Angel Holidays

16/12/2023

Tonight on BBC 2, is the fabulous movie 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.' You can also catch it on 'I Player.'

The movie inspired Angel Holidays to run it's own Exotic Marigold Hotel experience 3 times! And we visit the actual place where they made the movie on our tour to Rajasthan next March (it's in a secret village, the owner is a friend of Angel Holidays).

Here's the official trailer for the film, and I hope it brings back many happy memories to those who have travelled there with us before.

'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' follows a group of British retirees who decide to "outsource" their retirement to less expensive and seemingly exotic India....

27/01/2022

Sri Lanka, and next month are group of intrepid Angel travellers, will be dusting off lockdowns and joining us on the paradise island of Sri Lanka. They'll enjoy sunsets like this.

On the way they'll travel along beaches, jungle and spice plantations. Up and into the cool highlands, colonial towns and tea stations: sometimes by train.

They'll travel to the east in search of wild elephants, along the paradise beaches of the southern coast and stay in the fortress town of Galle, before heading back again.

They'll be enjoying alfresco dinners along the beach or fine dining in colonial hotels, lost in time. In fact, the variety of where they'll stay is very much part of the adventure. Comfortable hotels with pools, to wooden lodges, colonial hotels, to spectacular settings along precipices. We'll all have a lot of fun too.

Steve Carver, your host, will also be presenting a news piece on the delights of the island for Radio 4.

Maybe you'd like to join future journeys? Contact Bridget our Bookings Manager to join a mailing list.

24/01/2022

Sri Lanka - getting ready. With just under 3 weeks before you join us in the sunshine, you should already be getting started in your preparation.

Our advice is to get a little folder to put all your paperwork in one place as you go along. A couple of days before travel it will contain all that you need such as:

1. Your printed copies of your vaccinations - these are barcoded and can be downloaded from NHS online (you will need your NHS number to do so). Our trip assumes you have 2 vaccinations or more.

2. Your Sri Lankan visa (you can apply for this online right away, and print it out when it arrives a few days later).

3. Your declaration of health (done from the 'hello again Sri Lanka' site - https://www.srilanka.travel/helloagain/ )

4. Your travel insurance and the mandatory Sri Lankan one (just £9 done from the helloagain website shortly before travel).

5. PCR test results (you will get these a couple of days before travel). Order the home test kit this week if you have not already done so, as they have a very long shelf life (ours was over 6 months).

The Sri Lankan government, want to encourage tourism and if you also have any questions on preparing have an email:

[email protected]

If you have any useful preparation tips to share with your fellow travellers please comment on this post. Thanks

22/01/2022

Sri Lanka food;

For a cheap meal you'll see 'Curry and Rice advertised from as little as £2 for a meal. This usually consists of a choice of curry, with a range of sauces as well as lentils. It's low cost, high on rice and low on the main ingredient such as chicken.

One dish you will hear is the Khotu, a mixture of roti bread cut into small pieces over a hot iron (hence the sound of them being made) with a mixture of spices. Samba is a nice coconut mix that's often added to a curry. Fish and cuttlefish (squid) are also popular. Western dishes are available too.

To learn more about the food, you might like to join a cookery evening: you will see these advertised from place to place such as Ella in the hills.

Cardamom is often added (a little goes a long way): this adds a subtle flavour to the dishes. You'll see clay pot dishes (stews) offered from time to time, as well as more Indian type foos such as biriyani.

Fresh whole fish, giant prawns, crabs, tuna and amongst a wide array of sea food along the coast.

Arrack in a popular type of moonshine/whiskey, 35% proof it's strong and used in some cocktails. Lion is a popular local beer, there is local/vodka gin too.

Incidentally if you like a tipple, wine stores (with a green frontage) can be found in most places, these close by 9pm. A typical beer cost is around £2 in a cafe. Wine is around £15 a bottle.

22/01/2022

Packing for Sri Lanka, what to bring?

You can buy almost anything in Sri Lanka, so even if you arrived with nothing, you could buy clothes, toiletries, a sun hat...on arrival.

One thing to buy in the UK is mosquito repellent, you can get it here, but the quality is not always good. If you like the chemical version with Deet, these are hard to come by here.

There are laundry services in many hotels, but you have to get it done in places where we stay two nights. You can conceivably pack enough clothes for a week and launder as required to keep going.

In terms of what to bring, it will be warm and sunny, but up in the hills and even at night in Sigiriya (our second stop) you can get a slight chill at night, so a light jacket here....

Walking shoes are essential, especially if you would like to climb Sigiriya rock (1200 steps). Of course you can bow at and admire the rock from afar if you prefer... But good walking shoes are still good to bring.

You can buy sunscreen here, but it is no cheaper than at home.

If you would like to have a local sim card, this can take a while to arrange at a 'Dialogue' shop (Dialogue are owned by Virgin Mobile) where you need a passport to get one. Enough data for the trip is around £3.

You might also want to download the free app 'MAPSME' and download the Sri Lanka map. It's an app that has a basic map without the need for the internet...

18/01/2022

MONEY ~ SRI LANKA

270 Sri Lankan Rupees to the £

There are numerous ATMs and it’s best to withdraw larger amounts - as each withdrawal incurs around £2 local charges plus whatever your UK bank charges you.

Inform your bank you are going to Sri Lanka to ensure your card works abroad.

There are many banks in Sri Lanka, such as the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) that accepts most UK cards. Avoid the ‘Commercial' bank as their exchange rates is dismal.

There are some outlets that exchange cash (bring new £50 or £20 notes) but they are less numerous (perhaps a fall out due to Covid).

Our advice is to bring your ATM card, some cash and a credit card. There is no need to get Sri Lankan money before you travel in the UK.

15/01/2022

Preparation for Sri Lanka

Travelling to Sri Lanka has been made relatively easy in terms of visas and Covid protocols. Please see this easy to read summary of what to expect by clicking this link:

https://www.srilanka.travel/helloagain/

and this link is where to start the online visa process, a double entry visa will suffice at around £26:

https://www.eta.gov.lk/slvisa/visainfo/center.jsp?locale=en_US

13/01/2022

Welcome to those interested in coming to Sri Lanka with us. Please feel free to use this page to put up information or ask for info. Whether it be good flight prices you've found, good insurance companies (that offer cover for Covid), or anything else....feel free to post here.

Here is a first post about flights to get the ball rolling.....

Firstly, due to the covid, prices are around £100 to £150 more than usual. For example, a good return flight from the UK is currently around £700 whereas before that would had been around £550 but if you can find better deals please share here.

As an example, on Skyscanner, there is a reasonable flight with Qatar (a good airline) for £694.

The tour starts Saturday 12th February (leaving the UK Saturday arriving with the time difference, on Sunday) but if you want to come out a day or more early, we still pick you up at the airport free, and extra room nights will be reasonable (no more than £60). 😊 If you have any websites that are good to look at for flights please share. You may even want to meet at the airport and fly out together.....

12/09/2020

Today, in the The Times Newspaper, Hugo Rifkind show, Steve Carver, Director of Angel Holidays was interviewed live on radio. It's in the last ten minutes of the show.

If you might like to enjoy this interview please click below, and get transported to India! We hope you enjoy the programme, and wish you all a good weekend.

Steve will also be in tomorrow's Sunday Times - please look in the Travel section of the Homes magazine. We hope you enjoy that too. Please click here for the radio interview (it comes at the end of the programme)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio/show/20200912-3529/2020-09-12

09/11/2018

21/05/2018

Inspired by the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movies and the BBC documentaries that followed them, Angel Holidays has created its own Exotic Marigold experiment where volunteers can travel to India to see what retirement would bring. The trip is almost 3 weeks in duration and will operate much like the...

22/11/2017

10/11/2013

Don't forget to like our new angel holidays page! sorry for all this messing around but visit www.facebook.com/angelholidays.co.uk hope you like it,

Angel Holidays offers a more authentic form of travel to Nepal, Peru, Cambodia, Laos and India.

07/02/2012

Anyone been to Nepal recently with Angel Holidays?

06/11/2011

pokhara at sunset