Olanka Travels Reviews 

We booked a tour to Sri Lanka in March 2020. Unfortunately we arrived at the airport in Sri Lanka to be met by the military as the border had been closed. We were unable to enter the country due to Covid 19. We were initially informed that we would receive a refund from Olanka travel as we had not received services we had paid for. After the initial communication we heard nothing from them again. I sent hours sending emails and trying to contact by phone. It is August now and I have still not resolved the situation. I have received one email from them during all this time to which I responded but no reply.
Realise it has been difficult situation given the Covid outbreaks but would expect better customer service from Olanka travel. Happy to take your money.

Thanks to Olanka Travels for organizing a really unforgettable 5-day tour in Sri Lanka in February 2020. And special thanks to manager Kasunika and driver Kanchana, who were very helpful and professional on all stages of the journey. They managed to create and fulfill a flexible itinerary, which worked in changing weather and traffic situation. So, every bit of the journey was a delight. The tour included visits to Dambulla, Sigiriya, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and Ella, and also a lot of hiking and even a ride on a trainAlthough I stayed in budget hotels, all of them were great! So thanks again)

We just came back from 12 magical days in the beautiful Sri Lanka where we visited: Negombo, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kandy, Adam's Peak, Nuwara Eliya, Ella, Galle, Bentota and Colombo, a tour organised by Michelle from Olanka Travel. Michelle managed to include everything we asked for and has made our experience a very enjoyable one.

I have nothing but praise to give the staff at Olanka travels. They took care of our whole trip as well as were very accommodating to the changes we made along the way. Our personal driver was also very informative and was the perfect guide during our trip.

Looking back on the trip, we believe that the only changes we would have made to the itinerary was to skip Kandy and spend more time down south by the beach and take a short surfing course. Otherwise, every single place we went to was worth the visit and I cannot recommend Adam's Peak and Sigiriya Rock enough - truly a beautiful experience.

Just a little suggestion to Olanka Travels, we would have preferred hotels that were located more in the centre of the towns, although the hotels booked by the agency were very nice and up to standards.

I wish to thank Michelle from the agency for organising such a wonderful and detailed trip.

We booked 2 packages wit them. to make things easier as we went to Srilanka and Maldives through them. on their Itinerary they mentioned breakfast and dinner for all days, which they ended not fulfilling with horrible excuses. our flights arrived late and they would lie to tell us they either arranged the dinner with the hotel which did not happen when we arrived in Maldives, so we were starving and pretty much all the restaurants were closed in the area so we went to bed with empty stomachs.

Before that, we had a hustle with them with the hotel booking in Srilanka and in Maldives, they get the money and the next day they tell you the hotel was fully booked and suggested a horrible hotel which we had no choice over as they were paid already and we were in Dubai and the are in Srilanka at the time. they sold us this nice beautiful hotel overlooking the beach and they booked us to this horrible hotel between the island in between peoples houses which their pool was so dirty we didnt use, no condiments in the room, immediate when we checked in the electricity went off when we arrived to the room, the carpet was so dirty the walls were still getting fixed, the plugs was working properly I had to hold the plug the whole time i'm charging or ironing my clothes, it was worst 1st experience of 4days in Maldives. Olanka travels did not seem bothered whatsoever with our complains. instead they kept going back and forth arguing with us cause we did not know where their offices are in Srilanka and we had limited time in Srilanka. Its a total REGRET booking with them.

In srilanka we stayed in 3 different hotels 2 booked through them. and the hotels were really beautiful problem was the 1st hotel we found lizards in our room(Amaya lake hotel), 2nd hotel food was amazing but bed sheets were torn and so dirty(Okwin resort) the 3rd hotel was was our favorite, we found a huge spider in our room which we reported and the house keeping took the spider and didn't kill i but instead open one room and put it there. THIS WAS SO SHOCKING. We had our bags with us the whole time and i had 4 currency cash money, which 2 currency's got lost in the room when we left our bags to have breakfast and left house keeping in the room, it was so disappointing and shocking that the hotel did not do anything about it. later the day after our excursions we had lunch at the hotel which they said everything was included even after asking so many times. after we ate they brought the bill to us and told us to pay for drinks. what kind of service is this we had the worst 9days of our trip. 1st 2 days they also assigned a driver who cannot speak English and we had a tough time communicating with him. all this feedback given to Olanka travels and our travel consultant "Randima". and the apparent Manager which was horribly rude and kept giving excuses instead of solutions. they still did not care AT ALL!!! IT WAS THE WORST EVER. dealing with fighting for food that we paid for and everything else mentioned above.

We took photos of some of the problem we faced unfortunately my phone was not water proof and it got damaged in Maldives when we we were, though i shall retrieve the photos and i will add them later.

the only nice thing that came out of this trip is the waiter we met at Kaani Village hotel his name is "Shaha" nice personalty and great service we got from him.
We also had a driver called Yashan for the last 2 days spend in Srilanka. he is well-spoken, professional and funny.

We had terrible experience with this company.

Welcome to the ocean of lies i.e. OLANKA TRAVEL

All they're interested in is your money!

They have ruined our 18 years anniversary trip to Maldives.

Take special care with Shahika and Nadhi the travel agent!
Both are Frauds, they will give you the rates and tell you to transfer the amt to their account, once the transfer is done they will tell you that the rooms have been sold out, I has given in my request for dates was 28 th September check-in and 1st October check out for paradise island Maldives but once the payment was received they immediately told that the rooms has been sold out we even checked with the resort people they told us that the rooms are available for that particular dates and Shahika and Nadhi told that rooms are available only after October 9 and when I told them that if you cannot provide the rooms as promised by you please refund the amt and they told that as per company policy you will get only80% Refund. I need to lose my hard earned money for no mistake of me. And they forced me to take the room as per their dates.

After Going to Maldives they were not even bothered to Inform the Resort People about the time of our Arrival and the Resort People came after we called us taking mobile from the local person over there waiting for 2 Hrs.

They had also promised that you will get your rooms in very Good Location if you book through them instead of websites like booking.com or similar websites which offer less price then them hence we booked one water Villa (for myself and my wife) and one Beach Villa (for my 3 children’s) through them one room was in one corner and the other room was in other corner of the resort and the location of the room was also pathetic, One more lie

They also not informed us that you will be having different restaurants for pool villa Restaurant and beach villa restaurants and all the time I was away from my kids for breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Not to add that they charge 3% on top of all money transfers for payment and/or credit card payments.

DO NOT BELIEVE IN ANY PROMISE of this company. Keep yourself away from.
Robbery in day light especially for those people who are making booking from other Countries as you cannot do much once you are trapped in their Web.

They are only interested in your Money…….Big Cheaters

The Lasithi (trip planner) with this travel agency was the best agent I have ever worked with. She answered the questions and delivered an itinerary for us that captured exactly what we were looking for my sister and her husband, the first trip to the Maldives. Overall this was the lowest stress trip. They loved that transportation for the trip was always on time and professionally staffed. All tickets for activities were covered. And the guides for most of the sites visited were truly were passionate about explaining.

About Lasithi, she was very proactive during the whole trip, once she helped us at 3 AM (early morning) when my sister and my brother in law, stuck at the airport while the Immigration. I really appreciate the work and dedication she showed towards them.

Thanks, Olanka and Lasithi for making the trip awesome for my Brother in Law and my sister.!!!! Best of luck!!!!

Sonali ,the tour consultant, who arranged the tour and the accommodation was really responsive as she manged to arrange my honeymoon in a very short notice. She is very professional as she handled all the details in order to meet all my expectations. Also Kanchana, the driver, was really helpful he is not only an excellent driver, he is also a tour guide as he is very knowledgeable and very friendly.

It is highly recommended to travel through Olanka.
They really made my honeymoon unforgettable!

This was our first trip with olanka travels, but the experience was fantastic. very well arranged trip by olanka executive. accommodation was really awesome, all the resorts were out of the city but we enjoyed a lot there. food was also good, you cant get Indian food there but they were preparing as we asked them to do. Tour guide was also very humble and knowledgeable. We wish whenever we visit Sri Lanka we should go with Olanka Travels only. Thanks a lot for the support Olanka Team. Many thanks to Hansani, our tour executive. I am very happy with her continuous efforts for making our trip memorable.

Last week I returned from a holiday in Sri Lanka arranged by Olanka Travels.
My tour consultant, Ishara, was excellent arranging the holiday. She put together several itinerary like Minneriya Elephants Safari, Cave temple, Temple of the Tooth Relic, Royal Botanical Garden and Demodara 9 Arch Bridge etc. but my boat cruise on Madu River Wetland (Madu Ganga Ramsar Wetland) (was not in the itinerary but was recommended by our driver Mr. Sandun) was the best of all.
Thank you Ishara Priyadarshani & Sunsun for making my visit to Sri Lanka memorable.

We have just returned from a fantastic 17 day trip round Sri Lanka, an island which has been long on my bucket list and finally with some thorough planning assisted by Olanka Travels’ Ms Randima Fernando, we had a great trip!
As we are pensioners, we decided to use budget hotels on our travels and Ms Randima did a fantastic job to find these for us. Special mention goes to Kandy, Haranthi House, situated in the hills outside busy Kandy and then Misty Hills in Ella (although to reach our room we had to climb some 90 steps, but the view was magnificent) The only remark about some of these budget hotels was that not all of them had toiletries but then we had ours......
When we arrived at Colombo’s airport, we were greeted by Mr. Indika, our chauffeur for our trip, with a great big smile! As we arrived on a Saturday evening, traffic was heavy getting to Negombo where we spent our first night and the. Following morning, Mr Indika was at our hotel with his big smile and loads of information of our next destination Anduraphur . All through our travels, we could count on Mr. Indika who was flexible and courteous. His knowledge about his country is enormous and in fact we could have done without the official guides at places of interest as he gave us all the information.
The only disappointment we had was our train trip from Nuwara Eliya to Ella: our afternoon train did not arrive 3 hours later due to some engine repair, hence what was supposed to have been a train journey with scenic views ended up as a train journey in total darkness, however Mr. Indika came to our rescue as he suggested that we do a partial return trip by train the following morning and of course we enjoyed the scenery. Hence lesson learnt, these train journeys should be undertaken in the morning in order to factor in any delays......

Thank you Olanka and thank you Mr. Indika for giving us a wonderful time in Sri Lanka.

We did a two week round trip with Olanka. The Hotels were booked correctly and the driver drove us to all the places mentioned. But unfortunately were quite disappointed of the service. First of all, they declared the prizes not honestly. We had to pay for all activities mentioned in our itenary extra and it was not declared clearly in "exclusions"! Also they only recommended us agencies, restaurants, hotels and things to do, where they could get a lot commission, even if the reputation and reviews on tripadvisor were terribly bad (for exemple the spice garden!!) and they were extremly overprized. The "3 star hotels" were mostly not on 3 star level at all. They should only offer the 4 Star standard. Our advisor wanted to meet us on the last day and after arriving 30 minutes late, she did not seem to really care about our feedback.

Be Cautious while booking a tour with Olanka.

First ,overall we enjoyed the tour.

But we were not happy with olanka's caretaking at Sri lanka.

They had simply provided us with a vehicle and a driver and totally forgotten to follow our caretaking.

We were totally under the control of the driver. So to say,we had no freedom at all.The driver argued when we asked about a program that was not completed but provided in the itinerary.

Hence our humble request to olanka's future clients is if there is any addition or deletion in the itinerary, please discuss and finalise it completely before the start of tour.

Please read the itinerary word by word carefully several times and do the changes accordingly.

Bargain the cost after getting two to three quotes of other tour operators.

Bottomline is once you arrive at Srilanka,you are at the mercy of the car driver.

We are not sure where to start. We are still embracing the awesome holiday we had in Sri Lanka. We had a remarkable family tour with Olanka Travels for 2 weeks beginning of December 2018. Our travel consultant, Ms Nipuni Manuthunga was responsive to all my texts and emails from the very start of my request for the tour package, ensuring that our requests are all accommodated. Throughout the tour, she was just a call away, reassuring when my kids fell ill and liaising with the driver when necessary.

I can attest without hesitation the primary reason we had a great time was due to the care and attention Ms Nipuni put into planning our trip. From the pick up to accommodation, to the mouth watering Sri Lankan sweets, Ms Nipuni was constantly liaising with our driver Mr Omar to ensure our needs are met.
We want to also sincerely thank Mr Omar, our driver plus guide for making our trip comfortable and memorable. He had a friendly nature, was informative and engaging. Overall, he was an exceptional host. Ms Nipuni and Mr Omar did their best to make this trip a memorable one.

The tranquility of the seaside towns, the exposure to natures's majestic animals and the serenity of the eye catching views of god's creation ....all nestled very well in Sri Lanka. It was marvellous. Oh yes, the village tour and the succulent meal they provided, was too good to be true. Also, the various safaris provided all types of experiences ( though we personally preferred the Udawalawe jeep safari) . It was an adventurous and stunning journey for us, something our kids will cherish and draw upon for many years to come.

Hotels were great, except Ranna 212 ....we had a bad experience of mosquito bites despite all the slopping of anti-mosquito creams. Ms Nipuni contacted the hotel about this and the hotel management tried eradicating the pests with pesticides. It was not an ideal situation though, there were many ponds and drains with stagnated water, promoting the breeding of mosquitoes.

Overall, we had an awesome time . Thank you Ms Nipuni and Mr Omar for the wonderful Sri Lanka experience.

Olanka travel leaves 2 South African couples and a little child stranded in Maldives on new years eve. We arrived in Maldives hoping to experience a wonderful vacation that turned into a disaster on new year's eve when Olanka travel tool payment months in advance and provided a fraudulent reservation number which the hotel claims does not exist.

On arrival prepaid and booked transfer to the hotel by Olanka did not happen I contacted the consultant Maheshi by phone and never got a response. She has our international number. We made our way to the hotel on arrival at the hotel we were told he have no reservation Olanko never paid for the hotel. The hotel was helpful contacted the local Olanka representative and was told we need to make our own arrangements and pay for alternative accommodation. The hotel assured us to secure an alternative which we paid.

On new years eve almost midnight with a small child we had to walk with bags to the new hotel as no taxis was available. It was difficult.

The worst of all Olanka promised to ensure that the rest of the trip would be fine. We never received a call or message to check if we fine. The CEO claims his entire team is working on our issues and all he can say is it's an error and errors occur in this world.

The hotel front desk called the local Olanka agent how never bother to assist and advised that he arrange our own hotel on a busy new years eve.

I further requested on several occasions payment confirmation for our Island hotel but to no avail. We have also not been refunded of money and had to pay the hotel cash.

We are struggling to get a refund from Olanka the are unable to pay the money to the credit card used to make payment and unable to make payment to my personal bank account.

We are also accused of lying and writing a review on social media.

“Thank you “OLANKA” for such a wonderful trip, everything went very well and we had a great time. We felt very cared for by all your associates and staff at all the locations in Malaysia
We are especially grateful to Mr. Jana for all of his arraignments as well as wonderful hospitality. the hotels and their staff were all terrific. It will be incomplete without a word of appreciation to
Mr. Jana & the our tour guide
The OLANKA agent responded to all my emails and phone calls quickly. He is a true pleasure to work with.
Our trip to Malaysia was amazing. Our Sri Lankan agent Olanka Travels they did a superb job by arranging everything to make us more comfortable. We enjoyed plenty of breathtaking tours on Gentling Highlands, Sunway Lagoon, Putrajaya Tour, and Bukit Tingi Tour & City Tour. Entire experience were so special, definitely Malaysia should be on everyone’s list to visit.
Thanks Olanka Travels. You guys are truly professionals. Even I would like to plan my next year trip also with you.
All arrangements like our transportation, stay , food , activities , sightseeing and all that was expected were as per the commitments and was as per the expectations
Looking forward to many more such exciting trips with Olanka.

My family and I had a wonderful 10 days in Sri Lanka. All the way from our tour consultant, who helped to plan our itinerary as well as our guide/driver.
Ms Vishwani our travel consultant was ever patient with me as she suggested itineraries and went through the several changes we made. Upon arrival in Sri Lanka, we were met by our driver/guide, Mr Priyanka who was excellent. He was always punctual, drove very safely, and had a wide knowledge of the culture and history of the country.
He knew where to stop for mid-morning and lunch breaks during our Long drives, and was ever patient and even helped to look after our 2 young children for us! Often holding their hands whilst crossing the roads, and even up and down the uneven staircases of Sigiriya. He really was beyond our expectations as a driver and guide.
Beautiful Sri Lanka where the people are friendly, the country is safe, and a lot cleaner than I expected too. The beaches, safari, historical sights, wonderful cool weather at Nuwaraeliya, etc.
I would definitely recommend Olanka tours for any visitors of Sri Lanka.
It’s a wonderful holiday destination

We’ve just returned from a truly brilliant holiday in Sri Lanka arranged by Olanka Travels.

Our tour consultant,MS. MAHESHI, was excellent whilst arranging the holiday and Quoting the price. She put together several itinerary options then helped us to refine our tour so that it matched what we wanted to do and we were given 3 Star hotels that we wanted to stay in, so there was complete flexibility to make sure we got exactly what we were looking for.

Maheshi also followed up regularly throughout the tour to ensure that everything was going well and to check whether we had any problems. It was great to have this personal follow-up. We certainly felt that Olanka travels was there for us should we have had any problems (we did not) and the team really seemed to care that we had a good time.

The tour itself was brilliant, Sri Lanka is such a beautiful country and everyone is very friendly. Going with a guide Mr.Sharmeen is definitely the way to go and our Olanka driver we did not get his name was great. Driving is not easy in Sri Lanka, but we felt very safe whilst he was driving. He and Sharmeen also had top knowledge of Sri Lanka both in terms of where we should go for our Lunch clean Restaurants, there was no coaxing us to go to certain places to buy ‘whatever’ which put us in complete control of our holiday.

Great holiday and one we will always remember. I would highly recommend Olanka Travels to anyone. Excellent and very professional service from start to finish with a very personal touch.

Over all Maheshi, Sharmeen and the driver have done a good job for us.

Our team of 15 People are very happy on the service extended while our stay in Sri Lanka and enjoyed the Trip.

We will work with OLANKA TRAVELS SRI LANKA, for our future Holidays to Sri Lanka.

Regards
Capt shan
From Malaysia

We had a great family holiday in the Maldives. It was our first visit there and Koli and his team at Olanka did a fantastic job in sourcing us a great deal. I’m a seaoned traveller so am quite specific about what I want. Koli listened to our requirements and preferences, provided us with several alternatives and put together a very good package. He then followed up on our travel, including transit through Male and our stay at the Ayada Resort. Very happy with the service and happy to recommend them. Thank you Olanka!

We’ve just returned from a truly brilliant holiday in Sri Lanka arranged by Olanka Travels.

Our tour consultant, Ishara, was excellent whilst arranging the holiday. She put together several itinerary options then helped us to refine our tour so that it matched what we wanted to do with the hotels that we wanted to stay in. She was also happy to work in hotels from our own research, so there was complete flexibility to make sure we got exactly what we were looking for.

Ishara also followed up regularly throughout the tour to ensure that everything was going well and to check whether we had any problems. It was great to have this personal follow-up. We certainly felt that Olanka was there for us should we have had any problems (we did not) and the team really seemed to care that we had a good time.

The tour itself was brilliant, Sri Lanka is such a beautiful country and everyone is very friendly. Going with a driver/guide is definitely the way to go and Nishantha our Olanka driver was great. Driving is not easy in Sri Lanka, but we felt very safe whilst he was driving. He also had top knowledge of Sri Lanka both in terms of where we should go and also providing good commentary about Sri Lanka along the way. Importantly, there was no coaxing us to go to certain places to buy ‘whatever’ which put us in complete control of our holiday with no wasted time or feeling of being ripped off.

Great holiday and one we will always remember. I would highly recommend Olanka Travels to anyone. Excellent and very professional service from start to finish with a very personal touch.

Olanka Travels provided us with 5 star service from beginning to end. Vishwani was fantastic in arranging our tour and being very patient with our requests (there was many). All those requests were granted and there was no issues at all throughout the trip. Paying for all entrance fees to parks and tours before our arrival was the way to go, as there was no hidden costs. Mr Senarath (driver) met us at the airport and from there we experienced professionalism, fantastic safe driving and knowledge about the places we visited. It was also great to have him do all the adventures with us (Sigiraya Rock climb) rather than just leaving us to ourselves and meeting up later. This service was above and beyond. Will be definitely recommending your company to family and friends. THANK YOU