Flights

All flights in and out of Sri Lanka are from Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital city. Colombo is a 3 hour drive from Galle, where the wedding is.

When you're searching for flights you may notice that Colombo airport has two different names, Katunayake Airport or Bandaranaike Airport (just to keep you on your toes) don't worry, they are the same place. Make sure you check the time that you arrive in Colombo, the airport is located just north of the city. If you arrive late at night you could stay in Negombo which is the 'airport town' where there are lots of hotels. Or we could arrange a driver to drive you directly to Galle. We've had a look into group bookings, but you really need at least 12 people for it to make much of a difference to the fare AND everyone needs to fly in and out on the same flights. If anyone wants to do this, write a comment on this post to see if there's anyone else with the same flight dates.

Flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane...

The best value flights are Singapore Airlines, Cathy Pacific or Malaysian Airlines. Qantas and BA tend to use Singpore Airlines or Sri Lankan Airlines planes and they are quite a bit more expensive. Guests flying from Brisbane also have the luxurious option of flying with Etihad or Royal Brunei Airlines. Beware, Malaysian Airlines sometimes go back via Chennai, India. (Not ideal. Unless you actually want to go to Chennai...which I've heard is quite nice).

Flights from Perth...

A while ago I found a direct flight from Perth to Sri Lanka, but I can't find it now, everything goes through Singapore or Hong Kong. You WAsians are smart though, you should be able to figure it out.

Flights from London...

The best value flights are from Qatar Airways, Kuwait Airways and Sri Lankan Airlines. Make sure you check the flight duration. Usually a difference in price of £50 means 5 hours of waiting around in a stinky airport.

Sri Lankan Airlines also do some direct flights, but you have to book them early otherwise they become very expensive. Cheap flights are available directly from Sri Lankan Airlines from www.srilankan.aero but they are non-refundable and you can't change the dates. Qatar Airways also offer good prices on their website, www.qatarairways.com and they have flexible fares.

Emirates also offer flights that seem cheap, except they stop twice on the way. Yuk! If you are booking online, Opodo.co.uk and lastminute.com have the best choice.

Flights from Manchester...

Flights are much cheaper from London... I would suggest a train to London then a plane to save about £100. Most of the flights just add on a BMI flight from Heathrow to Manchester.

Flights from Toronto, Calgary, Basel and Bangalore...

Dunno folks, you'll have to figure it out yourselves.