pool lit up at night at jetwing ayurveda pavillion negombo hotel

A Sri Lanka Travel Agent Who Can Edit The Island

In a world where you are trying to fit in 36 hours into a 24 hour work day, it doesn’t help that Google throws out 27 million answers to your search for best local Sri Lanka tour operators who can curate private holidays to Sri Lanka!

Enter, Ayu in the Wild, a Travel Concierge who can edit the island.

Ayu in the Wild offers the services of a true travel fixer, curating itineraries that are bespoke holidays to Sri Lanka with all the annoying decisions removed from your table. With a vast network of local contacts who host emotionally engaging and intellectually curious experiences for our guests, the small team of Sri Lankan Travel Designers will take a blank sheet of paper and mull over endless possibilities - directly with you or with your local Travel Advisor, until the itinerary is so perfectly tuned, so flawlessly high-end, and pulled off with the finesse of an orchestral conductor who’s slight swish of the baton makes a 100 musicians play in a whisper.

Private Holidays to Sri Lanka That Are Not Hotel-Led By One Brand of Properties

Ayu in the Wild works closely with a range of stylish properties across the island.

All hotel and villa recommendations are independent of any affiliations and are based on the finer details of each, to make your holiday just right.

We believe that itineraries that are pulled together by travel specialists who are affiliated to one brand or one collection of luxury villas, tend to limit how a traveler explores Sri Lanka, nudging the traveler along generic itineraries and through well trodden paths that cross only their collection or brand of properties, whatever the season may be. Our bespoke private holidays to Sri Lanka are not based on ushering clients from one property to the next on the same round trip journey. In fact, no two Sri Lanka Trips we design are the same.

We've had more than one client saying they’d heard incredible things about a particular collection of villas or a wildlife lodge from friends; and many times, we've had to explain to them, that yes, its an absolutely out of this world place, but perhaps not the right one for you at this time of year because your friends traveled during a different season. Or, your friends experienced it with older kids. We would then encourage our clients to try a more secluded villa along a different coast or to try a different camp that allows private safaris which are better suited when traveling with younger kids. In the midst of it all, we will throw in the most ‘real’ experiences with ‘real Sri Lankans’ who host the most engaging experiences not part of the mainstream tourist highlights offered by the hotels in Sri Lanka.

All luxury chains of boutique villas and hotels, are a part of our portfolio and our Travel Designers will arrange the most impossible and spare you the logistics. We do the recces ourselves. We climb the steps, walk the walkways and talk to the chefs because clients and Private Travel Advisors will ask us for the finer details.

We Work With Some Clients For Over Six Months To Design A Two-Week Holiday

We insist on knowing our guests profoundly.

We want to know what you can handle: not just your interests and needs, likes and dislikes, and allergies; but your energy, your previous travel experiences and your thirst for knowledge about what is real in a foreign destination. It's about understanding what you want from a holiday to Sri Lanka, even though you might not actually tell us in exactly those words.

We work closely with Private Travel Advisors in several countries, to inspire their clients with the mind boggling diversity in Sri Lanka that is not easy to sift through and real life experiences that are not easy to find. Our itineraries are a blend of the personal, the deeply educated and the unique. Our connections across the island helps us curate holidays that are emotionally and intellectually engaging. It’s about adventures that make you go ‘wow’.

When you work with our small team of Travel Designers you are putting yourself in the hands of top professional bespoke experience-makers who curate some of the best private holidays to Sri Lanka. We first take your measure, open up our formidable local contact database to mull over various experiences possible for your travel season,and then we start weaving a story that is completely unique for you by matching each experience with their proximity to the most beautiful villas, hotels or camps.

All you need to do is experience and enjoy.

Sophisticated Smart Resorts vs. the Poetry of Geoffrey Bawa Hotels

Some guests love unashamedly smart residence resorts with infinity pools, butlers and a multitude of restaurants; others love the poetry of the architectural masterpieces of Geoffrey Bawa designed villas: those beautiful properties designed by the father of Asian tropical pavilion-style monsoon architecture. Some want adventures under canvas in Sri Lanka’s best wildlife parks. Others love the idea of a few nights in a tree hut. Along the way, you or your Travel Advisor can choose which century-old heritage buildings that have been reborn as amazing hotels across Sri Lanka, will make you relive glorious days from the past. At Ayu in the Wild, we curate itineraries with accommodation that suites the holiday style of each traveler and their budget. With years of travel across the island, we know which Tree Hut has the right level of comfort and which luxury villa has the most spacious family room.

A Sri Lanka holiday itinerary can include overnight stays in a wide selection of properties that we have listed on each Trip Idea on our site. Each trip can be tailor made combining resorts, eco villas, boutique lodges and camps with intelligent itineraries, and access to the lesser-visited regions of Sri Lanka.

Bespoke Experience-Makers - Architects, Professors, Artistes, Wildlife Guides

Ayu in the Wild are access-masters.

Having lived all our lives in Sri Lanka, we are profoundly well connected to offer insider experiences. Behind the scenes of each Sri Lanka itinerary we curate is a trail of conversations, meetings with childhood contacts, chats with different guides, whatsapp messages with professional contacts and edit after edit of the journey to match the traveler with the right specialist who will open the right doors.

These local connections are people that Chamintha and Rajindra - the owners of Ayu in the Wild have vetted and worked with to train them as experience hosts. Some are personal friends. Others are contacts through private schooling or careers in finance and law. Some are the best local community based guides, who are licensed and registered to guide guests at cultural sites. Some are farmers and teachers that we have stumbled upon while walking down a rural road. Over the years, these specialists have developed a keen sense of reading the comfort and interest levels of each guest, so vital to the success of delivering a personalised experience.

Our safari guides especially have become experts in human nature. Interpreting the wilderness and the behaviour of wildlife are as equally important to the private wildlife guides of Ayu in the Wild as getting our clients into their comfort zones on safari.

All Ayu in the Wild guides have a great relationship with the staff of the camps and lodges our guests stay at, and are able to liaise with the resident managers ahead of your arrival to create memorable moments or arrange for special requests without you even knowing.