What’s special about WioWiKi ?

WioWiKi stands for “Vacationing With or Without Kids”. At WioWiKi we believe that parents with children, whatever be their age, can afford to chart a journey with culturally rich and entertaining itineraries.

While the emphasis is on family-friendly vacations, the information WioWiKi provides on different locations can be used by tourists of all ages.

It all started out when the parents of Timothy and Tara returned from a memorable trip to Sri Lanka and shared their itinerary and notes with friends and family. In turn, those who undertook a trip to the island annotated these notes with other first-hand information and circulated them to a bigger circle. Soon, a cycle of chain mails circulated across in many languages and included expatriates based in Colombo, Galle and Kandy, helped by their Sri Lankan friends.

Within six months, the project was going haywire with a motley collection of information accompanied by photos, footnotes, footnotes to footnotes, comments, remarks, criticisms, arguments, counter arguments, footnotes, updates, incomplete drafts, etc. all in different fonts, colours and languages that went on and on like some unstoppable surrealist exquisite cadaver.

Whatever be the charm of Surrealism, the text was too jumbled to be usefully exploited by anyone. It required a total revamp, painstaking classification and a rigorous compiling technique to patch together all the information. Mission information on some activities and destinations was gathered by some other contributors living in Sri Lanka. We owe them a lot as we owe to many patient friends who read through the guide you are reading now and made pertinent remarks and additions.  We thank them all.

What’s special about the WioWiKi?

This is a site where all the content is written with one idea or rather, one challenge in mind i.e. parents with children, whatever be their age, can afford to travel not just to seaside resorts and amusement parks in Sri Lanka. It is definitely a challenge to convince your young child to visit a culture spot but as parents know, it is easier when the younger generation can find something interesting to see and do nearby.

We also firmly believe that if your trip is carefully prepared and done in the right way, visiting any spot will be of interest to all in your entourage.

How can that be possible?

Firstly, the content for each major town or city in Sri Lanka has been written by people from different countries with quite a lot of experience in travelling (with or without kids) and expatriate life.  To each town or city, we have added surrounding towns and villages of interest, just in case you have time to explore and discover. We probably do not have that extra creative writing flair that travel writers possess but we definitely have equal if not, greater experience on the topic.

Secondly, each destination contains a section of activities for children entitled “What to do with kids”, a section on nature-based outings entitled “Beaches/Nature in Beauty”, another on “Wildlife” and finally a few activities in a list named “Not to Miss”. Please note that some ideas of surrounding villages to be visited or activities to be done have been repeated in two or three destinations. This has been done on purpose, to avoid flipping pages back and forth.

Thirdly, we have packed all the information we have gathered and exchanged among us over time in our Enjoy Sri Lanka section with chapters dedicated to wildlife, beaches, adventures, etc. We also have other sections that contain all the information you need to make your trip to Sri Lanka a success.

That being said, while the emphasis is on family-friendly vacations, the information this guide provides can be used by tourists of all ages.

What we do not provide are commentaries on specific places where you can eat or stay, the reason being is we found that we ourselves tend to refer to well-known websites to make their choice. We have however included under each city or town a select list of hotels, guesthouses and restaurants that we have heard about favourably. If you wish to comment on them or propose a new establishment that you would like us to add after verification, please feel free to write to us.

Should you find any discrepancy in this guide, need to report an update or share any other information, write to us at info@wiowiki.com