As explained in more detail here and here, each week for 8 weeks, I'll be starting a forum thread asking readers to share their tips/suggestions/anecdotes about a destination I'll be visiting in the next couple of months. The author of the best comment (most useful, funniest, etc - as judged by me) will win a small prize and will also be entered into the Grand Prize draw with the other weekly winners, where you could win 2,000 Norwegian Reward CashPoints (worth ~£185). All contributions are very welcome - particularly things like: Recommendations on what to see/do/eat/drink Thoughts on the best hotels (particularly sweet spots using points!) Tips on how to get around Best airport lounges and other airport info Best ways to fly there using points/miles Amusing/interesting stories about the destination/travelling there This week's destination is Colombo, Sri Lanka, where I'll be spending about 48 hours. In particular, I'm wondering where the best places to eat and drink are and what the easiest way to get to/from the airport into town is. Share your knowledge, help me out, and maybe win a prize!
Best hotel has to be Shangri-la Colombo. Good location on the seafront, free breakfast for Jade members (with Amex plat), and not terrible value if using points (2,625 currently). In terms of what to do, dutch hospital is good for food / shopping, and walking along the promenade is cool. Then get the train down to Galle for a night. Train journey great in itself, plus Galle is beautiful.
Oh, also, the Lotus first class lounge is pretty average, but did manage to have a nice shower in there, which I love to do before long haul flights. Possibly recommend turning up early to the airport (seemingly 2 levels of security - 1 just to get into check in.) The queue was crazy long, probably over an hour easy.
Cheers Coyle - great stuff! Shangri-La definitely looks nice (and I do have Jade via Amex), but I ended up going for the Hilton residences, as could book a 3 bedroom suite for standard number of points (40k) and I needed 2 rooms, so the value was hard to turn down (particularly with Hilton Diamond status). Would love to go to Galle - even better if there was some cricket on there at the time, but sadly not got time on this trip (speaking of cricket, very annoyingly, I've just realised I could actually have seen an England game in Colombo if I'd timed things a little differently!). Dutch Hospital sounds good for food - any idea if Ministry of Crab there is worth the hype? Ouch - yeah, I hadn't really thought about security at the airport. Fortunately, the flight isn't until the evening, so should be able to make sure we've got plenty of time. Thanks again for the tips!
