Explore with ExploreYarl
Journeys that connect culture, history, and adventure
Explore with local guide
Explore temples, coastal gems, and rich culture with local guide
Travel through the misty hills, golden beaches, and ancient cities of Sri Lanka, while uncovering the unique spirit of Jaffna and the North. With Explore Yarl, every journey blends culture, adventure, and authentic local life.
From Sigiriya’s ancient rock fortress to Kandy’s hill country and southern beaches, our All Ceylon tours showcase the best of Sri Lanka in a carefully curated way.
Step into the charm of Jaffna – colorful kovils, historic forts, sacred islands, and authentic Tamil cuisine, all guided by local expertise.
EXCELLENTTrustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Highly recommended for a great experience in Jaffna. Arun was very helpful and accommodative. They gave an unforgettable experience in Jaffna and KKSTrustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Una bellissima esperienza nel cuore di Jaffna con Arun di Explore Yarl! Ci ha accompagnati dalle 15 alle 20 in un tour guidato nei principali siti d’interesse di Jaffna raccontandoci con cura e passione la loro storia. Alla fine del tour ci ha fatto assaggiare dei cibi locali in un posto tipico. Arun è una guida capace e appassionata che sa trasmettere l’amore per la sua cultura e la sua terra. Non esitate a fargli domande, sarà sempre felice ed entusiasta di rispondervi!! Consigliatissimo!!Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We thoroughly enjoyed our 9 day tour in Sri Lanka. We have chosen explore Yarl to cover all places in Sri Lanka including negombo, Anuradhapura,Jaffna, sigiriya, Kandy,pinnawala and Colombo. All places are well organized and arranged by Mr. Arun who came as a guide.it was very perfect from beginning to end. Mr. Arun is an outstanding person who spent entire days with us during the 9 days and he arranged excellent accommodation and transport facilities in all the days. The way he presented the places he took us, and in order he presented them was very amazing. He has deep knowledge of the history of the area, which made the experience come alive. He looked at the children's very careful and we never forget that he carried children on his back when children did not manage themselves while climbing sigiriya hills . He was introduced as a guide but we felt like we hired our own brother for the trip. We all honored very well once we arrived in Sri Lanka by Mr.arun and he gave memorable gift to all on the last day before leaving the country. It was amazing feeling.we never and ever had such experience.we strongly recommend Explore Yarl and Mr.Arun to my friends and to all who are planning a trip to Sri Lanka .Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. The best tours you can hope for. This would be our tagline for Yarl Tours and his mastermind Arun, the main reason behind the success of his company. We were lucky to catch him twice during our stay in Jaffna. True, there are not many competitors when it comes to guides as Jaffna is, for now, a local-only thing, therefore you can only hope for him to be available as he will make the difference in your trip. We first did a tour of the city by car which really helped us understand its intricate and fascinating history. Mind you, what Arun does is a “free walking tour” style of explanation of the places, mixing facts, contemporary vibes, art, architecture, politics, food, everyday life of the locals and everything in between. He also takes you to true local food outlets, so your experience will be complete. Get ready to eat with your hands from a banana leaf. One of the highlights was being in Jaffna on the world-famous Nallur Temple Festival, a great hindu celebration. Being there with him and getting a detailed explanation of everything that was going on (otherwise not so clear) was truly unique. We always do one of such tours when we first arrive in a city and this is one we will remember for a long time. Then we also did a tour (by car) of the northern part of the Jaffna peninsula, visiting places not many tourists get to see (and yes, we did sacrifice Mannar and Delft to do this, and we believe it was worth it). I am referring to the St. Anthony church buried under the sand and the cemetery (the Manalkadu desert area), the KKS beach, Vallipuram temple and the hot springs at Keerimalai, plus more. Look no further, contact Arun for a tour if you’re planning to go to Jaffna - and do it asap! He got featured on Lonely Planet and he’s as busy as he deserves. Best if you look for his phone number on Tripadvisor (like we did) and get in touch directly. Forgot to mention he speaks great English (not a given at all in Sri Lanka, even among guides), and replies very quickly.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Mr.Arun is a good, enthusiastic human being and a professional guide. He is very kind with kids and elders. I went with my family and my friends family for 7N & 8D (Negombo - Anuradhapura - Jaffna - SIGIRIYA- Kandy- Pinnawala - Colombo). Everybody and everyday we enjoyed and thrilled. We never ever forget SIGIRIYA and PIDURANGALA ROCK climbing with kids. He himself alone taken care 4kids and helped us to climb and we achieved. He becomes part of our family for us brother and for our kids Mama💖 (Uncle). Some memories below.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Arun est un super guide, digne de confiance. Il nous a guidé pendant 3 jours dans la région de Jaffna avec nos 3 enfants. Il a eu à cœur que les enfants (et nous mêmes) passions les meilleurs moments possibles, tout en respectant leur rythme. Il nous a très bien expliqué la culture tamoule et la religion hindous, c’était très intéressant. Nous avons fait des activités variées et que nous aurions eu du mal à organiser seuls. Les enfants nous parlent encore d’Arun un mois après (et des concombres de mer ☺️, des piments mangés dans les champs). Bref merci Arun pour tous ces souvenirs et on te préviendra si nous revenons au Sri Lanka ! (Arun fait aussi de super photos qu’il partage !)Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I wish I had come across Arun earlier. Me and my kids did the cooking class with him earlier. We made good fiery Jaffna crab curry along with fried shrimp, fresh coconut sambol and daal. He knew we were Indians and had children with us, so good amount of spices were used and kids were thrilled to have so many mini poppadums. Really felt like we visited family.Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I had a great day on the full day temple tours. Dilushan was attentive, able to explain something about the hindu temples we stopped at and very obliging to stop for photo oppportunities. Highly recommendTrustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We are a family of 3 (mother F49, me M22 and brother M19). We firstly visited the south of Sri Lanka, which was more popular to some time and more touristically approchable, so we had a small glimpse of what to expect from coming back after 3 years. This time we went there to explore the north, specifically Trincomalee and Jaffna for a 10-day trip. After our landing, we went to visit the capital - Colombo, then we went to Trincomalee and we spent here 3 days, we went fishing, to massages, taste local food, etc. After that we went to visit Jaffna, where we spent 6 days overall, where we had much bigger sort of experiences, like pottery, cooking classes, sightseeing, visiting island, etc. and on our last day we went to the Delfth island, where we were exploring the local island and went laying on the beach. Everything sound like a regular holiday, however it wasn´t exactly like that. Our tour guide named Arun is a young tour guide, who you can rely on everything you need. He planned every detail in advance and planned an amazing holiday. You can be the pickiest person ever, but Arun is always some steps ahead and in a few moments your wish is granted. He is Jaffna-born person, so he know Jaffna across perfectly. His knowledge of religion, culture, and Jaffna itself is enormous, so his speech about country and city were always interesting and comprehensive. I believe that this factor seperates regular tour-guides from others - knowledge and also strong dedication to do everything for your customers just so they are comfortable and happy. There are many people who prefer different things. Our family is a huge mixture of everything, we enjoy sightseeing, snorcheling, we like some action, but we also sometimes like just to lay down on the beach and do nothing in particular. If you are some action guy, and dont prefer to do sightseeing too oftern, your holiday can be a little bit customized, so you will do what you actually like. If you like to explore local religion, culture, or people, Arun will také you to some interesting places where you will explore new things. Some people are probably right now considering of visiting Sri Lanka, because visiting the north of the country is not a popular choice right now. Some people might be scared, or some people dont know if its a good idea. I can 100% guarantee you, that you can try to visit Sri Lanka on your own, you can enjoy some things, taste local food, explore culture etc. But if you really want to see Sri Lanka with your both eyes and all of your senses, to actually visualise and vibe with the whole culture, there is no other way than to do it with Arun. Until then you will have this feeling that you tried everything, every essential thing you can imagine in the span of your holidays.Verified by TrustindexTrustindex verified badge is the Universal Symbol of Trust. Only the greatest companies can get the verified badge who has a review score above 4.5, based on customer reviews over the past 12 months. Read more
EXCELLENTVerified Great places to experience, and a guide willing to explain and discuss everything I thoroughly recommend Arun as a tour guide. I was the only person on this trip, so was able to adjust the normal schedule to suit myself (e.g. I wasn't interested in a beach stop). Arun coped well with my requests, and showed me other things of greater interest to me. He obviously knew a lot about the usual stops on the tour, but also fully answered all my non-standard questions. I really appreciated the opportunity to discuss things with a local. No topic was off-limits. Overall a great experienceVerified Colombo Tours (7N & 8D) Mr.Arun is a good, enthusiastic human being and a professional guide. He is very kind with kids and elders. I went with my family and my friends family for 7N & 8D (Negombo - Anuradhapura - Jaffna - SIGIRIYA- Kandy- Pinnawala - Colombo). Everybody and everyday we enjoyed and thrilled. We never ever forget SIGIRIYA and PIDURANGALA ROCK climbing with kids. He himself alone taken care 4kids and helped us to climb and we achieved. He becomes part of our family for us brother and for our kids Mama💖 (Uncle). Some memories below.Verified A great tour guide and great experiences Arun is a super mistletoe DE, trustworthy. He guided us for 3 days in the area DE Jaffna with our 3 children. He took it to heart that the ENfants (and ourselves) had the best possible moments, while respecting their rhythm. He explained Tamil culture and Hindu religion very well, it was very interesting. We did a variety of activities that we would have had difficulty organizing on our own. The children still tell us about Arun a month later (and DE cucumbers de mer ☺️, peppers eaten in the fields). Anyway thank you Arun for all these memories and we will notify you if we return to Sri Lanka! (Arun also makes great DE photos that he shares!)Verified Day trip on Jaffna Amur is the guy to go with. He’s a history lover of the place, will take all the necessary time to reveal you what you have to know about the places, not only the facts, but the natural and human secrets of these that will let you with wonder. He’s a super nice local fromJaffna and you will have a great time ! Definitely and warmly recommended, thanks again !Verified We are a family of three (mother F49, brother M19 and me M22) and we went there for a 10-day trip. We already visited Sri Lanka 3 years ago, so we had some small expectations about what to expect, however there was much more to this trip, and it definitely was better than what we could´ve expected.Arun is a young tour guide, who is constantly trying his very best to give his customers everything they need. He is a Jaffna-born citizen, that knows his city across perfectly, so he had everything planned in advance. Everytime we needed something from him during our trip, he didn´t ask any questions, he was always some steps ahead and made our wishes granted. Not only that, he also served as a personal photographer, so everytime we needed some group photos, to capture some action etc. Arun was always there for us.There are always 100 people 100 different tastes. We as a family like this mixture of everything. We are open to visit local markets, go snorcheling, going on sights. or just to lay down at the beach and do nothing particular. You can be literally any person you want, however Arun knows your interests. If you are not a sightseeing guy, you can tell that you preffer swimming, and the trip will be a little bit configurated to your preferences. Or the opposite, if you came to explore the local culture, Arun will take you to the famous sights and give you a great speech about local religion, culture, history, etc.We were in Trincomalee for 3 days and then we spent the next 7 days in Arun´s hometown - Jaffna. Even though we had just a few days to explore both cities, we had this feeling that we explored everything important, everything interesting and essential that both cities have to offer.Visiting Sri Lanka can be a little tricky for some people, because for us it was a huge step to the unknown even though we were there some time before. Many people reading this are probably considering if visiting Sri Lanka is a good choice. I can guarantee you that you can enjoy this trip to some extend, but if you really want to see Sri Lanka how it really is, how people live here and to capture essentials in a short span of time, you definitely need a proper tour guide, and that is Arun.Definitely 5/5 recommended, we fully enjoyed our vacation and it overcame our expectations by far from our last visit!Verified A rare gem: Arun & Explore Yarl touring experience. I *highly* recommend Explore Yarl and particularly Arun as the most impeccable guide. We were a last minute booking and feel it was so serendipitous to stumble across this company online. I’m struggling to find words to describe our wonderful, full day tour with Arun, from the comfort of an air-conditioned car, guided through temples in Jaffna and up to the beaches and fishing villages of the northern most tip.At the half-way point of our 2 weeks holiday in Sri Lanka - I very much doubt anything will compare to this special experience - my soul genuinely feels replenished. We connected with local people, learned so much about the region, the different cultures, religious practice and rituals that converge here and about Tamil history. We were even invited into a temple to partake in ‘day 4’ of a 10-day festival, welcomed and allowed to observe their ceremony and join in a veritable feast & all because Arun is so open, generous, curious and kind to everyone he encounters. He’s patient, funny, intuitively tailors the tour to your needs and interests with ease and this allows spontaneous, joyful encounters to occur throughout the day. An incredible time and such a privilege to meet and spend nearly 9 hours with Arun, enjoy his positive energy and extensive knowledge - a rare gem of a guide and human being. Thank you so very much.Cally (& Nick) from Australia.Verified An incredible holiday We had been to Sri Lanka three years ago, but this holiday exceeded all our expectations. We visited Colombo, Trincomalee where we spent 3 days, and another 6 days on our way to and in Jaffna. The last day we enjoyed on the island of Delft. We saw a lot of sights, for which we received an incredibly comprehensive briefing from Arun, which helped us to learn and understand the history of Sri Lanka. We fished, snorkeled, cooked local dishes, visited an amusement park, watched crocodiles and other animals, met local people and admired their customs, and did many other activities. The whole holiday was well organised, the accommodation and food were faultless. Arun's English is excellent so you don't have to worry about not understanding anything. I can only recommend Explore Yarl. Thank you very much !RenataVerified A wholesome Jaffna experience Arun was our guide for 2 days on a short tour of Jaffna and completely exceeded our expectations. I was seeking a basic understanding of Jaffna life but what I got was an extensive lecture on the history, culture, politics and geography of the city and the region. He was also very good at showing us the beauty of the region driving us through the islands via causeways and ferries. It was fantastic to have such a knowledgeable guide that enabled us to get the best from the short visit.Verified Worried About Jaffna Travel? Explore Yarl Will Change Your Mind Unforgettable Jaffna Experience with Explore YarlI didn’t book this tour via TripAdvisor, but I felt I had to share my experience with Explore Yarl because they truly made our Jaffna trip unforgettable!My girlfriend Shivi and I planned a 2-day trip from Colombo to Jaffna, but we honestly had no idea where to begin—until we came across Explore Yarl in the Lonely Planet guidebook (page 254). We were surprised and excited to find a recommended local tour company for Jaffna, and decided to book a Delft Island trip through them.Even though the weather was quite hot, everything was organized so well by Arun. Although he couldn’t join us that day, he arranged everything perfectly—delicious local food, great adventures, friendly and helpful staff, and a magical night camp near beach that made our day absolutely unforgettable.On the second day, Arun personally came to pick us up at the jetty at 8 AM and took us on a full-day Tuk-Tuk tour of Jaffna. Arun was not just a guide—he was a passionate local host who shared stories, history, and hidden gems around Jaffna.I can 100% recommend Explore Yarl to anyone looking to explore Jaffna and its islands. It was a warm, personalized, and memorable experience that we’ll never forget.– MohiColomboVerified The special beauty of natural landscapes far up north I had an amazing time in this special region as I did several tours with Arun. Delft Island is wonderful. The nature, people and of course the wild ponies. We explored the island by safari car with two other girls. Arun is an expert and tries to find answers for every question. You can feel that he loves his home and especially shows what the North has to offer. I would warmly recommend Arun as a very friendly, open minded and happy guide who follows his passion!Verified by TrustindexTrustindex verified badge is the Universal Symbol of Trust. 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