10 essential tips for traveling to Sri Lanka

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With this selection of Tips for traveling to Sri Lanka We want to facilitate, as far as possible, your trip to this amazing country as well as answering some of the most frequent questions. With a fascinating culture, impressive archeological sites, dreamlike landscapes, paradisiacal beaches and incredible people, Sri Lanka is one of the most unknown countries in the world at the same time it has become in recent times and thanks to Instagram in one of the Most visited.

After our experience touring it on the trip to Sri Lanka and Maldives during which we met all the tourist places of the country, we want to leave you 10 essential tips for traveling to Sri Lanka. We start!

1. What is the best time?

Although currently and unfortunately due to climate change, the weather is unpredictable, in general we can determine the best time for a trip to Sri Lanka.

High season (from December to March): these are the driest months of the year and therefore the busiest in the country and those with the highest prices.
Mid season (April and September and November): it is usually good weather throughout the country and although in some areas it can rain, prices are much tighter than in high season.
Low season (from May to August): during these months the monsoon affects the southern and western coasts in addition to the Highlands area. Although the rains are not usually continuous, it is worth considering.

It is highly recommended if you are going to travel in high season and visit the tourist places, book flights, accommodation and transportation in advance to have more options and the best prices.


2. Security

In April 2019, Sri Lanka suffered the greatest attack since the Civil War ended in 2009 and the country opened to tourism. Different explosions in Colombo, in luxury hotels and Christian churches left almost 300 dead and more than 500 wounded.
After this terrible episode, the authorities have increased security, especially in the most tourist places and although it is impossible to say that it will not happen again, we currently and always from our perspective, we believe that it is safe to travel to Sri Lanka in these moments and more if you are going to move around the tourist places.

Similarly, keep in mind that outside of the most tourist areas, it is important to check how safety is and, as in any other destination in the world, travel with common sense, avoiding carrying valuables in areas that you do not know, walking through the night if you go alone or leave your belongings unattended.
In addition to this, it may always be advisable to ask at the accommodation if there is any area nearby to avoid so that your trip to Sri Lanka is as incredible as possible and without any setback.

Sri Lanka

3. Requirements for entering the country

If you are a Spanish citizen you must carry your passport, with a minimum validity of 6 months to travel to Sri Lanka. In addition to this, it is necessary to have a visa, whatever your reason for the trip, including the tourist.
Although it can be managed once you are at the airport, it is much more advisable according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to manage it online through this official page to avoid entry delays or any additional problems.
It is important to know that there are currently some websites that manage visas for Sri Lanka and around the world, at crazy prices. Be sure to make the management from the official website to not pay an extra for a procedure that can be done personally, in an easy and online way.

It is important to know that wearing a visible tattoo or garments with Buddha images can be a reason for denial of entry into the country and once inside, you should always show respect to any Buddha image.

In addition to this, another of the most recommended tips for traveling to Sri Lanka is to bring a copy of your personal documentation such as passport, travel insurance policy, driving license ... etc in the cloud so that if necessary, you can make any process in a faster and more comfortable way.

Dambulla Caves

4. Vaccines and travel insurance

The first and most important thing on a trip to Sri Lanka or any destination in the world is to go to a vaccination center so that it is a doctor who evaluates, according to your medical history, type of trip, places you are going to visit and even the weather that you are going to stay, what are the indicated vaccines.
That said and in general, we can say that There are no mandatory vaccinations to travel to Sri Lanka except yellow fever for travelers from endemic countries or who have been in any of them during the previous 6 days.
As recommended vaccines would be diphtheria and tetanus, hepatitis A and B, rabies and typhus.

In addition to the visit to the doctor to know what the necessary vaccines are, it is very important to hire the best travel insurance, so that if you need it, have the best care in the best centers in the country.
We always travel insured with Mondo, with whom we carry a totally adequate insurance to the needs that we will have during the trip. Hiring your insurance here with Mondo, just for being a Street Travelers reader, you have a 5% discount.

5. How to start the trip to Sri Lanka

The first and most important thing when traveling to Sri Lanka is to determine the duration indicated for the trip. After our experience we would recommend a minimum of 2 weeks to get to know the essential places to see in Sri Lanka and another week if you want to add a getaway to Maldives.

Once you have clear the duration of the trip, the next thing would be to book the flights. If you are only going to travel to Sri Lanka you should look for a flight to Colombo, but if you want to add Maldives, it can be very interesting to opt for a multi-destination flight, entering Colombo and leaving through Malé in Maldives. We use this flight search engine to know the best options and prices and thus be able to book the one that best suits our needs.
With the flight already booked, the next step would be to book accommodation in Sri Lanka, especially if you are traveling in high season. For this we always use this search engine with which we get the best prices.
Something to keep in mind is that public transport, as we know it, is practically non-existent in Sri Lanka, so to move around the country in a comfortable and relatively fast way, you must do it by car with driver, taxi or tuk tuk, depending on the routes.
In our case we moved in these three ways, making the route through the Cultural Triangle for 5 days with a car with driver, which we have to say, was one of the most incredible experiences of the trip.
We leave the contact in case you want to write and send you a quote:
KANDY HERITAGE TOURS - CHAMINDA
Mobile: +94 0712108210
Email: [email protected]
Skype: kandyheritage

In addition, for the Yala safari, we hire the services of Sudu, which is also a great professional. We leave you the email in case you want to write to do this activity.

In case you want to make this trip to Sri Lanka in a more comfortable way and with a guide in Spanish, we recommend you book this 8-day Tour for the best of Sri Lanka or this 5-day Circuit in Sri Lanka.

Polonnaruwa

6. Money exchange

The currency of Sri Lanka is the rupee of Sri Lanka (LKR) and the current conversion is 1 euro = 198 rupees of Sri Lanka. Although initially you may think that the best option to carry local currency is to choose to change at the airport or at an exchange agency, we after many trips and pay many commissions, we have opted to pay as much as possible by card and take out directly from the ATM automatic so, have the best change and save us the abusive commissions.

For this reason we recommend using the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money at the ATMs. They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.

Remember that it is also necessary to carry cash to make payments in shops that do not accept cards or for tips and in shops where you do not see much security, it is always preferable to pay with cash.

Beaches of Southern Sri Lanka

7. How to have internet in Sri Lanka?

If you want to have internet in Lanka, something essential today, especially if we think about the need to be connected with our families and friends in addition to the applications we use in our trips, you can choose several options:

  • Buy a SIM card at the airport or at a phone shop in the city.
  • Buy one Holafly SIM card, with which you will have internet from the moment you land, saving you all the time of the negotiations and making the whole process to have internet in Sri Lanka much more comfortable, fast and easy.
    In this case, with the Holafly SIM you will have several Gb to surf the Internet (depending on the option you choose), they will send it to you for free at home, you will keep your WhatsApp number and you will have assistance service in Spanish. You can buy your Holafly prepaid SIM card here with a 5% discount for being our reader.

More information on the Holafly post, the best prepaid SIM card for travel

8. Route through Sri Lanka

As we mentioned previously, one of the tips for traveling to Sri Lanka would be to visit the country for at least two weeks to get to know its most important and tourist places.
Taking this into account and understanding that your flight will land in the capital, the first thing we advise you to do is go from the Colombo airport to Mirissa by taxi, for once in the south of the country, spend one or two days enjoying the beaches from southern Sri Lanka and the city of Galle.
After this relaxing stage in some of the country's paradises, we recommend you hire a tuk tuk to make the journey from Mirissa to Tissa making stops in Dondra, Wewurukannala, Bow Hole, Tangalle and Goyambokka.
From Tissa and during the day, we recommend you to go on a safari in Yala and go from Tissa to Ella in the same tuk tuk, which you can hire directly in Mirissa, making an intermediate stop in Buduruwagala, one of the most beautiful places in Sri Lanka.

The next stage of the trip will begin in Ella, touring the Highlands by train and how could it be otherwise, dedicating a day to know Little Adam's Peak in Ella and Ella Rock, in the Highlands of Sri Lanka.
After these two days you will take a train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya, where you can enjoy incredible landscapes in which they say, it is one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world.
Once there, we also recommend you to get to know the city, get away to see a tea factory in Nuwara Eliya and enjoy unforgettable landscapes, lost between tea fields for the next day to catch a train from Nuwara Eliya to Kandy, the end of the tour of the Highlands.
The trip continues by visiting the city of Kandy and the Temple of the Tooth of Buddha and the Botanical Garden of Kandy, which is wonderful.

Sigiriya, one of the essentials when traveling to Sri Lanka

Finished these days in the Highlands, the tour of the Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka will begin, which we recommend you to meet with a car with a driver, since it is the fastest and most comfortable way, being the first stop in the Dambulla Caves in the Triangle Cultural, one of the most impressive places in the country, also visiting Aluvihara and Pidurangala for the second day visit Sigiriya and do a safari in Minneriya.
The third day we recommend you visit the Buddha of Aukana and Polonnaruwa, two of the most magical places in the country for the fourth day, dedicate the full day to visit Anuradhapura, another of the most impressive places in the country, which we hope is the perfect icing To this amazing trip.
On the last day and on the way to Colombo airport, you can visit Mihintale, another one of the essentials to then return home or catch a flight from Colombo to Male that takes you to another of the most incredible paradises in the world.

9. Maldives

As we mentioned in the section on how to start the trip, if you have an extra week, Maldives is the perfect complement to Sri Lanka.
Although there are many travelers who choose to go to a local island and stay in one of the many hotels available, we choose to stay in a resort, on a private island, so we cannot give you much advice on the first option.
In case you want to do it like us, we recommend you to find an intermediary agency, since curiously booking hotels in Maldives through their own websites or search engines, it is usually much more expensive than doing it directly through an agency.
Although the price range is Maldives is varied, in general, a resort on an island with a good reef, with seaplane transfer from Male and all inclusive, can have an average price of about 400-500 euros per day.
These figures as we say, can change a lot depending on the resort or hotel you choose.

Maldives

10. Gastronomy in Sri Lanka

Although, according to our experience, gastronomy would not be an essential reason to travel to Sri Lanka, we do believe that one of the best ways to get to know a country is through cooking. With this in mind, we leave you a selection of Sri Lankan cuisine so you can try them during your trip.

  • Roti: tortillas made from wheat flour that are the bread of Sri Lanka.
  • Kottu: chopped roti that is mixed with vegetables and meat to which several sauces are added.
  • Egg hopper: rice dough to which coconut milk and salt or sugar are added, depending on the type you want, which is put in a pan-like pancake, which is cooked as if it were a basket and to which an egg is added in the middle.
  • Kukul curry: chicken curry that highlights coconut milk and spices that make it one of the typical Sri Lankan dishes.
  • Kokis: typical dessert of the country made with rice flour and coconut milk.
  • Fried noodles: fried noodles that are served with meat, vegetables or fish.

If you want to know more about the cuisine of Sri Lanka, do not miss this gastronomic tour in Colombo.

Breakfast in Sri Lanka with Egg Hopper

More tips for traveling to Sri Lanka

Other of the best tips for traveling to Sri Lanka are:

  • If you want to have internet in Sri Lanka, we advise you to buy a Dialog SIM, one of the companies with the best coverage in the country. Ours cost us 1000 rupees and included 1 Gb of data, 20 minutes of international calls and local calls at 1 rupee per minute.
  • In Ella, you will find the Dowa Temple about 6 kilometers away. Do not forget to visit it if you have an extra hour, it is a unique place!
  • Until a year ago there was a pass to the Cultural Triangle for about $ 75 that included tickets to many of the essential visits. Now this one no longer exists and you have to pay all the tickets separately.
  • If you want to travel through the Highlands by train and, above all, go to the Saloon Observation, which are the places that run out the fastest and you don't find the open window, look around the platform area and in the director's office. This is always there and you can also sell them.
  • In Sri Lanka the voltage is 230V, the frequency 50Hz and the plugs are type D / G.

Highland Train

Do you want to organize this trip to Sri Lanka and Maldives?
Get it here:

The best offers of Flights to Sri Lanka here

The best offers of Flights to Maldives here

The best hotels at the best prices in Sri Lanka here

The best hotels at the best prices in Maldives here

Get € 35 for your reservation with AirBnb here

Book your travel insurance with a 5% discount here

Rent your car in Sri Lanka at the best price here

If you feel like helping us expand the list 10 essential tips for traveling to Sri Lanka, add yours in the comments.

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Video: Sri Lanka's Top Travel Tips Guide. Arrival in Colombo (March 2024).