Sri Lanka is a vast country and infamously difficult to travel around. We decided to save time and take the new internal flight service by Cinnamon Air. What would’ve taken us 5-6 hrs to drive, took 40 mins to fly and it was an amazing journey.
Our airstrip was a lagoon in Dickwella, on the south Sri Lanka. The little six seater cessna landed inbound on the lagoon in front of the smallest airport ever! We were greeted with two riffle carrying police officers and a security officer, and a porter to load our luggage.
Sitting directly behind the two pilots as we took off from the water was sensational. We flew around 3,000 ft where we could admire the coast, long beach, mountains, forests, small villages and long winding rivers that span the country.
It felt like a private air tour of Sri Lanka, one of the most amazing ways to see this beautiful and diverse country.
For $200 one way, it was quite expensive, but it was an experience that was well worth that little extra and it saved hours on the road. Although I have to say that we spent 2 hrs in a traffic jam from the airport to Colombo, but still it was incredible.
TIP: Sit behind the pilot as they point out sights below and you get to see them at the controls which is a unique perspective. It also exciting on landing.