Plan your trip
Two monsoons, opposite each other
There is somewhere worth being in every month of the year.
- 2 monsoons
- 5 regions
- 12 months, all usable
When to go, by region
This is the long-term pattern, not a forecast. A wrong-season month is not a washout, it is a fortnight of afternoon rain and rough sea. It is still the wrong place to spend the money.
| Region | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West and south coast | Jan: Book it | Feb: Book it | Mar: Book it | Apr: Workable | May: Wrong season | Jun: Wrong season | Jul: Workable | Aug: Workable | Sep: Wrong season | Oct: Wrong season | Nov: Workable | Dec: Book it |
| Hill country | Jan: Book it | Feb: Book it | Mar: Book it | Apr: Workable | May: Wrong season | Jun: Wrong season | Jul: Workable | Aug: Workable | Sep: Workable | Oct: Wrong season | Nov: Wrong season | Dec: Book it |
| Cultural Triangle | Jan: Workable | Feb: Book it | Mar: Book it | Apr: Book it | May: Book it | Jun: Book it | Jul: Book it | Aug: Book it | Sep: Book it | Oct: Wrong season | Nov: Wrong season | Dec: Wrong season |
| East coast | Jan: Wrong season | Feb: Wrong season | Mar: Workable | Apr: Workable | May: Book it | Jun: Book it | Jul: Book it | Aug: Book it | Sep: Book it | Oct: Workable | Nov: Wrong season | Dec: Wrong season |
| North | Jan: Wrong season | Feb: Workable | Mar: Book it | Apr: Book it | May: Book it | Jun: Book it | Jul: Book it | Aug: Book it | Sep: Book it | Oct: Workable | Nov: Wrong season | Dec: Wrong season |
Book it Workable Wrong season
The basics, in one place
- You land at
- Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB), Katunayake, 35 km north of Colombo.
- Currency
- Sri Lankan rupee (LKR). Carry cash outside Colombo and Galle.
- Time zone
- UTC+5:30, with no daylight saving.
- Traffic drives on
- the left.
- World Heritage Sites
- 8, six cultural and two natural.
- Size of the island
- 65,610 km², a little smaller than Ireland.
Questions worth answering before you book
Do I need a visa?
Most visitors need an Electronic Travel Authorisation before arrival, applied for online. The fee and the list of exempt nationalities have both changed more than once recently, so check the official Department of Immigration and Emigration site close to your travel date rather than relying on any tour operator page, including this one.
What about money?
The currency is the Sri Lankan rupee. Cards work in hotels, in Colombo and in Galle, and stop working in most other places, so carry cash for markets, park fees, tuk-tuks and small restaurants. ATMs are common in towns and rare inside the parks.
How do people actually get around?
Distances look small and take twice as long as they should. A hundred and fifty kilometres is usually three hours, not ninety minutes, because most of the network is single-carriageway through villages. Only the expressways behave the way a map suggests. Every trip here is driven by a chauffeur guide rather than self-driven, for that reason.
How many places in two weeks?
Four or five, not eight. The most common mistake on a first trip is a night in every town, which turns the holiday into a series of transfers. Every itinerary here holds at least two nights in most places, and the ones that do not say so plainly.
Anything medical to know?
There is no yellow fever risk on the island, but proof of vaccination is required if you arrive from a country where there is. Dengue is present year round and is worth taking repellent seriously for. Tap water is not drunk, including by residents. Talk to a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you go.
What do I need to wear at temples?
Shoulders and knees covered, shoes and hats off before you enter, and no photographs with your back to a Buddha image. Take socks: stone courtyards get hot enough by ten in the morning to make crossing them barefoot genuinely painful.
What do you do about plastic and wildlife?
Filtered water in refillable bottles in every vehicle rather than cases of half-litre plastic. Jeeps are shared by four at most, and drivers who crowd a leopard do not get used again.
How planning actually goes
- 01
Tell us the dates and the shape
Two lines is enough to start: when you can travel and roughly how long. Everything else can be worked out in conversation.
- 02
We send a draft, with the reasoning
A day by day plan within two working days, and the reasons for it. If a month is wrong for a coast, we say so and move the coast rather than the month.
- 03
You change it
Most plans go through two or three rounds. Nothing is booked until the shape is right and you have said so.
- 04
We book, and you have a number that answers
A deposit confirms the trip. From then until you fly home there is one person on the other end of the phone who knows your itinerary.
Tell us when you can travel
Two lines is enough to start. Dates and roughly how long, and we will send a day by day plan within two working days with the reasoning behind it.