Sri Lanka - small state in Indian Ocean which makes a surprisingly pleasant impression. You will enjoy every corner of it: green landscapes, delicious cuisine, diverse fauna and friendly locals welcoming you with special hospitality.
Traveling around the country is fairly easy, if a little chaotic, with overcrowded buses moving on clogged roads that are in fact only directions, and trains packed to the point that people even travel on the walls of the cars (which looks pretty funny). Many speak English, so if you get into the epicenter of chaos, it will not be difficult for you to get out of there.
In this article, I offer some tips that will help you avoid spending big money, meeting scammers, and also help you see the most picturesque places.
Water.
Try not to drink water from local sources, but take a reusable bottle with a built-in filter with you. The country is very hot, so you will spend about 300 rupees (2 dollars) on plastic bottles of drinking water at 60 rupees ($0.40) each day. In turn, a bottle of water will cost you only $20, and in 2 weeks you will save $8 (and help the environment).
Outside major cities like Colombo or Kandy, you will hardly find establishments that offer non-Indian or local cuisine. All you get is a pathetic imitation of Western food at inflated prices.
There is only one way out: get used to the local cuisine, it is very tasty!
Try everything! Restaurants Balaji Dosai in Kandy, Ahinsa in Sigiriya; Upali's in Colombo, Hot Hut in Nuwara Eliya, and restaurants around the bus station in Anuradhapura are some of the best. More about food: in addition to its divine taste, food in Sri Lanka is also very cheap.
Local dishes cost $1-3 for plain dosa pancakes, kotu (a dish of flatbread, vegetables, eggs and/or meat, spices), rice, chicken and similar dishes. In restaurants with service, you will pay a little more - about $5.
Alcohol.
In this country, there are few places where you can drink alcohol. Outside tourist cities and the capitals night life not very common. Of course, you can skip a glass of beer in guesthouses, but in general, alcohol and parties are not popular in Sri Lanka, and your nightlife will be modest.
Knock-knock.
For a small amount of money you can hire a tuk-tuk. For about $20, tuk-tuk drivers offer their services for the whole day. Drivers are honest almost everywhere, be on the lookout only in Colombo - here they can deceive you and inflate the price. In all other places you will be offered a fair price, so do not bargain much.
Airport transfer.
You can get to the airport by train that goes from downtown Colombo (Fort Colombo area) - this is the most cheap way to get there, only 30 rupees ($0.20). A tuk-tuk ride will cost you 2,500 rupees ($17 USD) and a bus will cost you 110 rupees ($0.75 USD) and departs from Central bus station Colombo and Mawata stations every 30 minutes.
Trains.
Trains in Sri Lanka are the cheapest, albeit slightly slower, way to get to your desired destination. The most popular routes are: Colombo - Jaffna, 150-445 rupees ($1-3), Jaffna - Anuradhapura, 150-295 rupees ($1-2), Kandy - Nuwara Eliya, 85-280 rupees ($0.60-1.90) , Colombo - Galle, 150-295 rupees ($1-2).
Booking tickets.
If you are planning a tourist train trip from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya or Ella (or vice versa) and want to have a separate seat, book your ticket in advance through a travel agency, because you can book tickets in person no earlier than four days before the trip. But on the day of departure, you can always buy a ticket for a narrow seat in the second class (then you will feel the whole essence of the expression "like herrings in a jar").
If someone tells you to come to the ticket office of the station by 7 am, keep in mind that ticket sales do not start until 8:00 am, so feel free to ignore these tips. And remember - the phrase "sold out" will never refer to economy class tickets.
Sigiriya.
If you plan to visit Sigiriya, arrive there by 8 am to avoid huge queues and crowds of onlookers. By 10, the crowds of tourists become so huge that you can safely not come. The ascent takes about an hour, because all the way people step on each other's heels.
Anuradhapura.
Entrance tickets cost $25, but are only checked at the entrance to the museum (it has also been observed that only Western tourists are asked for museum tickets). You can also get to the sights for free using a narrow path to the southeast of the museum.
Visiting temples: Before entering temples, take off your socks and shoes, even if the temple is under open sky. Therefore, in order not to stain your socks, bring flip flops with you.
Hostels.
Local hostels are the simplest (fan, mosquito net, shower) and cost $4-6 per person.
© Olga Saliy. Copying of material is prohibited.
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Sri Lanka is a wonderful island and the state of the same name in the Indian Ocean, located not far from India and the Maldives. People come here for calm and inexpensive vacation, away from noisy cities and stone faces. Local population always welcome foreigners, warmly welcomes everyone and does everything possible to make everyone feel comfortable here. There are not many vacationers in Sri Lanka, so nature has still retained its untouchedness and individuality. Watching sunsets on one of the cleanest beaches on the island is simply an indescribable experience worth flying several thousand kilometers from your home.
You can go to Sri Lanka on your own at any time of the year. The island can be divided into two climatic parts: northeastern and southwestern. In the northeastern part, it is better to relax from May to September, and in the southwestern part from October to February. In other months there is a rainy season, but even at this time you can have a good rest on the island: the rains are usually strong, but not long, most of the day the weather is sunny. The "big season" (the most popular with tourists) lasts from November to February.
An independent holiday in Sri Lanka can be very cheap, the prices for food, things, hotels, transport are very low. The main expense item is air tickets. How to get to the island cheaper is written below. Organizing your vacation will not take much time, but thanks to this you can get a lot of different adventures and just interesting events, which will be remembered for a lifetime, and yet this can not boast of rest from travel agencies.
Sri Lanka enchants with its beautiful nature, clean beaches and historical sights. The culture of the local peoples is very rich and goes back many centuries. The island has the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy, whose name implies that it houses the tooth of the Buddha, one of the most revered Buddhist shrines. And now let's move on to tips and tricks, as well as concrete steps to organize your own trip.
Flights
To begin with, we will analyze how to fly to a vacation spot quickly, comfortably and inexpensively. Flights to Sri Lanka are the biggest expense item for most travelers. A round-trip ticket (departing in Moscow) for one person costs from 340 euros. Flights with transfers are the cheapest (most often in Dubai, UAE).
I recommend buying tickets to Sri Lanka on the website. This is an air ticket search engine (like Yandex or Google, it only specializes in finding tickets) that finds inexpensive options. You can get to Sri Lanka with it very easily and quickly. It is unlikely that you will be able to find tickets cheaper than on Aviasales, and you will save a lot of time, since you will not need to go to all airline websites and compare prices and comfort levels, this service will do everything for you.
The fastest flight from Moscow to Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was previously called) will take 10 hours and 30 minutes, a regular flight with a transfer will take an average of 14-18 hours (for St. Petersburg, the flight lasts 1-1.5 hours longer) . You can also fly away to rest from most major cities in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Almost all planes arrive at international Airport Colombo (Colombo, Sri Lanka).
The calendar low prices for air tickets
Check airfare prices:
Hotels
Find a cheap hotel from RoomGuru right now:
Rental of property
Same good option residence in Sri Lanka will be a rented house or apartment. In some cases, renting a house will turn out to be cheaper than booking a hotel room, especially if more than 5 people are flying on vacation. Most best service for rental housing abroad - this is. All its features are written about. How could you understand independent trip involves many different options for its organization, which one to choose - decide for yourself, based on your needs and capabilities.
To rent a place on Airbnb, you need to follow a few steps:
- Log in and indicate the direction and dates of interest.
- Register on the site by carefully reading the Terms and Conditions. This will help to avoid misunderstandings or ambiguities when booking apartments.
- Fill out the form and profile of the participant. Indicate your real reliable data, because the issue of trust and respect is the main one.
- Fully and carefully stipulate the details of the booking, it depends on how comfortable the trip to Sri Lanka will be.
- After the trip, be sure to leave a true review - whether the proposed conditions corresponded to reality, what you liked and what you should pay attention to next time.
The main thing for which many tourists prefer Airbnb is the price for accommodation. Renting budget accommodation in Sri Lanka at arenbi is easy. Every day, thousands of users visit the site, post tempting cheap offers for renting apartments, look for accommodation options, communicate, exchange experiences. Reservations are made independently.
Required documents
To visit the island you need a visa, you can apply online on the ETA (Electronic Travel Authorization) website. They will make their decision (to issue you a visa or not) within 24 hours or a little longer. If the decision is positive (and it almost always is), then you will need to pay 30 euros bank card, and then print the received document (it will need to be presented at the airport upon arrival).
Here are the documents you will be required to present at the border control:
- Passport valid for more than 6 months at the end of the trip
- Completed migration card (to be filled out on English language issued on the plane or upon arrival at the airport)
- Printout of Electronic Visa Confirmation (ETA)
- Return ticket
- Availability of sufficient funds to stay in the country (both cash and a bank statement can serve as such confirmation)
In general, you can get a visa at the airport upon arrival, but the process is extremely long and you will have to pay 5 euros more than for online visa processing. So it is better to take care of this in advance, especially if you are not a freelancer (working from home) and your vacation is strictly limited in time.
Attractions
Independent travel in Sri Lanka can be very diverse, people come here not only for the cleanest beaches. On the island, most of the attractions are historical buildings and National parks. What is only Adam's Peak worth, which is considered sacred for four religions at once, because, according to one version, Adam's foot stepped here, and according to another, Buddha's. I will list the main attractions of Ceylon:
- Adam's Peak
- Sigiriya (mountain)
- Dambulla (complex of cave temples)
- Kandy (one of the sacred Buddhist cities)
- Kumana National Reserve
You can rent a car and go see interesting places with comfort, spending a minimum of time. If that's what you want, then visit the site. By car, you can easily go to all parts of the island.
Holiday cost
Although Sri Lanka is an inexpensive state for traveling, the cost of air tickets is quite high, so the vacation budget will not turn out to be too small. But keep in mind that only you yourself determine how much you will spend on a trip, you can always save well, or, conversely, if funds allow, buy whatever you like. Here are the main items of expenses for an independent trip to Sri Lanka (2 people, 1 week, departure by plane from Moscow) of an average vacation:
- Round-trip airfare = 700 €
- Hotel room = 350 €
- Food = 100 €
- Public transport = 30 €
- Local SIM card = 15 €
- Purchases = 100 €
- Visa = 30 €
Total travel price = 1325 €. This amount can be significantly reduced. You just have to sacrifice some of the comfort and spend a little more time looking for air tickets, but if you want, you can relax on this island for 800 €, although such a budget will work out if you use the services of low-cost airlines (budget air carriers) and, but in this case it’s really possible to fly to Sri Lanka is very cheap. And with the money saved, you can go on another trip.
How to save
It is possible to save on travel and stay in the same comfort, but it will require additional time to choose the right places to stay and perform some actions. You can find out how to travel on a budget in my guide, it says how to visit countries around the world, spending only $ 40-60 per day, however, this type of vacation is not suitable for everyone, but as additional information it will be useful for everyone.
And now, what you need to know about the right travel savings:
One of the best places for holidays in Sri Lanka is a resort. This is a picturesque and peaceful place, suitable for most travelers to the island. A trip to this place will bring only positive emotions. I recommend reading detailed description this place on the link above, there are also written tips that apply to any place in Ceylon.
After reading this article, you have learned how to go on your own to Sri Lanka. Start booking accommodation and buying air tickets right now, life is beautiful, you need to see the diversity of this world with your own eyes. You will succeed. Good luck!
Compiling independent route travel in sri lanka
This article is intended to help those who are planning to visit Sri Lanka on their own, without the use of Sinhala, English or Russian-speaking "helpers". Such "help", provided by various kinds of dubious personalities in social networks, not only costs inadequate money, but, from the legal point of view, is a fraud.
Having taken money from you for a transfer or an excursion, these persons do not bear any legal responsibility for you during the trip, because they simply do not have the right to engage in this type of activity either on the territory of Russia or on the territory of Sri Lanka, and if they do, this is already a tourist firm.
By the way, mutual extradition of criminals was officially approved between Russia and Sri Lanka, so we wish the Russian-speaking scammers of Sri Lanka to be more restrained in deceiving tourists.
After a little preparation for an independent trip, you will be able to draw up your own personal route with your own hands. If you have made a choice in favor of an independent trip, you will certainly face a number of standard questions, here is their approximate composition and sequence, this will help, first of all, to coordinate the actions of those who are going to travel for the first time. In order to make the data more visual, here are recommendations based on official information and personal experience.
One of the main recommendations would be: use the achievements of progress - just having a tablet or mobile phone with GPS navigation and mobile internet able to reduce travel costs many times over! There is no need to pay for what the Internet makes it possible to get freely.
Planning an independent trip to Sri Lanka
Question: First you need to determine how to combine a beach holiday in Sri Lanka with a leisurely, but rich and sometimes expected-tense excursion route? In what part of the holiday is it better to include it?
Recommendations: It is more optimal to attribute the excursion program to the middle of the rest, because after many hours of travel, even when traveling by the shortest flight and an excellent airline, it is very difficult to immediately go on the route. It will be a very correct and wise decision to give yourself a few days of rest, adapt, acclimatize and get used to the reality of Sri Lanka. Also, spending some time on the beach and sunbathing is also beneficial in the sense that you will not be torn apart by local sellers who want to immediately sell you, freshly arrived, distinguished by snow-white skin, well, at least something. In addition (!) All luggage can be left for storage at the hotel and already travel light.
Recommendations: Evaluate your physical abilities and desire in advance in order to determine the number of days on the route. For the majority of tourists who are going to see the country, for the first route it is worth stopping for a tour duration of no more than 3-5 days. On one- and two-day excursions, more time will be spent on the road and all sorts of package-mandatory places. Five days is enough to explore all the main attractions of the island, and there is no need to include all the objects of interest in one visit. Moreover, the main purpose of the trip is usually not so much a mandatory excursion program "for show", but an opportunity to get to know the life of Sri Lanka better.
Question: How to choose from a huge list of attractions what to see in Sri Lanka?
Recommendations: For preparation, it is easier to make two lists - mandatory objects and those where you would also like to, but you can skip it. Thus, the key points of the route are indicated - we look at where they are located on the map, close to which cities, and immediately visually estimate possible options for connecting these points into a circular route line. Already at this stage, as a rule, some of the objects are eliminated due to the fact that they do not fit into the scheme in any way.
Soberly assess the time spent on travel, because for the first time looking at a map of Sri Lanka, a deceptive illusion is created that the island is small, all the sights are nearby - what's the problem? The fact that, firstly, the roads are often winding, passing among the mountains and hills, and so, by helicopter in a straight line - only five minutes. As the locals say: the way in Sri Lanka is not measured in kilometers, but in hours. It's true. The second point is the limited speed: on large roads, due to the fact that they are periodically crossed by all kinds of wild animals, it is limited to 70 km / h, while at short distances, for example, a tuk-tuk moves at an average speed of 40 km / h.
Question: How not to get confused in new names and select the most interesting?
Recommendations: In order not to get confused in places, unusual names and objects, you can include a brief description of the places - a photo, the name of the attraction and what exactly is interesting there - this makes it much clearer and easier to use the data. Interesting objects that cannot be included in this route will not have to be processed again when drawing up the next trip plan. The breakdown of objects, in particular by proximity to certain cities, allows you to more clearly imagine the traffic pattern. So, the cities have been identified, marked on the map, and what will soon become a clear route is gradually being formed.
Question: Is it possible not to use the services of a guide, but to get high-quality information about Sri Lanka?
Recommendations: The choice is definitely yours. But the compiled list of attractions with brief description places will not only help you orient yourself on the spot if you need to adjust the route, but, if desired, can become a full-fledged replacement for a Russian-speaking guide, and you can also completely refuse any kind of escort on a trip to Sri Lanka. This is possible simply because the selection of places of interest accumulates information, often exceeding the knowledge of any of the local guides.
If you wish, you can find a Sri Lankan guide via the Internet with a national license and developed conversational skills in the Russian language. The availability of a special national license for a tourist guide of Sri Lanka can be checked on the website of the Ministry of Tourism of Sri Lanka. Modern means of communication will allow you to check your speech skills remotely - just call, for example, via Skype, Viber or WhatsApp, and talk to him in Russian for a few minutes - so you can easily assess the level of speech proficiency. You can evaluate the professionalism of a person as a guide only on the spot.
Question: Is it possible to do without renting a car with a driver?
Recommendations: In case you decide to give up expensive, but not at all a quality, escort, there are two options for moving: go on a combination of public and private transport or rent a car with a driver. If the distances between the key points of the route are not significant, within 50-70 km per day, renting a car with a driver even for 5 days is not always economically feasible, but somewhat more comfortable. That is why you can easily refuse to rent a car in favor of an independent trip around the island. There are absolutely no difficulties with hiring private transport for small movements between nearby cities, the main thing is desire. Any nearby tuker always has a "relative" who is ready to earn extra money by taking you to your destination.
Question: How to organize movements on the route? What transport to use?
Recommendations: Overcoming long distances is more comfortable either by car or by train. There is also the option of public and private buses. This way of traveling is dozens of times more economical, but in terms of comfort it will not suit all tourists, primarily due to the lack of a clear timetable on the Internet - it can only be recognized in fact, at the bus station. Fortunately, in 2018, a seat reservation service appeared on long-haul routes of state buses, which shows the cost, class of the bus and its schedule, which makes life much easier for travelers.
When traveling by bus, public or private, remember that there you can often encounter dishonest conductors who inflate the price of the trip for tourists, and therefore be sure to check the correspondence between the point of arrival and the cost of the journey indicated on the ticket. Also, one of the disadvantages of traveling by bus is the loud Sri Lankan music that certainly accompanies the whole trip, and private buses can still have air conditioning that works at a temperature of + 20C.
When planning a trip to Sri Lanka on your own, it is worth considering that the Sri Lanka railway scheme is designed in such a way that it is impossible to get, for example, from Kandy, Ella or Nuwara Eliya to Bentota, Hikkaduwa and Mirissa, bypassing Colombo. Colombo Fort station is the largest interchange junction linking the western resort area with northern and central regions country. In this way, it is convenient to travel long distances, but for shorter distances, you can rent a minivan, or use buses and tuk-tuks to travel between cities. By the way, there is an application on Google play where you can get acquainted with the train schedule, prices and classes of wagons, as well as choose the option of moving you need.
An important point: try not to plan your movements for the evening - firstly, it gets dark at 18:00, and traffic on Sri Lankan roads cannot be called calm. Secondly, it is better to have a small margin of time in case of some unforeseen trifles, for example, if the hotel where you planned to stay is very different from the expected one and you need to find a new place to spend the night. And thirdly, in central regions countries after 21:00-22:00 it is very difficult to find a place for dinner even in major cities not to mention the villages.
Question: How to pay for a tuk-tuk fare the real price, and not the cheated one?
Recommendations: My personal belief is the principle reasonable price for foreigners, this means that I, as a foreigner, am initially ready to pay more than locals, but it is very important to understand that this difference should be within a reasonable range of 20-30% of the actual cost of the service, and not the standard 300% , wound for me only because of the color of the skin. But how to find out the real cost of travel - often one of the most expensive items for multiple crossings? If you have a tablet with access to Google maps, you immediately get this full and undeniable advantage.
How it works: There is a 1 km tuk tuk fare = 50 rupees. This figure is not entirely correct because in reality it is something around 45 rupees and varies from city to city, but in this case 50 is taken as an average value for ease of calculation, and also bearing in mind the previous principle of a fair price for foreigners. If you have an Internet-connected tablet/smartphone with GPS, by plotting a route from your current location to your planned one, you will know the distance of the path and visualize the route. So, based on the above rate of 50 rupees, you can estimate the real fare and you will always clearly understand exactly where you are and which way you are being taken.
Question: Do I need to book hotels in Sri Lanka in advance?
Recommendations: If you are not traveling in a large group or your visit does not fall on the Esala Perahera festival in Kandy or New Year on west coast, then you don’t have to worry about the availability of places in hotels. And in this case, just the number will cost a little more. A tablet or phone connected to the Internet will solve the issue of finding a hotel dramatically - on any of the popular booking services and will help not to overpay hoteliers. Often there is a situation at the hotel reception when you are announced a price of $ 10-20 more expensive than the cost on Booking or Agoda, in which case the room reservation can be made immediately online. By the way, almost every hotel at the reception has free Wi-Fi. True, it is worth mentioning that all this applies to hotels with a certain star rating, and mini-hotels; for guest houses, the prices are, of course, lower, and they are also less represented on the Internet for online booking.
Thus, using an ordinary tablet with GPS navigation and mobile Internet, you can not only create a tour program around Sri Lanka on your own, but also pay several times less for it, without losing, but essentially gaining as received. There is no need to be tied to the terms of renting a car or a guide, to find out the details of his licensing and the level of education and language proficiency, to be nervous and argue with the organizers of services in case of a breakdown of a rented car, losing money on a burnt hotel reservation. It is in this freedom and independence that the real attraction of independent travel lies.
How to make a comfortable 5-day tour of the island of Sri Lanka, we will tell in the next article, and we will also present our ready-made itinerary with a description.
To Sri Lanka - on your own!
So, you decided to go to Sri Lanka on your own, and plan everything the way you want, and not the travel agent on the next street. A commendable wish!
This guide will make it easy and simple for you..
The tour to Sri Lanka is divided into 2 stages: Excursion and Beach holidays. The specificity of excursions in Sri Lanka is such that to visit most of the sights you need to spend the night in the center of the country. That is why a classic tour of the country is at least 3 days and 2 nights. In most cases, a tour is made immediately upon arrival, and at the end of it, a beach holiday. Immediately decide how many days you are willing to spend on the tour, 4-5 days are recommended, the most basic can be seen in 3. Accordingly, a hotel or guest house for beach holiday must be booked after the tour.
If you buy a ready-made offer from a tour operator in your city, hotel + flight (sometimes it is profitable), then try to agree not to pay for the hotel for 3-5 days to spend them on a tour. Unfortunately, this is not always possible and depends on the travel agent.
Sri Lanka is a country rich in culture and very beautiful and diverse. Staying in Sri Lanka and not going around the island means not visiting here at all! When you have decided how many days you spend on the tour and how much on the beach - make a request. All accommodation requests must be made through the site. Please indicate the correct information initially, so as not to receive a voucher for Vasya Pupkin or Mikhalych later.
The same applies to dates and times of arrival and departure. It is better to write your first and last name in full and in English, as indicated in your passport
If you liked several guest houses, then indicate your preference in the comments (in order, from largest to smallest). In this case, if one of the options is busy, we will go through the list until we find an available option. Remember that a guest house is not a hotel and the booking process is quite complicated. You need to call and check the availability, confirm the price, and only after that we can give an answer to the tourists - that the room is available. Sometimes the host can be caught for several days. Therefore, in order to save your and our time, do not order everything in a row, but approach the choice carefully, and ask only for what really suits you.
The site is divided into several main sections:
- Guest houses, hotels, houses, villas, apartments- the place where you will live during your vacation. (horizontal menu at the top of the site). Prices are usually for two people in a double room. The most popular places, as well as the places that we especially recommend, based on the reviews of tourists, are in the Best Deals section.
If you are not sure which beach to choose, we also recommend reading:- for relaxation, depending on your preferences and the season
- guest houses, apartments, houses.
- Tours and Excursions- To get started, just get acquainted with the main attractions of Sri Lanka. We have tried and selected the most interesting ones, not bypassing even little-known but nevertheless interesting places. Each attraction has a detailed description.
After you have submitted what interests you, you can use our automatic tour selection system and choose a tour from more than 150 ready-made options. For your convenience, we have made a convenient filter for excursions. Just mark the sights you are interested in and you will receive a list of excursions with them. If the list is still large, you can also filter it by price and number of days in the tour.
The excursions themselves are divided into two groups.- Batch: in such a tour you spend the night in hotels according to the chosen level of comfort (3-4-5 *), breakfast and dinner are already included in the price. During the whole tour you will be accompanied by a Russian-speaking guide (always a Sri Lankan, there are no Russian guides). The price includes entrance tickets. Meeting and transfer to the end of the tour. The tour is individual. There will be no one else besides you and the guide with the driver. The trip plan can be changed slightly, as all hotels are booked and paid in advance. Prepayment for such a tour is 50% of the total amount of the tour. The rest of the amount is paid upon arrival in Sri Lanka
- Independent: in such a tour we negotiate the route, overnight stays will be in guest houses along the route according to the level of comfort you specified ( hot water, air conditioning, breakfast, dinner). The driver speaks English but is not a guide. He knows the route, will answer your questions, take you wherever you say within the tour. As a rule, a standard guidebook in Russian is enough to explore everything around, and a vocabulary of 50 words is enough to communicate with the driver. The price also includes entry tickets to attractions. Meeting and transfer to the end of the tour. The tour is individual. There will be no one else besides you and the driver. The trip plan can be changed as you like, as there is no advance booking of hotels. The deposit is only $80. The rest of the amount is paid upon arrival in Sri Lanka
All tours are private. That is, apart from you and your comrades, there will be no one else. (excluding driver and guide) - If you need a meeting at the airport, a transfer to the hotel, or vice versa, you need to be picked up from the hotel and taken to the airport, then you can order a taxi from us. Transfers are possible by cars, minivans, and buses, depending on the number of people.
A route through the center of the island of Sri Lanka for 6 days on bikes on your own may seem something impossible and very difficult in terms of implementation. But we did it! For 6 days of our own route through the center of the island, we traveled a total of 1000 km on a bike in Sri Lanka! And it was one of the most unforgettable trips! And if you, like us, want to travel on a bike on your own, to be free in your movements, then this article is for you!
Of course, initially, when planning a trip to the island of Sri Lanka, I read a lot of articles and forums on the topic that all the main attractions are not on the coast of Sri Lanka, but in the center of the island. In order to see them, you need to go to the center for at least 3 days and every day something to watch and go somewhere. Our trip to Sri Lanka lasted 14 days and we made a list of what we really want to see and began to schedule our movements by day. Initially, we were going to go to the center not on bikes, but on public transport - by railway and on buses. The plan was this - we arrive in Colombo, go to for 3 days, rest on the coast from the flight, swim in the ocean,. After that we go to the center of the island for 5-6 days, and the remaining 5 days we again rest on the coast and then fly home. In the center of movement from one point to another is not so big, 50-100 km each. That is, it would be very comfortable to travel on a moped.
But most of all they were afraid of the 2 farthest crossings - from Unawatuna to Sigiriya - 280 km and a little less Return trip at the end of the journey back to Unawatuna. We left a suitcase with things at our hotel in Unawatuna - there is a very good owner and we easily agreed to leave things for free on the days of our trip around the center of the island, provided that we arrive and spend the night in his hotel. We pre-booked 1 night at his hotel. And these 280 km, for example, scared me a lot, according to our calculations, it was 8-9 hours of riding a bike! Before that, we rode a maximum of 4 hours on a bike. A lot of people start their journey to the center of the island on bikes immediately upon arrival in Colombo - it’s really much more convenient, but we wanted to relax a little by the ocean and only then move on. As a result, after thinking for a long time, we flew to Sri Lanka, drove to the coast, and from there we began to think about how to get to the center of the island. And the more we thought, the more we leaned towards traveling by bike. Still, incomparable freedom in choosing a place and time of movement was much more important for us, no need to adjust to the schedule public transport, standing for 2-3 hours in noisy trains and buses with locals - that is why in the end we chose to travel by bike and in connection with this we made a route.
The only thing we decided is that if we get tired of driving 280 km, then we will stop halfway and rest, and we can even spend the night wherever we want. I’ll say in advance that we set ourselves up for a long road, had a hearty breakfast in the morning and drove these 280 km, which I feared the most, perfectly. Yes, we were very tired, but we stopped several times, had lunch in a clean local cafe, found out the real prices, talked to the locals, passed several large cities, small settlements, we were surrounded by wonderful nature - it was incredibly great!
So, I will write down our route through the center of the island of Sri Lanka for 6 days and 5 nights by day.
Our hotel in Unawatuna, where we left our suitcases while traveling around the center of Sri Lanka - Kumara Guest House
1 day.Road Unawatuna - Dambulla 282 km. 1 night in Dambulla.
We decided to spend the night in Dambulla, as the next day we were going to go to Sigiriya, which was located a few kilometers from Dambulla. Because of this, one could find a cheaper hotel in Dambulla than in Sigiriya itself. And so it happened 🙂
We left our hotel at 8 am, and arrived in Dambulla at 5 pm, found the hotel, and the hotel owner offered to take us away in his car to watch a beautiful sunset — of course, we agreed. Then we had dinner at the same hotel and went to bed.
Good hotels in Sigiriya on Booking:
Day 2 Road Sigiriya - Kandy 90 km. 2 nights in Kandy
It is best to arrive in Sigiriya by 8-9 in the morning in order to start sunrise on the mountain early, as it is unrealistically hot and stuffy there, and there is practically nowhere to hide from the sun on the top of the mountain. We successfully climbed and descended the mountain and drove to the lake, which the owner of the hotel in Dambulla advised us to see. After that, we had lunch at a cafe by the road and drove to Kandy. Successfully reached Kandy, checked into a hotel for 2 nights
Good hotels in Kandy on Booking:
Day 3 and .
We spent the whole day in Kandy, we really liked this small town.
Good hotels in Peradeniya on Booking:
Day 4 . Pinnawala-Nuwara Eliya Road 100 km. 1 night in Nuwara Eliya.
In the mountainous region of Nuwara Eliya, it is very cool at night, the air temperature drops to only 13 degrees! Therefore, a very valuable advice - be sure to take warm clothes with you! Even spending the night in the hotel, we all froze, although we slept under the covers, and I put on everything that I took with me 🙂
Good hotels in Nuwara Eliya on Booking:
Day 5 . . Nuwara Eliya - Ohiya Road 42 km. 1 night in Ohia.
Mountains, mountains, mountains around! Indescribable beauty, fresh air and wonderful nature!
Day 6 . Road Horton Plains - Ella 63 km. Road Ella - Unawatuna 226 km. End of the journey.
In fact, we had plans to spend the whole day in Ella, go to the small peak of Adam, perhaps to climb the rock mountain, but it turned out that spending the night in Nuwara Eliya, and then in Ohiya - I wrote, it was very cold at night, I caught a cold. It was very unpleasant, my throat hurt insanely, I could hardly swallow, my nose was blocked and all the other delights of a cold, so on day 6 we got up early in the morning at 4 am in Ohia, drove to Horton Plains, walked there until about 10 am, went to Ella, successfully arrived. And then I realized that I had absolutely no strength to climb any mountain, and that even the next day I would not feel better, so I decided to go back to the coast on the same day. We left at 15.00, fell under several thunderstorms - it's good that we had raincoats with us. I don’t know at all what force helped us to go, but we drove almost non-stop right to the coast and arrived at our hotel in Unawatuna by 11 pm. Yes, that's how it happens 🙂
