Articles
- Last Updated on 01 January 2020
The best holiday destinations for 2020
The Sunday Times Travel team selects the must-see spots for the year ahead
If you’re anything like us, then the toasts, turkey and tantrums of the festive period will have been punctuated by lively discussions about travel plans for the year ahead. Far-flung or flight-free? City or coast? Culture or mindless loafing? To help you reach a decision, our experts have picked out a nice round 20 destinations they think are worthy of your consideration in 2020. There are comeback kids (Sri Lanka); emerging regions (the Caucasus); old favourites (Guernsey); progressive cities (Taipei); secretive kingdoms (Saudi Arabia); and at least three capitals of culture. Enjoy!
Duncan Craig, Travel Editor
Sri Lanka:the comeback kid with the big heart
As the country seeks to put the Easter Sunday bombings behind it, old favourites and new hotspots are luring visitors back
Beachside Tangalle is more accessible than everALAMY
We tipped Sri Lanka in 2018, and we have such faith in the island, we’re tipping it again. Since the devastating Easter Sunday bombings earlier this year, there’s been an outpouring of warmth towards the country. It had been on a high — welcoming more and more visitors — and it is, happily, well on the road to recovery, with operators seeing rises in bookings even on pre-attack numbers. I’ve been drawn back by the beauty of the place, the kindness of the people and those fragrant curries that you’ll even crave for breakfast.
You can have so many different sorts of holiday here — whether you want to follow the twisting roads into tea country for fresh brews served overlooking the mistily beautiful Bogawantalawa Valley, flop on the palm-fringed beaches on the south and east coasts, dip in and out of the antique-filled streets in elegant Galle or shop in Colombo’s high-end craft stores.
“Old favourites are proving to be most popular,” says James Jayasundera, the founder and managing director of Ampersand Travel. “Galle, Tangalle and the tea plantations are firmly back on track. It’s most encouraging.”
The beachside town of Tangalle is more accessible than ever thanks to a new stretch of road connecting the airport with the highway going south, which means you no longer have to travel via Colombo. It’s not yet fully operational, but when it is, you will be able to reach Tangalle in just over three hours, according to Sam Clark, of Experience Travel.
For second-timers, there’s more to discover outside Colombo, Kandy and Galle. Red Dot Tours recommends trekking in the magnificent Knuckles mountain range, 25 miles north of Kandy, where you are unlikely to bump into any other tourists and can walk between hotels such as the Madulkelle Tea and Eco Lodge, which is 3,000ft above sea level and offers glorious views from its infinity pool, and the Santani Resort & Spa, to the south. You can spend the day hiking the peaks and tea plantations, pausing to picnic or swim in a natural pool, before arriving at Santani’s 20 minimalist chalets. With no TVs and pared-back decor, the emphasis is on switching off, and you’ll need little encouragement to do just that.
For those who want to explore the less travelled north, Sail Lanka offers a trip along the undeveloped Jaffna Peninsula. Sailing on a fully crewed catamaran, you’ll drop anchor at largely uninhabited islands off the northern tip of Sri Lanka, with dips in unvisited bays and cocktails at sunset (sail-lanka-charter.com).
Red Dot Tours has a 12-day itinerary, with one night in Colombo, two in Mannar, three in Jaffna (including one night aboard a Sail Lanka catamaran), two in Wilpattu National Park, two nights in the Knuckles (one at Madulkelle, one at Santani) and a last night back in Colombo. Prices start at £2,870pp (reddottours.com). Fly to Colombo from £520 return (srilankan.com)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-best-holiday-destinations-for-2020-vqjckznz7?region=global
