VILLA DREAMING SRI LANKA

CHILL OUT AMONG THE PALM TREES AT A TROPICAL HOLIDAY IDYLL WHERE ECO TOURISM IS A GIVEN AND RELAXING IS MANDATORY.

- by Kirstie Clements

THERE IS A LOT OF TALK ABOUT SRI LANKA, deemed a new 'hot list' destination by many travellers. The country is emerging from decades of political turmoil and conflict with a new government and an encouraging focus on ecotourism. Now visitors can expect tangled jungles and rolling tea plantations, elegant decor and architecture, sublime cuisine, warm hospitality and a thriving cultural scene. What is maddening is when those planning a visit casually refer to Sri Lanka as 'the new Bali', a reference perhaps to the innate beauty and grace of both places, but also a prescient reminder about what can exist, and be spoiled, by rapid overdevelopment. If Sri Lanka is indeed at a turning point when it comes to future tourism, there is a responsibility to protect all facets of this wondrous island.

Sri Lankan-owned boutique hotel group Uga Escapes has seven discreet luxury properties in the most scenic locales, including Uga Jungle Beach in Trincomalee and Uga Chena Huts in Sri Lanka's safari central, Yala. The Uga philosophy is to offer residences that are smaller in scale and huge on style. Recently opened Uga Riva in Negombo is a magnificently restored, 180-year-old manor house with only seven guest rooms, set on a two-hectare coconut estate, a 30-minute drive from the main airport in Colombo.