Simple stays with essential amenities. Typically guesthouses, hostels or hotels rated below 3 stars — clean, no-frills, and great for value-conscious travelers.
Comfortable and reliable 3-star stays. Expect private rooms, en-suite bathrooms, and solid amenities — a great balance between comfort and cost.
Upscale 4-5 star hotels and lodges. Enjoy high-end service, refined comfort, and premium locations — ideal for travelers seeking extra indulgence.
From the moment Sam picked us up from the airport, nothing was too much trouble for him. if he could make your stay better he would. He offered advice and local knowledge but was never over the top. As a guide he was familiar with and had a real passion for his country. The weather was bad in the south of the country for our first week, so Aitken Spence changed our itinerary so we went northeast first and south the second week, meaning we missed the rain. How many companies would do that? I recommend this company and Sam.
Sri Lanka Time Tour via Aitken Spence. We met our driver and guided Sanka in Negombo for a 10 day tour of Sri Lanka. As soon as we met Sanka we knew we had made a very good decision, he was very friendly and welcoming us to continue our tour with the first events, he was prompt and very knowledgeable, and very proud of his country. Driving in Sri Lanka is crazy but Sanka was very experienced and we never felt unsafe. Safety throughout Sri Lanka is a high priority, but we never feel unsafe anywhere and encourage visitors to carry on while the tourism industry suffers. The hotels we stayed in were excellent and the staff were always friendly and very helpful. The tour is very busy with some long days, but we end with a six day break in the Maldives to recover. A truly memorable holiday with lots of laughs and banter with Sanka who made the tour so enjoyable.
Art and architecture
Tour Type
Private Tour
Accommodation
Hotel, Resort, Villa
Age Range
6-99 yrs
Operated in
english, spanish
Destinations
Colombo, Negombo, Sigiriya, Kand
Colombo, Negombo, Sigiriya, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Yala National Park
We thoroughly enjoyed our Highlights of Sri Lanka Tour, booked through Wendy Wu Tours Australia, and delivered through Aitken Spence Travel Services of Columbo, Sri Lanka. The hotels selected for our accommodation were generally of a high standard with good facilities and diligent staff. The restaurants selected for food provision were excellent and generally provided a great selection of Sri Lankan and European style dishes, catering to the diverse needs of our group. The sites visited, provided a great cross section of the best tourist attractions in Sri Lanka, and satisfied our desire to see what this beautiful destination has to offer. The services provided by our tour guide, Harsha Karunaratne, were of the highest standards. Harsha was very professional, diligent and caring, going far beyond reasonable expectations to ensure that each member of our tour group received the best Sri Lankan experience possible. Harsha's team consisting of Kumara (Security and Valet) and Bundoo (Bus Driver and Porter) were just wonderful. Negotiating Sri Lanka's back roads and busy city roads requires skill and attention to safety at all times, and Bundoo pulled it off brilliantly. Kumara made sure all the guests on the tour stayed safe and provided a great sense of fun and community during our travels. Harsha and his team's attention to detail was fantastic and helped make our stay in Sri Lanka exceptional.
Wonderful trip with Harsha Gayal Perera. Sri Lanka is a very beautiful country. We highly recommend Aitken Spence Travel Agency for the tour guides they work with. Our tour included the visit of the ancient capitals of the country, the most important temples and also focused on the current culture and society. A mixture of nature and history, which allows you to learn a lot from this experience. Our vacation was perfect thanks also to our guide Gayal, who made it unforgettable. Aitken Spencer Travel should be proud to have a person like Gayal. We invite all readers not to worry about choosing Sri Lanka as a travel destination full of history, legends, spirituality, colours, sound and wonderful people. You can trust an expert tour guide like Gayal and you won't run into any challenges. Enjoy this country! ! !
Fantastic guide! Nimal Wijeratne, Aitken Spence's Travels. Because of Nimal we have had a great holiday as he showed us his beautiful Sri Lanka in so many different ways. He was helpful, friendly and extremely knowledgeable about Sri Lanka and the trip. We have been to restaurants and places where we would never have been without Nimal. We have had a good connection with Nimal and he became a true friend.
We had a great experience with Khum and this company. The transport to and from the trek was smooth. The trek holds breath-taking views with mostly straightforward days for a fit walker with a few challenging days. I highly recommend the trek for any nature lover and enthusiastic trekker. It is, however, the guide and porter that absolutely make the trek! They really do become like family on the trek. Raju has mastered the art of being a guide. He knows well when to give space and when to engage with encouragement or knowledge. We met many guides on the trek and, whilst they were all lovely, we felt especially fortunate to have Raju with his uplifting energy, enthusiastic knowledge and witty humour. Raju made the experience perfect. He acquired the best rooms he could to look after us as one of had a stomach infection. The rooms were better than expected all the way round as Raju managed to get us private rooms at every tea house and always offered extra blankets and pillows! He was patient and kind and remained positive towards achieving our goal despite the difficult illness. He also supplied the medicine which cured us and allowed us to complete the trek. It’s safe to say this would not have happened without Raju! We played cards every night and we shared different games with each other, this was a real highlight! Nima was also a lovely and caring porter who with his limited English communicated largely in kindness and respect. He was always there to help and support and several times returned from dropping the heavy bag to help! Despite the illness, the trip ran smoothly because of Raju and Nima and it has perpetuated our deep love for Nepal and a desperation to return and complete more treks. We can’t thank Raju and Nima enough for their excellency and for making our trip so special!
Had a fantastic experience with the help of our guide Sumba Sherpa. He made things so easy for us through out the trek. He's very experienced and helped us when he had to. First class experience!
We could not have been happier with our trek with this local travel specialist. The hike around the Manaslu mountain range was absolutely gorgeous, the scenery was breathtaking and much more diverse than we expected. For days, we walked through all kinds of jungle and rainforests - we even saw some wild monkeys, all while the mountains were towering above us in the distance. We walked beneath massive waterfalls and crossed suspension bridges hundreds of meters above the roaring mountain river that the path follows along.
The acclimatization time for the altitude was perfect on this trek, and when we reached the higher mountains we could really enjoy the breathtaking landscape. Seeing Manaslu tower 5000m above you when you are already at over 3000m elevation makes you feel small in the best way possible. In the high mountains we saw dozens of eagles and hundreds of yaks.
The daily hikes were not too long, but still challenging on some days, the perfect distances to keep it interesting but not too exhausting.
What made this trek extremely pleasant more than anything else was our guide Lok. With his funny and open-minded nature he made even the strenuous passages of the trek feel enjoyable. He not only gave us a lot of insights about the trek and the mountains of Nepal but also brought us closer to Nepal's culture and history. Sharing our experiences with other trekkers we met along the way made us even more aware of how lucky we were to have Lok. Through his years of experience he knew all the tricks and always got us the best rooms, just for example. He also responded to our wishes on a daily basis and we were able to shape the trek individually. When one of us was not feeling well and Lok could not find anything suitable in his large first aid kit, he went above and beyond to scout out the pharmacies in every village until the necessary medicine was found.
After returning from the trek, he gave us recommendations for the shops with the best quality for the best prices, which was also very helpful considering the overwhelming number of mountaineering stores in the city.
We booked a porter for the trip and we were so glad we did. Being able to pack that extra sweater or pair of socks at altitude is more than worth it. Our porter was very pleasant and always there to help in the guesthouses.
We had an amazing time and we will definitely be back to do another trek with Lok and this local travel specialist!