a three day tour.) Lastly, they only provided one helmet size, which is great if you usually wear a size Large helmet. When we told them that we needed a Small and an XL, they did nothing, so we had to do the whole tour without helmets. If you are riding on a 1 day tour some of these issues are not real problems, but on a +200 km tour, they make a huge difference.
Tour guide & driver: Our guide and driver were nice, and very helpful. They tried to help us out for anything we wanted or needed, as long as it was in their power. They really seemed to care, and wanted us to enjoy our time. They frequently bought us fruit (coconuts, mangos, and bananas) as they knew we liked them. They also offered us other stuff like sodas, cookies, and bread, but we try to avoid sugar and grains, so we turned those down. However, in terms of "guiding" I felt underwhelmed. They didn't spend much time explaining the ride we were about to go on, as they just expected us to follow them. Also, they didn't tell us much about the history, geology, flora, fauna, religion, etc. It would be nice to learn about Sri Lanka and the surroundings we were riding through from the guide. This might have been partially a result of their low level of English. When we asked for information, they could usually only say, in my language it is X. If you have ever gone diving with a good guide, you will know that they explain what you will do and see on the dive, and then they point things out along the way with hand signs. Our tour guide could learn from this model. He should also study the English that he will need for the tour, and maybe get a bilingual dictionary for his smartphone. Also, the bus/van was in pretty poor shape, without even functioning seat belts, and very uncomfortable to sit in for long distances.
General organization: In terms of communication and organization, the company failed miserably. We were often shunted from place to place without any explanation of warning. As part of the tour, for example, we had a whale watching tour at the end of our cycling tour. When our guides dropped us off at our hotel on the final day of the bike tour, we still didn't know when or where we would be picked up for the whale watching tour the next day, even though it was already 9 PM and the whale watching was supposed to be at 7 AM the next morning. We had to ask the tour guide, as he was about to leave us for good. He didn't know, and we had to insist that he call his office for information. We then found out that transportation would pick us up at 6:30 the next morning. When we asked where we should meet the driver, the guide said he will come and get us. I asked somewhat incredulously, "at our hotel room?" He said yes. Anyway, 6:35 came, and no driver, so we went to the hotel office, and they finally they told us to go out to the parking lot. In the end we left approximately 10 minutes late. Some how the tuk-tuk driver knew who we were, and whisked us off to the boat, which was great. If we had been told this in advance, it would have been seamless. After the whale watching tour ended, we were thinking to ourselves, "how are we going to get back?" In the end, the same tuk-tuk driver that brought us was waiting for us, which again was great. However, it would have been even better if we didn't have to wonder how we would deal with a problem of returning to the hotel on our own unnecessarily. (Apparently the tuk-tuk driver was associate with the hotel, and the hotel manager had organized the transport at the request of Ceylon Adventures, so neither the hotel or the tour company gave use sufficient information.) Avoiding uncertainties like these, we felt, should have been the job of the tour company or tour guide. All that this would require is for the tuk-tuk driver to tell us, or for the tour manager to inform us. To make matters worse, Amaranath, the tour manager, actually got very mad at us and blamed us for delaying the whale watching boat, even though he had never communicated any directives, and even though he had our phone number. He actually raised his voice and shouted at us.
Poor communication happened multiple times per day, as we were unnecessarily kept in the dark, wasting significant time, causing my wife and I unnecessary frustration. Small things like being told that we could buy breakfast on our own by the tour guide either at the hotel or on the road, which we found surprising because breakfast was listed in the tour itinerary. We were then informed 30 minutes later that breakfast was included in the hotel service, so we lost 30 minutes of riding and almost missed breakfast (some food at the hotel buffet had run out). A comprehensive list of miscommunication resulting in mismanagement would be lengthy. These many issues is what we hoped to avoid when we hired a tour company, and which we would have avoided if we had just planned the tour ourselves, as it turns out that we actually plan much more seamless travels on our own, and depending on someone else actually took more time that if we had just planned it ourselves.
This lack of communication was particularly frustrating as the tour manager Amaranath met us at the airport, and asked us to please contact him with any problems so he can have a chance fix them. However, when we did contact him with problems he usually told us that we were wrong (that the bike was an XL (even though the Felt website claimed otherwise), and that the helmet was an XL (even though it was marked L and didn't fit my head, where an XL would), or he would tell us to fix the problem on your own (you don't like the hotel room, then find another hotel in the same budget range), as the only thing he would do is highlight the problems we informed him of to the hotel manager, which we could have done ourselves. He did buy us a bottle of wine when we complained, but really, we would have preferred to have our simple needs responded too, or better yet, to have a smart tour planned for us that would be relatively worry free.
General advice:
1. emission standards in Sri Lanka are pretty bad, so it is not unusual to see vehicles passing you belching out smog. I used a Buff to cover my face both from the intense heat and to filter the air, but a breathing mask would have been great here. The Buff did do a great job on its own, though.
2. Consider organizing your own tour. Hiring a van and a driver is cheap and easy. Booking hotels is also super easy, as is booking your own tours. You can do this with mobile apps or by contacting the managers and owners directly. You will end up saving about 60% of your budget. There is very little route planing done, so some brief research on your own will show you some great options. Also, if you hire a van, you can get your driver to take you past places that aren't good. (If you do get a driver, direct them to where you want to be picked up, instead of getting them to follow you. Rural routes are circuitous, and you are paying per KM). Aside from what I just stated above, Ceylon Adventures does very little. In fact, the prices they quoted they paid for hotels was higher than what you can get on bookings.com, so why bother. Also, you can negotiate better prices for tours like whale watching and safaris when you are on the ground, and you will end up getting a better price, and more comprehensive information. Furthermore, you have more options when you plan on your own. For example, the whale watching boat we were booked on was one of the slowest in the fleet, but kept you out at see longer. However, you might want to higher a speedboat, and spend less time. (Read my full review on the Whale Tour Company by following my profile).
3. If you do take the tour the Ceylon Adventures, ask your guide to take you on back roads ... It is much nicer than the highways.
Prologue--The horror story: The communication was so bad during our tour that sometimes we were actually given wrong information. When we went to make arrangements to our next destination after the whale watching, the hotel manager told us we would be getting transportation to our next destination from the tour company. This was the same hotel manager who had informed us of our tuk-tuk to the whale watching, so we believed him. We were surprised, but we accepted it, and asked him to tell the transportation we would be ready in 1 hour. After 1 hour we checked back to see how things were progressing. We were told it would arrive in 30 minutes. After another hour we contacted the tour company, and spoke with the hotel manager again. We waited for 5 hours, texting the tour manager frequently about the expected time of transportation, to which we only received unclear responses. We often got the feeling that the tour manager wasn't really reading what we were writing, as we asked when the transport to our final destination would arrive, and he responded, "I am coming to meet you today", which we interpreted as he was going to transport us himself. However, when he arrived, he told us that transportation was not included (5 hours of waiting in the hotel lobby!). We we're confused as to why he didn't tell us that earlier, why he had come to see us in the first place. In the end, it seemed that he wanted to take us out to dinner, but we had never been informed of this. We might have wanted to dress a certain way, shower, not eat, any of the decisions that people make before going out to dinner with someone you have just done business with. As it was, we had actually already made dinner plans with friends who were 100 KMs away in another town. Again, a simple text in advance from the tour manager such as, "I would like to take you out for dinner on the evening after your whale watching" would have been great. We might have prolonged our stay at the hotel, or be given the opportunity to decline and then save him the effort of coming to see us.
In the end the tour manager volunteered to take us to our destination, which was nice, but when we pointed out that better communication might have avoided many problems during the tour, and that it might be useful to think about for future tours, he actually threatened to kick us out halfway to our destination on some rural road, and pulled over to the side of the road to kick us out of his car. Luckily his wife, who was dressed up for dinner (so possibly he had advised her about his dinner ambitions), advised him that it was a bad idea. He was very hot tempered, so we agreed to no longer discuss the topic, as his anger was causing him to drive erratically, which we all felt was very dangerous. For some reason he interpreted our suggestion for more communication as a demand for a refund, which we actually never suggested. He offered to give us 25USD for the misunderstanding (1.7% of what we paid, and probably the cost of the dinner that he was clearly no longer going to take us to), which we declined as it wasn't about money, but about the inconvenience, and a desire of acknowledgement. We also strongly felt that if we could help him see these problems, that future bike tours could be conducted more smoothly, and in that way we would be paying it forward As future bike tourists might benefit. In the end my wife and I sat back and chatted, enjoyed watching out the window ... We just wanted to conclude our business with Ceylon Adventures, end our frustrations, and see our friends as it was very clear to him that his business was about money, and not about customer satisfaction.
In the end we realized that the only thing that Amaranath was clear about was where, when, and how he wanted to be paid: in the airport lobby (in plain sight of other travellers), in full, in US cash, before we even got in to his hired vehicle.
Written February 21, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
so far we have offered over 200 cycling trip in Sri Lanka and most of them very flexible and understand our guidance. therefore so far we never heard any complaint and everybody left the Sri Lanka with thousands of beautiful memories. some of them did not forget to leave a comment on Trip advisor.
About Cycling Routes
Generally all our cycling routes are moderated and we will skip traffic as much as possible and if there any by road and without polluted or traffic. no matter about distance or cost definitely we will use and our objective adding experiences people life. people may experience countryside, landscapes and people living style.
but sometimes there is no by road or countryside road some of destinations such as from Kandy to Nuwera Elliya, Ella and Yala.
however above route very scenic and ride through tea plantations but there is no traffic like other roads of Sri Lanka. we started the cycling in after the Gampola bridge and skipping Kandy city traffic area. so our clients no need to get fear with traffic because always our guide will lead the front and given instruction handle such emergency situation. that is why so far we never heard such bad experience and people also kind enough to understand our guidance.
Mr/Mrs. Haas selected 4 days trip based on above route and ending at the beach. so there is alternative route for us to use. we have given all information prior to book the package and at the correspondence stage about route, kind of terrain and distance. because we want make the riders mind prior to start otherwise if we informed last minute then bit hard to organize themselves.
Quality of Bike and conditions
everyday at the tour end our guide repairing, cleaning and do needful fine-tunes for next day ride. if professional riders knows gear shifting, breaking but sometimes our clients not professional level riders so our guide will do basic demonstration use the bike and if somebody informed during the ride about any technical issue our guide fix the bike then and there or replace new bike because usually we will carryout few extra bikes for emergency purposes. we do not like compromised the cycling holiday of people. whatever reason something goes wrong with bike, not require to wait more than 10 minute, there will be replacement for them and it is our service quality standard. people should spend the time discover beauty of Sri Lanka and no need to wast time in the road.
our guide Mr.Anthony kind enough to fixing the bike time to time when they informed and he never refused because it is part of caring our clients and ensure offer great holiday for them.
Size of Helmets and Riding Information
Any client once finalized the tour with us there is application "Customer Information Sheet" they have to fill it and send it us. because there are lot of highly important information such as meal allergies, emergency contact person details, height (arrange the ride cycle frame) and other details. usually adults head size of helmet is Large but if somebody need any customized helmet they have to inform and otherwise informed time of tour staring then we are helpless to find the helmet. usually some of riders are bring their own helmets, if they want any customize things.
1st day we could not do anything but we tried to find out alternative in other cities but our guide somehow adjusted match the requirement as mush as possible.
Accommodations issues
when we are suggesting tours we will offer three types of package / accommodations such as Luxury, Premium and Standards (Economy). so our clients have 3 options and people can book based on their budget. along the tour details we will forward suggested name of hotel, star rating, category of room (such as standard or deluxe) and direct hotel web like for further clarifications. sometimes on availability we will upgrade the room or hotels with our customer permission ( we will acknowledge) prior to such upgrading and simply we can ask or charge any additional payment for this but as relationship extending, value addition we will not charge no any additional supplement from our client because we believe everything not all about money and those the things we can more spice up our client holiday and in return all our clients leave the with good impression about our service and Sri Lanka. that is we can not value in money.
Mr/Mrs Haas booked economy category and all hotels fine with them except Yala "Lake Lodge" prior to start the tour we are giving clear guidance, if there any issue with hotel, informed to hotel prior to departure or when the issue is occur but they have not informed to hotel when the issue occur and they informed at the end of the tour then it is too late because we cannot demand any refund once we done the payment but inquired with hotel and simply they refused to pay refund.
in the holiday we have upgraded Nuwera Elliya accommodation into Premium level (3 star) as value addition.
other reason is each category of hotel has quality standards, Luxury category mean ( 4 star to Boutique type of accommodation), Premium category mean (3 star) and Standard category mean (economical places such as A grade Guide houses). Standard category hotels are with basic comfortable facilities such as Air-conditioned, bed and wash room facilities some of hotels available tv and furniture as well but majority of standard level hotels are basic level.
so hotel issue is not our fault if they not happy and informed then we will direct them to alternative places
Finding Routes by themselves
according to holiday programmed we supposed to end the cycling tour in Hambantota because Hanbantota onward road is narrow and traffic but they want ride further to Mirissa but there is no such by routes and our guide given the instructions but they did not accept and they have tried find own routes and using online maps but it didn't work. however our guide simply allow them to find the routes by themselves stay away but he is so patient with them and ride with them according to they have given instructions. finally they realized there are no such roads as we said and spending many extra Kilometers but we did not ask additional cost for extra mileages. because there is vehicle follow throughout the tour. we have not cost for extra Km.
Picking and Transfer to Hikkaduwa
simply our tours will be end in beach stay and from that onward all are directly client own arrangement. so we drop them in Jaga Bay in Miriissa and usually hotel check out time around 11 a.m. and our guide simply advise to them from this onward you have to arrange the transport and accommodations. our Operations Manager usually meet people at the end of tour and get the feedback from them. simply they have informed we are awaiting meet him but did not informed where? he thought they have already gone to Hikkaduwa. but this client asked hotel steward, do we come to pick them? that hotel person informed somebody will come but this is nobody informed and completely it is miscommunication with hotel and client. our operation manage gone to Hikkaduwa and around 2 p.m realized still they are in same hotel but he came to see them and drop them Hikkaduwa. this is simple advise all travelers, please do not communicate non responsible people in hotels simply they do not know about holiday plan so keep directly correspondence with us and follow our guidance.
Written June 12, 2016
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Scales13
Dambulla, Sri Lanka2 contributions
Dec 2013 • Family
Good bikes, helmets provided. Guide was fun and friendly. The cycle lasted one and half hours on flat roads.
Written December 15, 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you feedback!
Written February 10, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Ale X
1 contribution
Jan 2017 • Family
Very knowledgeable tour of kithulgala area. Malith was the best guide that we have had during our Sri Lankan trip and would highly recommend booking with My Ceylon Adventures because of the very friendly and understanding staff. 10/10
Written January 3, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
saratogadxb
United Kingdom41 contributions
Sep 2015 • Couples
We organised a cycling tour with My Ceylon Adventures for 4 days in the central region. Prior to the trip Amaranath was very helpful during organisation phase listening to what we wanted and offering good suggestions to finalise the schedule.
During the trip we had Anthony as a guide and he was a good cycle guide and was very passionate about ensuring we had the holiday we wanted and was an enthusiastic cyclist which really shone through and added to the overall experience. Anthony was great and listened to what we wanted to and let us increase the amount of cycling we did over some of the other activity options presented that we didn't want to do. The overall cycle tour of the Central region we exactly what we wanted including a challenging trip up knuckles mountain which was a real highlight. We also spent an afternoon white water rafting and rock diving a fantastic experience highly recommended.
The last two days were in Galle and I can highly recommend taking the bikes out around Galle Fort and along the coast for a nice flat coastal ride the perfect end to our holiday.
The bikes aren't that new and can have maintenance issues - but Anthony maintains them well and they were perfectly adequate for our trip - in which we covered over 200km on them.
We choose all of our accommodation in conjunction with Amaranath's advice prior to the trip and all but one lived up to our expectations.
I would recommend this company to anyone wishing to have a cycle tour around Sri Lanka. They offer good advice and good guides - make sure you tailor the holiday you want you don't have to do everything suggested and both Amaranath and the tour guides will listen to what you want to ensure you are happy with all aspects of the holiday.
During the trip we had Anthony as a guide and he was a good cycle guide and was very passionate about ensuring we had the holiday we wanted and was an enthusiastic cyclist which really shone through and added to the overall experience. Anthony was great and listened to what we wanted to and let us increase the amount of cycling we did over some of the other activity options presented that we didn't want to do. The overall cycle tour of the Central region we exactly what we wanted including a challenging trip up knuckles mountain which was a real highlight. We also spent an afternoon white water rafting and rock diving a fantastic experience highly recommended.
The last two days were in Galle and I can highly recommend taking the bikes out around Galle Fort and along the coast for a nice flat coastal ride the perfect end to our holiday.
The bikes aren't that new and can have maintenance issues - but Anthony maintains them well and they were perfectly adequate for our trip - in which we covered over 200km on them.
We choose all of our accommodation in conjunction with Amaranath's advice prior to the trip and all but one lived up to our expectations.
I would recommend this company to anyone wishing to have a cycle tour around Sri Lanka. They offer good advice and good guides - make sure you tailor the holiday you want you don't have to do everything suggested and both Amaranath and the tour guides will listen to what you want to ensure you are happy with all aspects of the holiday.
Written October 12, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Dear Emma,
Thank you for the comment that you made on “Trip Advisor”, spent your valuable time on behalf of us expressing about your experience with My Ceylon Adventures.
Your comments highly important to us for communicate about service to all travellers around the world.
Once again thank you for your valuable comment and sharing your experience with us.
Look forward see you again in Sri Lanka.
God bless you!
Thank you,
Amaranath
Written October 13, 2015
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Isin K
Istanbul, Türkiye26 contributions
Jan 2020
It was excellent, amazing country, friendly people, amazing food, panorama, sports, swimming, especially thank you guides..
Written February 3, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
it is pleasure to hearing from you and we did not feel until the tour end tour end we are away from the family.
thank you cycling with us and look forward to see you again.
Written February 10, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Mustafa Orhon
Izmir, Türkiye116 contributions
We were 5 of 20 friends who weren't biking but following the same route like the bikers and me being an amateur photographer benefitted very much. We spent 8marvelous days in the countryside, villages, rice plantations, mountains, tea plantations, lakes, historical places, landmarks, tea factory, gem museum. We watched cultural dances. Spent time with school kids and painted their school for charity. Had tasty local food in villages and nice and clean restaurants. Stayed in nice hotels of which two of them were very nice. Last two days on the beach was marvelous and "relaxing". Well not so relaxing, we were fighting with ocean waves which was great fun.
The staff of My Ceylon Adventures were;
Ready, Polite, Smiling, Helping, Supporting, Listening, Answering, Problem solving, Entertaining.
We had no problem whatsoever.
Their aim was making us happy and they certainly did...
Thank you guys.
The staff of My Ceylon Adventures were;
Ready, Polite, Smiling, Helping, Supporting, Listening, Answering, Problem solving, Entertaining.
We had no problem whatsoever.
Their aim was making us happy and they certainly did...
Thank you guys.
Written January 31, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you Sir! all your kind thoughts :-)
we did not feel we are away from the family ....when we were with your team! look forward see you again!
next time we will take you to 9 arch bridge in Ella :-)
you can have a amazing photography....
once again thank you for you for the comment :-)
Written February 1, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Bonjour,
J'aimerai savoir à quelle heure vous rentrez au port car je dois être imperativement à l'aeroport à 18 h ?
Written November 8, 2018
Amaranath W
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Hi,
it is 4 - 6 hrs excursion and boat will be returned around 12 p.m.
please let me know when will you join with the whales watching and number of participants?
if you need any further inquiry please call +777030311
Written November 9, 2018
inushka2018
Colombo, Sri Lanka
What are the rates applicable for two adults and two child under 6 years?
Written April 3, 2018
Log on "Pigeon Island Car Rental Service" on TripAdvisor find your best Rates dont Waist your value money
Written October 20, 2019
Bonjour, j'aimerais savoir si quelqu'un a des infos sur le vol en montgolfière à Sigiriya ? d'avance merci.
Written June 18, 2017
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