Sri Lanka - My Trip in 2025
Itinerary, Helpful Tips and What to Know
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I visited Sri Lanka for 2 weeks in Feb 2025 which is the tail-end of the peak season. Weather was nice - being in the mid-30 degrees, lows in the mid-20s with humidity that is both fine and uncomfortable.
Generally, the vibe is similar to other developing Asian countries: Friendly locals, hustle and bustle, hustles, tourist traps, beautiful beaches and scenery, unforgettable experiences and a rich history (Sri Lanka becoming independent after being ruled by the Portuguese, Dutch and the British Empires from 1597 to 1948).
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A super brief history of Sri Lanka (Ceylon)
Before you land
Get your visa
Convert cash
Accommodation
Getting around
​​2 week Itinerary
Negombo
Colombo
​Sigiriya​​
Kandalama
Dambulla
​Kandy
​Nuwara Eliya
Ella
Tissa (and Yala National Park Safari)
Weligama and Mirissa
Galle
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BEFORE YOU LAND
Get a visa
You'll need to organise your Sri Lankan visa. They say it can take a week but mine hit my inbox within a few minutes. I won't link it here just in case it changes. I went through smartraveller.gov.au
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Convert some cash
Sri Lanka is a mostly cash society. You can get away with paying for things by card (they'll pass on a 3% EFTPOS fee).
The currency is Sri Lankan Rupees (Rs) which, at the time of writing: Rs1000 = ~$5AUD.
Depending on where you go, a meal could be anywhere between Rs500 and Rs2000, and more for tourist traps.
It seems that accommodation will give you the option of paying in USD or Rupees.
As with every airport, there are currency exchange kiosks when you land. You might like to avoid these as they probably aren't giving you the best rate.
There are ATMs everywhere, and they seem pretty safe. I found myself withdrawing Rs40,000 every couple of days. This covered food, tuk tuks and various activities.
Keep in mind that you'll end up withdrawing fat stacks that might prevent your wallet from closing, and Sri Lankans are fairly poor. I try to avoid carrying around a chunk of notes so I don't inadvertently splash about what's probably a couple of months worth of wages. But you do you.
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THINK ABOUT YOUR ACCOMMODATION
There are a few levels of accommodation for tourists. To quickly summarise:
Hotels: Standard. You got your fancy ones, you've got your shitter ones. A hotel is a hotel.
Guest Houses: Kinda like a motel compared to a hotel. They're way cheaper - maybe $30 AUD a night (depending on where you're staying etc).
A Sri Lankan guest house is often a simple room with a simple bathroom. As with motels, the best ones can be better than the shitter hotels, but when you open the door to discover that you're not in the best guest house, you're quickly reminded that you're paying 30 bucks a night instead of 100+
Hostel: I can't tell you anything about Sri Lankan hostels. I'm sure there are backpacker blogs that will be more helpful.
THINK ABOUT HOW TO GET AROUND
Hire a driver: Your accommodation will be more than happy to order you a private taxi with about 30 mins notice. It's probably a mate or friend's business and they probably receive some sort of kickback. Depending on where you're travelling, it could cost you Rs6,000-20,000 to move from place to place.
Catch a train: There's a network of trains that will take you through the country. There are different classes which will allow you to either reserve a seat or try to fight the rush of people hoping to get on and stand for a few hours. Reserving a seat was nice and do and I recommend that you pay a little extra. Book your tickets in advance to avoid having to cram yourself aboard.
Catch a bus: Like everything, there are different tiers of bus. Government-run public busses are big red boxes that puff out plumes of miscellaneous black.
You want to catch a Private bus. They're private public buses that anyone can catch with less stops. Generally they aren't air-conditioned. AC buses run less frequently.
You jump on, there's a guy who will ask you where you're going, you pay him cash (Rs200-400 (depending on distance and how much he rips you off for being a tourist)) and the money man will tell you it's your stop.
You can also catch more private busses that are essentially a mini van that run a popular route (town to town). I'll call this a private-private bus.
Tuk Tuk: Running about town or location to location, you'll be catching a tuk tuk. Ask the driver how much the fare will be before hopping in.
You can use the Pick Me app for an uber-style experience. Traditional Tuk Tuk drivers hate the app because it undercuts the fare and draws work away from them. Fair enough. We experienced some hostility between a traditional driver and Pick Me driver, so expect some friction.
A regular tuktuk might cost Rs300-500 more than Pick Me. Some regular drivers will see you walking along the road with your phone and offer to match the price. They also have a max speed of like 40km/h so it will take a little longer to get somewhere, but with this in mind, cars rarely drive over 60km/h due to how chaotic the roads are (other drivers, stray dogs etc).
Rip-off alert:
At one hotel, the manager tried to get us on a private-private bus. It was full. But there was another one that would cost us Rs16,000. We waited at a bus station (guy's house?) until a PRIVATE PUBLIC BUS arrived which would have been ~Rs200 each.
We saw a Boomer french couple pay too much for their ride, counting out rupees like they were paying their mortgage in cash.
RESEARCH
I'm not going to tell you how to research, but with hindsight, the Lonely Planet has proven great for attractions but its restaurant recommendations can be hit and miss. Misses being tourist traps serving underwhelming dishes for two or three times the price.
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2 WEEKS IN SRI LANKA ITINERARY
Colombo Airport to Negombo
Our flight landed late. Negombo is about 20 min north of the airport (compared to Colombo about 40 mins). The tuktuk cost Rs2500 because we were "at Negombo beach, not Negombo itself (Rs2000) and therefore further north." No point haggling over $2.50
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Stay in Negombo (2 nights)
We stayed at Gomez Place for 2 nights. It was nice enough. Apparently it's gay friendly (male only) according to the Lonely Planet (homosexuality is still illegal but not enforced. Don't come to me if this is wrong - I ain't a lawyer). This place isn't male only though. After 18 hours, we saw some other women with their husbands.
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With not a lot to do in Negombo, I suggest you either leave the next morning or take a day trip to Colombo.
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Next stop: Sigiriya
Negombo to Sigiriya via (private) public bus to Dambulla then Tuktuk to Sigiriya. 3-3.5hr.
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The bus should cos a few hundred rupees. This is where we got ripped off and paid like $30AUD. THEN STILL HAD TO PAY A TUKTUK!! Tuktuk about Rs1,000.
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Travel blogs will tell you to catch the 34 public bus. You CAN but we grabbed one that was about an hour quicker but can't find which one it was! It also stopped for lunch at a bakery which was unique and great timing.
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Stay in Sigiriya (2 nights)
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