Our trip to Sri Lanka was one of our best trips ever and the experience was really elevated by our wonderful driver Mr Laal and the great organisation before and during our trip by Merganser Holidays. We were a party of two couples and months before the trip we put together a list of boutique hotels we would like to stay and also places we wanted to visit. We booked all the hotels but Merganser arranged everything else for the trip. Merganser was able to work with us and they helped put together an itinerary. When we arrived in Colombo airport after an overnight flight from London Mr Laal was there waiting for us and our adventures began! We started with one night Colombo to get settled and over 13 days travelled to Kandy, Sigiriya, Nuwara Ella, Ella, Mirassa and finally Galle Fort. Our driver Mr Laal was with us for the whole trip and really looked after us very well. He was also a great guide when we needed him and sometimes came on the hikes we did. His driving was very safe and he always made sure we were comfortable in the van. Note that driving 80km in Sri Lanka can take over 3 hours...due to slower traffic and also mountainous roads inland. At the end of each day he would drop as back at our hotel usually around 5pm and then we would next meet him the following morning after breakfast outside the hotel with his minivan cleaned and ready to go. We took 3 train train journeys during our stay and Mr Laal always brought us right to the platform and made sure we found our reserved seats on the train. He would then meet us at our destination as we stepped off the train, and best of all...he had our luggage already in his minivan. It is very hard to buy first class reserved seats on trains in Sri Lanka ahead of time but Merganser took care of all of these for us. We turned up one morning at a station only to find a huge line of tourists right out of the station waiting to buy tickets. Mr Laal brought us in another entrance as we already had our tickets and we walked straight to the platform. If we wanted to change plans or add something to our trip then Mr Laal and Merganser were very helpful and accommodating. We tried to set up a balloon trip but fog prevented this....we were kept informed the whole time...and it was not a problem when the balloon company had to cancel the night before. Thank you for everything and thank you Mr Laal for looking after us so well...we will never forget this trip!!!!!

Pros: - The van was very clean, very well equipped. WiFi on board was a GREAT feature. Water and napkins etc. were available which was very helpful. Lal cleaned the van every night for us. - Lal (tour guide) was friendly and helpful. He gave just the right amount of tour guide info, not too little and not too much. He was friendly with the kids and even helped set up a car stand where they could put their Nintendo. - Most of the spots we visited were beautiful and the views were amazing. Well-worth seeing. The best parts were the Sigiriya Rock climb, the Little Adam’s Peak hike and the Yala Safari where we saw two leopards! - Lal gave us privacy during lunches which was appreciated as sometimes you need a break from the tour, especially when you are traveling with kids, which can be exhausting. Cons: - Lal did not follow the scheduled itinerary on a couple of occasions. He changed the tea factory without informing us. He also changed the elephant conservatory. The scheduled itinerary should be followed. - Lal made some unscheduled stops at souvenir shops that we did not ask for. This resulted in some delays and we did miss a couple of things that were scheduled in the itinerary. - Lal told us that the Ramboda falls cannot be seen from up close which turned out to be untrue, as we found out later. But overall, we would definitely recommend this tour company!

Driver Hemal was brilliant. Whole drive trip was excellent. Prompt pick up at airport - good advise for local sim and currency exchange. Flexible and gave us options we would like. Overall fantastic trip.

We (family from Germany with 2 children aged 5 and 3) booked a car+ driver with Merganser Holidays for a 13 days roundtrip in Sri Lanka. I chose Merganser Holidays because of the positive ratings and comments on the Internet and the good Website where we could see the cars and the Team. I wrote an email with our request and got a very fast response by the tour coordinator Henry Lionel with pricing (very fair!), photos of the Van and suggestions on our planned Trip. We had already chosen and booked the Hotels by ourself, but with todays Knowledge I would have doublechecked the hotels with Merganser holidays as well. To sum it up: In terms of total rating I can only say that everything was perfect. The process of booking/reservation was very smooth, the van was perfectly clean with the right child seats for the kids and very new and comfortable. Our driver Lal waited for us at the airport when we arrived. During the entire trip Lal was always right on time and gave us a lot of background infos during our tour. Therefore he was both driver and very well educated guide. But even more important, when you spent so much time together on a roundtrip, Lal is one of the most gentle, nice and friendly person we have ever met. 2 weeks after the end of the tour the kids are still saying, that they miss him. I can only highly recommend to book with Merganser Holidays.

We had a 5 day itinerary planned and the taxi service company not only accommodated us with the taxi but also helped guide our agenda for our time in Sri Lanka. Our driver Ajith was patient and very knowledgeable and we were very pleased with everything. I highly recommend this taxi company for your time in Sri Lanka if you want a smooth and enjoyable vacation!

A smooth trip, from pickup at the international airport at Sri Lanka to Dikwella beach the first night, a transfer during the trip, and finally a trip back to Colombo with a stop at Galle Fort.

Honestly the best service and they went above and beyond from the moment we arrived at the airport. Mr Henry and his son greeted us at the airport and introduced us to Lal our driver for the next day days. We then went on an incredible journey and covered a large area of Sri Lanka: the cultural triangle, a National Park, a few days on the East coast. Followed by a visit to Kandy and the tea country hills and finally to Galle. Lal was a brilliant guide, knowledgeable, kind, courteous, patient (when we were a little late most mornings). Helpful/adaptable at fine tuning our route. Always with an umbrella to hand or a sarong to cover our legs! We would definitely recommend Merganser. It was a faultless professional service and we are so grateful for all their help planning our holiday of a lifetime.

Merganser provided an excellent service. Henry was a knowledgeable guide, providing information when needed, but never intrusive. Also they were flexible and adaptive (but also realistic about what could be done) when we changed our plans for the day. The van was comfortable to stretch out and in great condition, cleaned spotless every day and with good air-conditioning. Lastly, but most importantly, in a country where the driving is often crazy, our driver was safe and professional at all times. Safe enough that even with my family on-board, I felt perfectly ok to have a snooze. I can't give higher praise.

This was our first holiday traveling with young children (9 and 11), during which we stayed in 13 different places in Sri Lanka. Thanks to Merganser Holiday, our tour was fantastic. Before we came to Sri Lanka, we created our own route and booked our own hotels. We didn't want to drive ourselves in a country we weren’t familiar with. We found Merganser Holidays through TripAdvisor, and they helped us with our itinerary by suggesting things to do and see. The communication was exceptionally friendly and prompt. Upon arrival at the airport, the son of the owner was there to greet us, along with our guide and driver, Lal. From the outset, we felt welcomed, our concerns about the vacation dissipated with the introduction of this splendid guide. Lal escorted us throughout Sri Lanka for 27 days. We've never had such an impressive guide and driver. His English was proficient, and he was genuinely committed to helping us enjoy a great holiday. He quickly grasped what we liked and what we didn’t. If you are planning a trip to Sri Lanka and wish to explore the country's rich history, I highly recommend Merganser Holidays!

I have spent three memorable days in Sri Lanka with Henry. He made my short trip an unforgettable experience, for which I am so thankful. My three days were very tightly scheduled, we were criss crossing the whole country from west to east and to south visiting the main sites. Not only has Henry planned the trip for me, he also executed it flawlessly. Highly recommended to everyone who wants to experience the best of Sri Lanka.

Our nine day tour around Sri Lanka, arranged by the wonderful Mr Henry was excellent, enhanced by our safe and friendly driver Mr Lal who took care of us, translating as need and sharing insights into the various places we visited. It was clear that Mr Henry and Mr Lal had put in a great deal of effort to ensure our smooth trip by contacting all our AirBnb bookings in advance to ensure they knew where they were (often not that easy to find). Finally a big thank you to Mr Lal for his patience as we searched the back streets of Seeduwa often getting stuck in the big van while we looked for the house we built there 20 years ago.

Henry Lionel my driver made my trip to SriLanka a memorable one. He is very knowledgeable about every aspect of SriLanka a great driver always on time, very caring and took great care of me. Made me feel that I will want to visit SriLanka again.

We just came back from an amazing holiday in Sri Lanka celebrating our 40th Wedding Anniversary. Our trip was made so memorable and special, thanks to Henry Lionel. From the first time we connected with Merganser Holidays via email, the communication had been prompt and the price was very reasonable so within a short period of time we had planned our 2 weeks holiday to Sri Lanka! We received a clear itinerary and price outlined for each activity for us to decide what we wanted to do within our budget. We had Henry's experience, stopping along the way to Galle at a Tsunami museum and a Turtle Hatchery, both of which were a revelation of rehabilitation and regeneration efforts by the local population. During our journey, Henry would be kind to suggest and give us options to see places of interest along the route, which we found really good. Henry had arranged guides at numerous places we went to. He would also stop at any place we asked him along the way to have King coconut water or fruits and to draw cash out at ATMs. We discovered that the Bank of Ceylon gave us the best rates with lowest transaction fees. We used a Wise debit card to draw cash out of ATM's and this was very convenient, as Henry would find an ATM for us to use. Along the way Henry would stop the car if he or we would spot elephants on the road, and we would have plenty of photo opportunities with these magnificent animals. Henry's driving skills were exceptional as he carefully managed in between buses, rickshaws, motorcyclists and other drivers. Henry is a calm, grounded person, he would give us time in the morning to be ready for next day's drive and if we felt that we needed more time then he would oblige or patiently wait for us. On the morning of every drive Henry ensured that the car was clean from the previous night and was ready for our next exploration. On our last day before flying out we reached Colombo mid afternoon and managed to show us most of the interesting places from outside. We asked him for some shopping time and he gave us an hour. However, we spent almost two hours in a shopping mall. He had waited patiently for us, for which we were really grateful. Thank You Henry for the marvellous trip.

When we decided to book a car with driver we did not really know what to expect but we have been incredibly impressed by everything Henry has done to ensure that we, his guests, had an amazing time in Sri Lanka. Just to mention some of the things we are very grateful for: 1. He helped improving our itinerary, upfront already and also during the trip as he got to know us better. 2. He is an extremely reliable and kind person. He looked out for interesting, relaxing and fun things to do, always with our best interest in mind but never pushy. 3. He is knowledgeable about a lot of things, and we quickly got used to just "Asking Henry" along the way. Yet, when he thought it was better for us to get more in depth knowledge about certain topics, he'd arrange expert guides for us . 4. We are in awe on how Henry managed to guide us safely through crazy traffic, day after day. We won't forget how the very steep and rocky hills and the expertly avoided confrontations with cows, dogs, peacocks and kamikaze bus drivers along the way. If you're planning a trip to Sri Lanka, we can highly recommend him. We could not have wished for a better partner on this trip. If there was a score above excellent, he would get it from us. Thanks for everything Henry!

Enjoyed our time in Sri Lanka. We saw a lot in a relatively short time which was all made easy and stress free by having a dedicated car and driver. The service was very professional from the start. Our flight landed late at night but Henry was waiting and delivered us to that night's accommodation. I booked all our accommodation but Henry made contact with each to confirm location and advise them of approximate arrival time. He arranged for private local guides at Dambulla Caves, Sigiriya rock and Polonnaruwa (included in the price of the tour) which was very helpful. He also made suggestions for additional stops (tsunami museum, turtle hatchery) on our way back towards Negombo for the last night and rescued us when our train to Ella ran into difficulties!

Henry organised our 7-day tour as per our itinerary. We loved every bit of it. Our driver and guide, Laal, was friendly and very knowledgeable about Sri Lanka. He even took us to a few places which weren’t on our itinerary. Visiting Blow Hole in Kudawella and Ramboda falls via the Ramboda falls hotel was a memorable experience. Henry also arranged our safari at Yala national park, where we had a great time seeing a wide range of birds and animals (Leopard, Sloth bear and Elephants . We didn't have inconveniences during our trip, even with the current fuel crisis. Henry was able to secure the required fuel for our entire tour. If you want to experience Sri Lanka, I suggest you reach out to Henry for a memorable tour of Sri Lanka!

I had such an excellent time in Sri Lanka thanks to Henry who was my driver/guide while I was there. He really looked out for me and made sure I had the best possible experience. I managed to see so much of the country and that's thanks to Henry going above and beyond; he also suggested interesting sights not on the main tourist trail like a local Buddhist temple etc. If you want to experience Sri Lanka, I suggest looking here! And if you do, I suggest asking for Henry.

We booked the 9 day tour with Merganser Tours and could not have been happier with the experience. Pre-trip Mr Lionel Henry was incredibly quick and detailed in his responses and very easy to work with. Our driver, Mr. Hemal was friendly and informative, and even took care to let us add special stops and help us find the best local food. Every single detail was taken care of for us and it was easy to relax and just enjoy our trip. Highly highly recommend!

We did the 'Sri Lanka in Style' tour over 9 days and had a FANTASTIC time. The schedule allowed us to see everything we wanted to see without feeling like we were rushing through it. Our driver Hemal was AMAZING - very accommodating with additional sights we wanted to see and extremely knowledgeable on every subject - the country, history, traditions, and even the wildlife we encountered. He made helpful suggestions about things to see and places to eat in each city, and if we passed anything we had questions about he would pull over so we could explore and explain what it was we were looking at. Overall would absolutely recommend - and if you can, definitely request Hemal!

We had a great time with Henri, he is a very good driver, everything went smooth. Highly recommend!!