Girin · Route Studio

Sri Lanka, arranged in moments.


Tell Route Studio how you like your days to feel. It does the kind of thinking a good local planner would, sketching a route that makes sense and leaving you to make the final tweaks. When you’re ready, our team and local hosts arrange and book the trip itself.

Takes about 3 minutes · No sign-up

Two ways to plan

Start in the Moments Deck, or open The Drafting Room.


Shape a route around the moments that pull you, or build one with your group — either way, our team and local hosts arrange and book the trip.

Section

Hosts

The people behind every Girin route — guides, instructors and operators who live and work across Sri Lanka. Tap a host to see where they work, what they specialise in, the languages they speak, and their experience.


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Section

About


Girin Route Ateliers is a route house for Sri Lanka — local knowledge, arranged into moments, composed into routes that hold together editorially and on the ground.

We compose the route, then arrange it on the ground — stays, activities, private guides, and transport, booked through hosts who live and work across the island. The studio is where a trip starts; people are how it gets done.

A route is yours to set the level of. The shape of it holds either way; the stays, the pace, and how quietly or richly it’s done move with what you ask for. And whoever you are travelling as, someone who knows your route is on call while you’re on the ground — a real person, not a queue.

One fee, one quote. When you enquire, we come back with a single all-inclusive price for the whole route — private car and driver, your guide, accommodation, activities, and entry fees, all held in one figure confirmed before you travel. Outside it sit only the things that are yours to choose day to day: food and drink, and anything you’d like to give in gratuity. No per-stop billing, no vendors to settle with on the road.

How payment works. A route is held with a 20% deposit once you’re ready to book — that’s what lets us start securing your stays, guides, and car on the ground. The balance falls due 60 days before you travel, and is settled in full before departure; there’s nothing to pay or arrange once you arrive in Sri Lanka. Everything is confirmed in writing before any money changes hands.

If plans change. The deposit secures real commitments with the people and places along your route, so it isn’t refundable. Beyond that, what we can return depends on how far out you cancel: 60 or more days before travel, everything paid beyond the deposit is refunded in full; between 30 and 59 days, half the balance is returned and the rest covers commitments already made on your behalf; inside 30 days, payments are non-refundable, as stays, guides, and transport are by then booked and largely paid. Cancellations are confirmed by email and dated from when we receive them. If we ever need to change a route for reasons on our side, you’re refunded in full or we rebuild it with you — your choice.

Our promise to you

  • One price, held. The quote we give is the price you pay — confirmed before you travel, never revised on the road.
  • A real person, on the ground. Someone who knows your route is reachable while you travel — not a queue or a chatbot.
  • Booked, not brokered. We arrange and pay your stays, guides, and transport directly — you settle one fee with us, no vendors to chase.
  • Local hosts, not a call centre. The people behind your route live and work in Sri Lanka.
  • Fair if plans change. Clear, written cancellation terms — no surprises.

Frequently asked

What is included in a Girin trip?

You pay a single all-inclusive fee, quoted on enquiry, covering the whole route — private car and driver, your guide, accommodation, activities, and entry fees, all held in one figure confirmed before you travel. Only food and drink and any gratuities you choose to give sit outside it. No per-stop billing, and no vendors to settle with on the road.

What level of trip can you arrange — is it luxury?

A route is yours to set the level of. The same route can sit mid-range or run to the highest end, ultra-luxury included; the shape of it holds either way, while the stays and pace move with what you ask for. Whoever you are travelling as, someone who knows your route is on call while you’re on the ground — a real person, not a queue.

How does payment work?

A route is held with a 20% deposit once you’re ready to book, which lets us start securing your stays, guides, and car on the ground. The balance falls due 60 days before you travel and is settled in full before departure, so there’s nothing to pay or arrange once you arrive in Sri Lanka. Everything is confirmed in writing before any money changes hands.

What is your cancellation and refund policy?

The deposit secures real commitments along your route, so it isn’t refundable. Beyond that: cancel 60 or more days before travel and everything paid beyond the deposit is refunded in full; cancel between 30 and 59 days and half the balance is returned; cancel inside 30 days and payments are non-refundable, as stays, guides, and transport are by then booked and largely paid. If we ever need to change a route for reasons on our side, you’re refunded in full or we rebuild it with you.

Do you use a call centre or local people?

The people behind your route live and work in Sri Lanka. We arrange and pay your stays, guides, and transport directly, so you settle one fee with us and have no vendors to chase. While you travel, someone who knows your route is reachable — not a queue or a chatbot.

The founders

Girin Route Ateliers is built by two people who have spent their lives moving through Sri Lanka — one through the law and the long way round, the other through a family travel business and the road itself.

Sankha Karunaratne, co-founder of Girin Route Ateliers

Sankha Karunaratne

Co-founder · Legal Officer

I’m Sankha Karunaratne, co-founder of Girin Route Ateliers.

By trade, I’m a lawyer. By instinct, I’m a traveller. For years, I’ve crossed Sri Lanka the long way — trekking little-known trails, diving its sites, following waterfalls, and learning the island through the people who live and work across it. The more I travelled, the clearer one thing became: Sri Lanka does not suffer from a lack of possibility. It suffers from too much noise.

Planning a trip should not feel like sorting through a hundred conflicting reviews, vague recommendations, and endless tabs. When I tried to organise travel with friends, the same problems kept returning. Too many choices. Too little trust. And in the middle of it all, the real character of a place gets lost.

Girin began with a simple belief: technology should bring the human side of travel back, not replace it.

We built Girin around local knowledge — guides, hosts, cooks, cyclists, naturalists, and others who know Sri Lanka properly — and around a moments-led way of planning that keeps the process calm and clear. Our Moments deck helps travellers shape a route through a smaller set of considered choices, grounded in what is actually worth seeing and doing. From there, we arrange and book the whole trip end to end, with a dedicated guide, driver, and concierge support on call, so the logistics stay invisible and the travel itself can stay present.

We also built a forum for groups and solo travellers who want to plan together and travel more safely than strangers meeting cold.

We are early. We know trust in travel is not claimed; it is earned, one real trip at a time.

Mahinda Siyaguna, co-founder of Girin Route Ateliers

Mahinda Siyaguna

Co-founder

I’m Mahinda Siyaguna, co-founder of Girin Route Ateliers.

I’ve spent most of my life travelling across Sri Lanka, often enough that it feels like I’ve traced almost every main road and many of the smaller ones. Travel, for me, has never been a passing interest. It has been family work, a way of seeing the island at close range, and a constant thread through everything I’ve done.

In my twenties, after a short stint in Europe, I came back to Sri Lanka and joined my brother Sunil at Globe Jeter Tours, which he had founded in 1979 as one of the country’s first tour operators specialising in individual and small group tours. Globe Jeter helped pioneer this more attentive way of seeing the island, including becoming the first company to take foreign guests to visit the Veddah community, Sri Lanka’s indigenous people. Working inside that business, I learned how routes behave on the ground: how season, road conditions, guides, and pacing decide whether a trip feels effortless or exposed.

Later, I spent a long stretch in corporate roles in Sri Lanka, mostly around finance, insurance, and trading.

Girin is where those two lines meet. The years on the road taught me how Sri Lanka feels when you move through it properly. The corporate years taught me how to build frameworks that can carry that feeling reliably, trip after trip.

How we try to travel well with the people and places along a route — the Girin Pledge, our 1% giving, and our approach to landscapes and wildlife — is set out on our Responsible Tourism page.

Thinking about working with us? Read about partnering with Girin as a stay partner or partnering with Girin as a moment partner.

About

Partnering with Girin as a stay partner


Girin places stays within routes, editions, and real trip design, so the property is understood in context and chosen for the right reasons.

Girin is building a more considered way to travel through Sri Lanka. Rather than treating accommodation as isolated inventory, the platform places stays within thoughtfully composed routes, local knowledge, and practical trip planning. For the right stay partner, that creates a more aligned kind of visibility: selective, contextual, and connected to how the journey actually unfolds.

Why Girin exists

Travel discovery is often fragmented. Inspiration, accommodation, activities, and practical planning are usually spread across different systems, with very little connective logic between them.

Girin exists to bring those pieces together through routes, editorial framing, local insight, and a calmer travel interface. Within that model, stays are not secondary. They help define pace, atmosphere, access, and the overall quality of the route.

What makes Girin different

Girin is not built around maximum inventory, discount-led merchandising, or paid visibility. It is built around curation, fit, and route logic, so each stay partner appears where it genuinely strengthens the traveller experience.

  • Placement is selective rather than crowded.
  • Discovery is contextual, tied to routes, destinations, and trip design.
  • Presentation is editorial and brand-conscious, intended to support perceived quality.
  • Stays can sit alongside moments, editions, hosts, and route insight in a fuller travel ecosystem.

How stays are surfaced

Stay partners may appear across Girin in several ways depending on route fit, destination relevance, and the format of the trip. This may include route pages, editions, enquiry journeys, itinerary touchpoints, or curated recommendations attached to a specific route or traveller brief.

Selection is guided by a small number of principles: fit with the route and intended traveller, a clear sense of place, operational reliability, strong visual and written assets, and alignment with Girin’s standards and travel philosophy.

What Girin offers stay partners

A partnership with Girin is designed to create thoughtful commercial visibility, but also something broader: stronger positioning within the traveller’s decision journey. When a stay is presented within the right route and the right story, it becomes easier for the traveller to understand not only what the property is, but why it belongs in their trip.

  • Presence within a premium, curation-led environment.
  • Exposure to travellers already engaged in active trip planning.
  • Contextual placement alongside routes, local insight, and trip structure.
  • Scope for the relationship to deepen as Girin expands its routes and editions.

How the partnership works

Each stay partnership begins with a fit conversation. The aim is to understand whether the property aligns with the journeys Girin is designing, whether the operating model is workable for both sides, and whether there is enough alignment in audience, quality, and positioning to justify a meaningful partnership.

  1. Review of the property, location, guest profile, and route relevance.
  2. Collection of core information, imagery, descriptions, policies, and practical booking details.
  3. Agreement on how the stay will be represented within Girin.
  4. Agreement on the commercial basis of the partnership.
  5. Onboarding into the relevant content and operational workflow.

Depending on the stage of platform development and the nature of the partnership, guest journeys may flow through enquiries, recommendations, itinerary inclusion, or other structured pathways. The exact format can be adapted, but clarity, responsiveness, and consistency are essential. Where relevant, stay partners may also be asked to review or follow Girin guidance linked to The Girin Pledge and related responsible-tourism standards.

What Girin asks of stay partners

Girin works best with partners who care about how their property is experienced before the guest even arrives. That means accuracy, responsiveness, operational professionalism, and a clear alignment between how the stay is presented and how it is ultimately delivered.

  • Provide accurate and current information about the property, amenities, policies, and any relevant restrictions.
  • Respond in a timely and professional way to enquiries, updates, or booking-related communication where applicable.
  • Supply strong visual material and clear written descriptions that reflect the stay honestly.
  • Deliver the standard of experience represented through Girin.
  • Communicate operational changes that may affect guest expectations or route planning.

Commercial and contractual terms

Commercial terms are agreed with each stay partner on a case-by-case basis. This reflects the fact that property type, route relevance, positioning, operational setup, and likely demand can vary materially from one partnership to another.

Where relevant, the commercial structure may be based on an agreed partner rate made available to Girin, allowing the stay to be positioned appropriately within routes, enquiries, and curated trip planning while preserving a clear and workable commercial basis for both sides.

Final terms will be documented clearly in a separate written agreement between the stay partner and Girin Routes, together with practical points such as rate basis, availability, payment timing, cancellation treatment, content permissions, partnership duration, termination rights, liability allocation, data protection, and other legal provisions as appropriate.

Important note. This document is intended as a pre-contract partnership proposal and does not by itself create a binding legal agreement. Any confidential or commercially sensitive information shared during discussions should be treated in confidence by both parties, with full legal terms to be set out in the formal agreement prepared at the contracting stage.

Next steps

The immediate next step is usually a conversation to assess fit. From there, Girin can review the property in more detail, discuss the most appropriate partnership format, and agree the commercial and operational basis for working together.

Where there is clear alignment, Girin will then move into onboarding, content preparation, and launch planning so that the stay can be surfaced in the right routes, journeys, and traveller touchpoints.

Contact

Sankha Karunaratne · Operations and Legal Officer
skarunaratne@girin-routes.com · +94777720056

Stay partners join a platform shaped by The Girin Pledge, Girin’s public commitment to more responsible travel through respect for people, places, guest safety, and long-term care in how Sri Lanka is experienced.

About

Partnering with Girin as a moment partner


Girin places moments inside real routes, real pacing, and real trip design, so what you offer is understood in context and matched to the right traveller.

Girin is building a more considered way to travel through Sri Lanka. Rather than treating experiences as generic activities in a long list, Girin turns local knowledge into moments, and moments into routes that hold together editorially, operationally, and emotionally. For the right moment partner, that means better-fit guests, clearer context, and a more thoughtful kind of visibility.

Why Girin exists

Most travel platforms flatten places into lists. A market walk, reef dive, tea estate morning, birding trail, or cooking table is usually presented as a standalone product, detached from the rhythm of the wider trip.

Girin works differently. It starts with local people, local knowledge, and route logic, then arranges those inputs into moments that can be sequenced properly within a real journey. The result is a trip that feels composed rather than patched together.

What a moment means at Girin

A moment is not simply an activity slot. It is a meaningful part of how a place is experienced: something shaped by timing, setting, character, pace, and the person or business delivering it.

That can include guides, cooks, hosts, drivers, naturalists, workshops, safaris, walks, meals, water-based activities, or place-specific encounters that help define the line of a route. Girin treats these as part of the route composition itself, not as add-ons dropped in at the end.

What makes Girin different

Girin is not built around maximum inventory, pay-to-rank promotion, or generic activity merchandising. It is built around editorial matching, route fit, and a calmer kind of recommendation.

  • Moments are surfaced because they fit the traveller and strengthen the route.
  • Discovery is shaped by traveller type, season, pace, and the practical rhythm of the day.
  • Strong pairings can be surfaced together when they genuinely belong in the same line.
  • The aim is fewer, better-qualified enquiries, not high-volume noise.

Every traveller tells Girin, in a light way, how they like their trip to feel. Girin then uses that signal to shape a more relevant route and to place the right moments in front of the right people.

How moment partners are surfaced

Moment partners may appear across Girin in several ways, depending on route fit and relevance. This may include Route Studio recommendations, route pages, curated group-trip plans, itinerary touchpoints, destination pages, or enquiry-led route proposals.

Moments are reviewed before they go live. Girin may refine descriptions, framing, and practical details so that the moment can be understood properly by travellers and integrated cleanly into the route system.

  • Right season, only when you are actually suitable and available.
  • Right pace, so the route remains coherent rather than overloaded.
  • Right rhythm of day, with sensible sequencing.
  • Right neighbours, when your moment pairs naturally with another nearby stop or host.

What Girin offers moment partners

A partnership with Girin is designed to create better positioning within the traveller’s decision journey. Instead of being one interchangeable listing among many, your moment is presented in relation to the route, the traveller, and the wider character of the trip.

  • Exposure to travellers who are already actively shaping a Sri Lanka trip.
  • Placement within a premium, curation-led environment.
  • Editorial presentation that helps explain why the moment matters.
  • Additional discovery through route proposals, itineraries, and the Girin forum structure where relevant.

How the partnership works

Each moment partnership begins with a fit review. The aim is to understand the quality of the moment, the person or business behind it, its suitability for Girin travellers, and whether it can be delivered consistently and safely.

  1. You submit the moment with core information, imagery, practical details, and contact information.
  2. Girin reviews the submission and may suggest edits or refinements.
  3. The moment is approved and enriched for placement within the route system.
  4. Where relevant, partners may be asked to review or follow Girin guidance linked to The Girin Pledge and related responsible-tourism standards.
  5. Availability is managed per enquiry rather than treated as open live inventory by default.
  6. When a traveller includes the moment in a route or sends an enquiry, Girin coordinates the next step.

What Girin asks of moment partners

Girin works best with partners who care about delivery, accuracy, and the quality of the guest experience. Because moments often depend on named people, timing, and field conditions, clarity matters.

  • Provide accurate and honest descriptions of what is offered.
  • Keep Girin informed of material changes such as closures, seasonality, capacity, pricing, or safety conditions.
  • Deliver the moment safely and to a reasonable professional standard.
  • Hold and maintain any licences, permits, insurance, or equipment relevant to the activity.
  • Treat any staff, drivers, crew, freelancers, or named individuals fairly and pay them properly for their work.
  • Report any incident, injury, or serious issue involving a Girin guest promptly.

The Girin pledge

Girin expects a high standard from partners, and it also makes its own commitments in return. The relationship is intended to be selective, respectful, and built around fit rather than volume.

The Girin Pledge is Girin’s public commitment to more responsible travel through respect for people, places, guest safety, and long-term care in how Sri Lanka is experienced. For moment partners, that means the quality of delivery matters as much as the moment itself.

Commercial and contractual terms

Commercial terms with moment partners are intended to remain straightforward. The current starting position is that Girin does not principally expect to keep a commission from moment partners, and that what a partner charges for their moment is ordinarily theirs.

That position may evolve over time as the business develops, and any material change would be communicated clearly and on reasonable notice. In all cases, the commercial basis of the relationship should be documented clearly before ongoing activity continues.

Final legal terms will sit in a separate written agreement or accepted partner terms, covering matters such as responsibilities, safety, use of content, data handling, suspension or termination, and other legal provisions as appropriate.

Important note. This document is intended as a pre-contract partnership proposal and does not by itself create a binding legal agreement. Any confidential or commercially sensitive information shared during discussions should be treated in confidence by both parties, with full legal terms to be set out at the formal contracting stage.

Next steps

The next step is usually a short conversation and a review of the moment itself. From there, Girin can assess route fit, agree the appropriate partner structure, and move into onboarding and content preparation.

Where there is clear alignment, the moment can then be positioned within the Girin system so that it appears in the right routes, to the right travellers, at the right time.

Contact

Sankha Karunaratne · Operations and Legal Officer
skarunaratne@girin-routes.com · +94777720056

Section

Responsible Tourism at Girin


Girin Route Ateliers works in a single country, with a clear focus: routes through Sri Lanka shaped by local people. Our responsibility work follows the same line — the people who make our routes possible, the places those routes move through, and the wider culture of travel on the island.

We group this into a few clear commitments.

1. Working with partners we can stand behind

Our routes rely on Sri Lankan guides, drivers, cooks, naturalists, craftspeople, and other small operators. Most of them do not have CSR departments — they are busy running their own work on the ground.

To keep things usable, we built the Girin Pledge: a short agreement covering fair work, care for local environments, guest safety, and steady improvement. Partners who sign become Girin Pledge Partners and can access a simple online portal with short videos, examples, and checklists. The goal is to help them make a few better choices each season, not to bury them in forms.

This Responsible Supplier Programme is the heart of how we try to travel well with other people’s work. You can read the full Girin Pledge — what it covers, and how we support partners.

2. 1% of profit for routes and culture

Starting now, Girin will donate 1% of annual net profit to philanthropic activity linked to travel and place in Sri Lanka. We will prioritise:

  • Performance arts and cultural projects that sit close to our routes.
  • Craftspeople whose work is part of the texture of a trip.
  • Wildlife initiatives that protect the landscapes and species our routes depend on.
  • Community-led activities such as surfing, cycling, and hiking.

We will work with local partners and publish a short yearly note on where this money went, and why.

3. Landscapes and wildlife

We are careful about the kinds of moments we put into our routes. We do not support activities that depend on obvious harm to wildlife, or that ignore local conservation rules. Where we find existing moments that are not aligned with this, we either change how they run or remove them. When we design new routes, we look for partners and formats that minimise unnecessary impact and respect local guidelines.

4. Access to movement and skills

Many of our routes are built around simple forms of movement: riding a bike, learning to surf, walking in the hills, being on the water.

As Girin grows, we intend to direct part of our 1% commitment and in-kind support towards projects that widen access to these skills and spaces in Sri Lanka — local cycling initiatives, community surf clubs, or trail projects. We will focus on named, local organisations rather than generic themes, so we can point to specific work and specific people.

5. How this will evolve

This work will keep evolving as Girin grows. We will adjust our supplier programme, our giving, and our own practices as we learn alongside our partners and travellers.

Each year we aim to share a concise update: how many partners are in the Girin Pledge, which projects received funding, and a few grounded examples of what has changed. The aim is to stay precise, honest, and usable — not to add another layer of travel language.

Responsible Tourism

The Girin Pledge


Girin Route Ateliers is built around local knowledge. Our routes depend on Sri Lankan guides, drivers, cooks, naturalists, craftspeople, and other small operators who know their places properly and run their own work on the ground.

Most of our partners do not have CSR departments. They are busy leading rides, cooking, teaching, guiding walks, or running small operations. The Girin Pledge is designed for them: short, practical, and realistic.

What the Girin Pledge covers

The Girin Pledge is a short agreement between Girin and our moment partners, setting out four areas of responsibility:

  • People — fair work, safe conditions, and respect for staff and collaborators.
  • Place — care for local environments, from waste to wildlife.
  • Practice — honest communication and steady improvement over time.
  • Guest safety — clear briefings, basic safeguards, and calm handling of any incidents.

Partners who sign become Girin Pledge Partners. Where it helps travellers choose, we may show a quiet note on route and moment pages to indicate that a guide or activity partner has taken the pledge, and what that means in practice.

How we support partners

Because most partners are small specialists, the pledge avoids jargon and long reports. Instead, we ask them to:

  • Be open about where they are starting from.
  • Choose one or two concrete improvements to focus on each year.
  • Stay in touch with us about what is working and what is difficult.

To make this easier, we are building a simple online portal for partners, with:

  • Short awareness-raising videos on living wage, safe work, environmental basics, and guest safety in a tourism and guiding context.
  • Practical examples from other small operators on the island.
  • Light checklists and templates a guide, driver, cook, or craft partner can adapt without extra staff.

The aim is not to turn partners into policy experts. It is to give them enough context and tools to make a few better choices each season — including how they prepare and look after guests on the ground.

How this will evolve

This work will keep evolving as Girin grows. We will adjust the pledge, the portal, and our own practices as we learn alongside our partners and travellers.

For now, our focus is clear: to work with local specialists we can stand behind, and to help them strengthen how they look after their people, their places, and their guests.

Training for moment hosts

Our short host-training films walk partners through the pledge in plain language — people, place, practice, and guest safety. Watch the host training videos.

The Girin Pledge

Host training videos


Five short films for moment hosts. They walk through the Girin Pledge in plain language — what it asks of us all, and how it works in practice across people, place, practice, and guest safety.

Watch them in order, or jump to the one you need. Each film is a few minutes long, made to be useful on a phone between jobs.

The Girin Pledge

This film will appear here once it has been added.

Pledge on People

This film will appear here once it has been added.

Pledge on Place

This film will appear here once it has been added.

Pledge on Practice

This film will appear here once it has been added.

Pledge on Guest Safety

This film will appear here once it has been added.

Questions about the pledge or the training? Get in touch — we are glad to talk it through.

Section

Contact


Tell us what you have in mind and we will reply by email. For a tailored route, you can also start in Route Studio.

We use this only to reply. No marketing list.
Press

Press & Media


News and announcements from Girin Route Ateliers. For media enquiries, interviews, or assets, please get in touch with our press contact below.

Media enquiries

Sankha Karunaratne, Legal Officer
skarunaratne@girin-routes.com

Conversations

Girin Conversations


Long-form conversations on Sri Lanka travel, our hosts, food, and the craft of route-making. Press play to listen to an episode.

Editions

Girin Editions


Girin-composed journeys, sequenced across the island and bound into editions you can read page by page. Open an edition to leaf through the full itinerary.

Legal

Privacy Policy


Last updated: 12 June 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Girin Route Ateliers (“Girin”, “we”, “us”) collects, uses, and protects personal data when you use this website and the services offered through it. We have written it to be read, not endured.

We are a travel-planning atelier registered in Sri Lanka, serving travellers planning routes in Sri Lanka and Halkidiki, Greece. Because of who we serve, this policy is written to meet the Sri Lanka Personal Data Protection Act No. 9 of 2022 (PDPA), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the UK GDPR.

1. Who is responsible for your data

The data controller is Girin Route Ateliers, 97/A, Kadawatha Road, Kalubowila, Sri Lanka (registered in Sri Lanka). Our Legal Officer and Data Protection Contact is Sankha Karunaratneskarunaratne@girin-routes.com, +94 77 772 0056. Write to us with any question about this policy or your personal data and we will respond.

2. What we collect, and when

We only collect what we need to help you plan and arrange a route, plus — with your consent — optional analytics that help us improve it. We do not sell your data.

  • Saving a route draft (Route Studio / The Drafting Room) — your email address and name, so we can email you a link to your draft.
  • Sending a route enquiry — your name, email, approximate travel dates (optional), and any notes you choose to share. We do not ask for health or dietary details; if you choose to include sensitive information in a free-text note, we treat it as sensitive personal data and use it only to plan your trip.
  • Posting or joining a trip on The Forum — display name, email, travel dates, group size (optional), and any note for travellers.
  • Technical data — your browser sends standard data (IP address, browser type) when loading pages and embedded media.
  • Optional analytics (consent only) — if you accept optional cookies, we use Google Analytics 4, Google Ads conversion measurement, and Microsoft Clarity to understand, in aggregate, how the site is used. Clarity is configured to mask all text and form inputs, so it does not record what you type. These do not load unless you opt in, and you can change your choice at any time. See our Cookie & Storage Policy.
  • Engine analytics (consent only) — if you accept optional cookies, we record anonymous signals about how the Moments planner is used — for example, which moment cards you add or skip and which accommodation option you choose from a shortlist — together with a random, throwaway session reference that groups one planning attempt. This is stored on our own servers (not shared with advertising networks), carries no name, email, or account, and is used only to improve our recommendations. It does not load unless you opt in.

We do not collect payment-card details through the website.

3. Why we use it, and our lawful basis

  • Email you a saved draft — consent / steps to enter a contract.
  • Respond to a route enquiry — steps to enter a contract.
  • List or manage a Forum trip — consent.
  • Use any sensitive details you choose to share in a note — your explicit consent (sensitive data).
  • Keep records of enquiries — our legitimate interests in business administration.
  • Optional analytics and advertising measurement — your consent (you can withdraw it at any time via the footer “Cookie preferences” link).
  • Engine analytics — your consent (you can withdraw it at any time via the footer “Cookie preferences” link).

Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time; this does not affect processing already carried out.

4. Who we share it with

We share personal data only where necessary to run the service, with parties that process it on our instructions: hosting and infrastructure (Netlify, Railway), media delivery (Cloudinary, Bunny CDN, Vimeo), our email-delivery provider, and the local hosts, guides, and accommodation partners needed to arrange your specific trip. If you accept optional cookies, aggregate usage data is also processed by Google (Analytics 4 and Ads) and Microsoft (Clarity) on our behalf. We do not sell your data.

5. International transfers

We operate between Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and the EU. Where personal data moves to a country without an adequacy decision, we rely on appropriate safeguards — such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses and, for UK data, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.

6. How long we keep it

Saved drafts and Forum trips are kept while the feature is active for you and deleted on request or after inactivity. Route enquiries are kept for as long as needed to plan your trip and a reasonable period afterwards for business records, then deleted.

7. Your rights

Under the GDPR, UK GDPR, and the Sri Lanka PDPA you have the right to access, rectify, and erase your data; to object to or restrict processing; to withdraw consent; and to data portability. To exercise any of these, email skarunaratne@girin-routes.com. We respond within 30 days (GDPR/UK GDPR) and within the timeframes set by the Sri Lanka PDPA, at no charge for a reasonable request.

If you are in the EU or UK and believe we have mishandled your data, you may complain to your local supervisory authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office). In Sri Lanka, you may contact the Data Protection Authority of Sri Lanka.

8. How we protect your data

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures — including encrypted connections (HTTPS) and access controls on our content management system — to protect personal data against loss, misuse, and unauthorised access.

9. Children

Our services are intended for adults planning travel. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children; if you believe a child has provided us data, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our service evolves or the law changes. The “Last updated” date above shows the current version.

11. Contact

Girin Route Ateliers — Legal Officer, Sankha Karunaratne. 97/A, Kadawatha Road, Kalubowila, Sri Lanka. skarunaratne@girin-routes.com · +94 77 772 0056.

Legal

Cookie & Storage Policy


Last updated: 12 June 2026

The short version: the storage we need to make the site work is always on. Anything optional — analytics that show us how Route Studio is used, and advertising measurement — stays switched off until you choose “Accept optional” in our cookie banner. You can change your mind at any time.

This policy sits alongside our Privacy Policy.

1. Essential storage (always on)

This is the storage the site needs to function. It does not require consent and cannot be switched off.

  • gr_consent_v1 (localStorage) — remembers your cookie choice so we do not ask again on every visit.
  • rs_admin_preview (sessionStorage) — remembers, during a single session, that an administrator is previewing draft content. It carries no personal data and clears when you close the tab.

2. Optional analytics & advertising (off until you accept)

These load only after you choose “Accept optional”. Until then they are blocked, and if you choose “Reject optional” they never load.

  • Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — aggregate usage statistics: pages viewed, sessions, approximate location, device and how you found us, used to improve the site (privacy).
  • Google Ads conversion tracking — lets us see, in aggregate, when an advert led to a route enquiry, so we can measure and reduce wasted ad spend (privacy).
  • Microsoft Clarity — anonymised, aggregated insight into how people move through Route Studio (clicks, scrolling, where people get stuck). We configure Clarity to mask all text and form inputs, so it never records what you type or the personal content on the page (privacy).
  • Girin engine analytics (first-party) — anonymous signals about how the Moments planner is used: which moment cards are added or skipped and their internal recommendation score, which accommodation rank is chosen, and anonymous trip parameters (such as trip length and traveller-style category). A random session reference groups events from a single planning attempt; it resets on reload and is never linked to your name, email, or account. Unlike the tools above, this stays first-party — it is sent only to our own servers and not to any advertising network. We use it solely to make our recommendations better over time. It stays switched off until you accept optional cookies.

We use Google Consent Mode, so these services stay denied until you opt in. Our lawful basis for optional cookies is your consent (UK GDPR / EU GDPR, and the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations).

3. Third-party content that may set cookies

Some pages embed content from third parties. When that content loads, the third party can set its own cookies and receive your IP address, governed by their policies — not ours:

  • Vimeo — hero and module videos (privacy).
  • YouTube (Google) — embedded video (privacy).
  • Cloudinary / Bunny CDN — image and video delivery.
  • Google Fonts / Fontshare — typography.

Links to our social profiles only open those sites in a new tab when you click them — they do not load content into our pages.

4. Managing your choice

You can change your cookie choice at any time using the Cookie preferences link in the footer, which re-opens the banner. Choosing “Reject optional” keeps all analytics and advertising switched off. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings, use private browsing, or choose not to play embedded videos. None of this stops you from planning a route.

5. Changes to this policy

If we add new analytics or embedded services in future, we will update this policy and, where the law requires consent for non-essential cookies, ask for it before they load.

6. Contact

Girin Route Ateliers — Legal Officer, Sankha Karunaratne. skarunaratne@girin-routes.com · +94 77 772 0056.

Build session 1

Design system proof

A visible audit of every brand decision in the system. Each token, surface, type role, button, card, input, badge and divider is rendered exactly once so brand drift is impossible to hide.


01 — Palette

The only six colours.

Midnight Ocean#0D2B3E
Ocean#3D5A6B
Slate Teal#7BAFC0
Mist#E8EEF1
Paper#F7F9FA
Brass#B89A5A
02 — Themes

Light and dark, locked.

Light
--color-bg
--color-surface
--color-surface-2
--color-surface-offset

Primary text

Secondary text

Muted text

Faint text

Dark
--color-bg
--color-surface
--color-surface-2
--color-surface-offset

Primary text

Secondary text

Muted text

Faint text

03 — Typography

Two families. Four roles per page, maximum.

Display · italic

Girin.

H2 · Cormorant 500

A field guide, slowly assembled.

H3 · Satoshi 500

Section titles use the body family.

Lead · Satoshi 300

Lead paragraphs introduce a section without leaning on serif italics.

Body · Satoshi 400

Body copy sits at --text-base with a 1.6 line-height. Long-form prose is constrained to a 65-character measure for readability and a calmer page rhythm.

Eyebrow
Eyebrow label
Pull quote
“The map invites a pause; the route-point is the only fixed thing.”
Link

An inline underlined link and a brass-rule link for emphasis.

04 — Buttons

Primary, secondary, ghost. Two-pixel radius.

Hover, focus and active states are wired to the brass token. Focus ring is a 2px brass outline at 3px offset.

05 — Card

Surface, 1px border, 2px radius.

Host · Sample

A title sits in the body family.

No filled icon, no coloured circle, no shadow at rest. Hover lifts 2px and adds a soft drop shadow.

Theme · Sample

Restraint is the brand.

A single brass moment per viewport — used here on the eyebrow accent only when warranted, never decoratively.

Route · Sample

Composed of guides and rules.

Cards are reusable shells. The same component renders a guide, a route or a moment — content discipline lives in the editorial layer.

06 — Input

Label, field, helper.

We use this only to reply. No marketing list.
07 — Badge / chip

Quiet metadata.

Wildlife South Coast Hill country Featured
08 — Dividers

Two rules. One reserved.

Slate Teal · 30% · 120px · left aligned


Brass horizon rule · 1px · sparing


09 — Motion

One easing, three durations.

Easing cubic-bezier(0.16, 1, 0.3, 1). Hover transitions 200ms, state transitions 400ms, scroll reveals 800ms. Reveals fade and translate 12px upward. The prefers-reduced-motion query collapses every animation to instant.