The Foreign Office has just relaxed its warnings about travel to certain parts of Sri Lanka, including several areas ripe for tourism that have been off the map for ten years. So are these areas worth a visit, and will they soon take off?  Here are the thoughts of Oliver James, part of the expert Sri Lanka team at Real Holidays:

“Yala National Park, in the south of Sri Lanka, is renowned as a great place for spotting leopards, so it’s good news that the FCO is again backing travel there.  However, I’d advise visitors to wait a little longer until visiting: at present there are only a few quality places to stay, with Yala Safari Game Lodge, on the dunes just outside the park, the best current lodge.  More importantly, the park’s offerings are also limited for the moment: while you can do safaris from the lodges, there’s still a restriction on overnight camping – and overnight mobile safaris are, in my opinion, the best possible way of experiencing Yala.  That should soon change though, and if Sri Lanka stays peaceful, Yala will really take off.”

“Trincomalee is a nice seaside town on the eastern coast, but one that’s currently lacking in decent beach hotels – something readily available elsewhere on the Sri Lankan seaside. There were a couple of half-decent three-star options a couple of years back, but for obvious reasons there’s been nowhere especially good to stay for a while now.  Trincomalee desperately needs a great hotel to compete with other Sri Lankan coastal towns.”

“Arugam Bay is a real “surf’s up, dude” type of place – but this ‘boarder hang-out again suffers from a lack of quality accommodation.  The Bay’s always been touted as the Next Big Thing in the Sri Lankan tourism terms, but the tsunami and war have left this predicted boon about six or seven years behind schedule.  Watch this space, though – once more assuming stability, I’m sure Arugam Bay will develop over the next couple of years. The likely arrival of a luxury villa or funky beach hotel should enable it to combine with Tangalle, Yala and/or Galle very nicely, thank you very much.” Richard Mellor.