Twelve Jolly Good Reasons to Spend Christmas in Sri Lanka

Even though it’s not long to go for Christmas, there’s still time to arrange to celebrate the festive season in a different way. How? Book a flight to Colombo. Why?

Here we give twelve jolly good reasons to spend Christmas in Sri Lanka. It’s a fun time and a discount time, too, as shops and shopping malls offer special bargains at Christmas. The newest mall, at One Galle Face, Colombo, will be open in time for Christmas gift buying, and there’s another new Mall at Shangri-la, also in Colombo.

If you’re feeling lucky this Christmas, Colombo’s casinos will have special draws as well as Christmas excitement and the big pay-outs of Roulette and card games.

There’s another jolly good reason to spend Christmas in Sri Lanka: you’ll escape the crowds of tourists who flock here in the New Year.

We wish all our readers a Very Merry Sri Lanka Christmas.

• It’s different.
• Cast off your winter woollies for beachwear and laze in the sun, instead of being stuck at home on Christmas Day.
• You can choose your climate for Christmas: have fun in the sun on west coast beaches or be Christmassy cold in the hill country warmed by cosy log fires.
• Sri Lanka is cheaper than the Maldives or the Caribbean for a fun holiday at Christmas.
• You can buy duty-free alcohol at the airport on arrival (1.5 litres of spirits and two bottles of wine per person); enough for Christmas Day
  Read: Sri Lanka customs regulations
• Hotels lay on extravagant buffets on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with traditional dishes and all the trimmings, as well as Sri Lankan seasonal specialities like “Love Cake.”
• Entertainment, music, Christmas trees with presents and a Sri Lankan Santa Claus, are part of the special events that hotels organise for guests and their children at Christmas.
• Christmas bargain shopping is fantastic. Up-market fashion sale at knock-down prices, tropical knick-knacks, and brilliant locally-sourced gems and jewellery are some Christmas gifts you could buy.
• Go swimming, snorkelling, diving, water-skiing, wind-surfing or para-gliding for an unforgettable Christmas.
• Make a Christmas visit to Sri Lanka’s unique orphanage; It’s for baby elephants.
• Go on a jeep safari to see wild elephants, or on a boat or plane to witness whales a-swimming and dolphins a-leaping
• Still dreaming of a white Christmas? Go white water rafting.
  Read: the guide on white water rafting