Sri Lanka Travel Guide

In this Sri Lanka travel guide, we share the best places to visit and the attractions which should be on your travel itinerary. Sri Lanka is an island of bustling cities, secluded tea fields, impressive National Parks home to wild elephants and leopards, sandy beaches and good surf spots. Sri Lanka has many beautiful destinations to visit — so where should you go?

Sri Lanka Itinerary

Three or four weeks is ideal for this Sri Lanka travel itinerary. We travelled this route in 4 weeks but have given some additional destinations in Sri Lanka that you might choose to include on your own travel route. We found travelling between places in Sri Lanka reasonably easy but it can be time consuming due to slow buses and local trains and there is limited information online.

We recommend following this route in a clockwise direction so that you can tackle hectic cities and mountain hikes first, and end your trip with some time relaxing on the beach. It is possible to travel the same do this travel itinerary anti-clockwise if you want to get straight to the beaches.

Our Sri Lanka travel route: Negombo — Kandy — Nuwara Eliya — Ella — Udawalawe National Park — Mirissa — Weligama — Dalawella Beach — Galle.

Sri Lanka Travel Guide & Destinations

Our Sri Lanka travel guide focuses on the centre and south of Sri Lanka. There are so many amazing places to visit in Sri Lanka, so here are our favourite destinations and recommendations for what to do in Sri Lanka.

Negombo

We started our Sri Lanka travel route in Negombo. This is the closest town to the airport. Unless you’re specifically planning to see Colombo, it makes more sense to stay the night in Negombo on the day that you fly into Sri Lanka than to travel for an hour into the capital city. You can catch a bus from Negombo bus station directly to Kandy without needing to go via Colombo.

Kandy (2 days)

Kandy is known as Sri Lanka’s historical city. Its noisy, busy and crowded, but well-loved by its residents. Grab a tuk-tuk and head to the Royal Botanical Gardens with its avenue of tall trees. Make it to the Temple of the Tooth for sunset. From the temple, you can see a glorious sunset of deep pinks and bright oranges. Don’t be tempted to visit the temple during the day because the sunset makes the experience much more special. Head up to the white Buddha statue on the hill by foot or by tuk-tuk in the late afternoon once the sun is less harsh. Catch the train from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya or Ella.

Best homestay in Kandy: Stay at Heavenly Home, located a short 10-minute tuk-tuk ride outside of the hectic Kandy city centre. Enjoy home cooked food better than anything you can get in Kandy. Book to stay at Heavenly Home on Airbnb (get £25 off your first Airbnb booking here).

Best restaurants in Kandy: The food scene in Kandy is basic. If you can, it’s better to get a great homestay where you can eat home cooked meals. Many of the restaurants are not as hygienic as foreigners are used to. If you do eat out, we recommend Balaji Dosai, a vegetarian chain which serves dosas and curry.

Train Ride from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya or Ella (half or 1 day)

From Kandy, you can take Sri Lanka’s iconic train ride through the tea fields to Nuwara Eliya. If you’re tight on time or don’t want to stop off, you can take the train directly onto Ella. This romanticised train ride has scenic views of rolling tea fields but it’s a packed train and you’ll likely be standing up for the most of the journey.

The train overflows with tourists and locals and people have to push hard to get on. We were too polite (we’re British after all) and were the last on which meant the first two hours we were hanging out the door, clinging onto the handrails. It’s a 4-hour train ride to Nuwara Eliya or a 7-hour ride to Ella. We went straight through to Ella.

Nuwara Eliya (1 day)

Nuwara Eliya is known as Little England. It’s a colonial town with a cool climate and beautiful tea fields. We didn’t stop but many people break up the train journey by stopping overnight here.

Ella (3-4 days)

Ella is a town in the Sri Lankan highlands. Ella is a popular destination for hiking through the tea fields. There are three well-known hikes here including Little Adam’s Peak, Ella Rock and Nine Arches Bridge. We fell in love with the scenery in Ella and wished we could’ve hiked there forever. In Ella town, there are many cooking classes on offer if you want to learn to make Sri Lankan curries for yourself! Take a jumper — the climate here is cooler than other places in Sri Lanka and can be cold at night.

Best homestay in Ella: Rose Dale Homestay is the perfect place to stay in Ella. Just a 15-minute walk from town down the railway tracks. Incredible views. Book a stay at Rose Dale Homestay through Airbnb. You can get a discount on your first Airbnb stay with this link.

Best restaurants in Ella: For the best food in town, go to Matey Hut. The vegetable and coconut salad is great. Next to Rose Dale Homestay and on the walk to Ella Rock is Garden View Restaurant. This open-air restaurant serves up lovely home cooked food. The “garden special” curry made with vegetables from their garden was our favourite.

Udawalawe National Park (2 days)

Sri Lanka’s National Parks are home to incredible wildlife, including wild elephants. Only 2 hours south of Ella is Udawalawe National Park, one of the best places to see wild elephants in Sri Lanka. On our half-day safari in Udawalawe, we saw herds of wild elephants, water buffalo, crocodiles, monkeys, peacocks and eagles. Our safari driver was responsible and respectful of wildlife. A half-day safari costs 6000 rupees per person. Don’t miss this Sri Lanka travel experience. If you have more time in the area, the Elephant Transit Home that cares for orphaned baby elephants until they can be released back into the wild is worth the stop.

Yala National Park is further south and another popular safari spot because of the chance of seeing wild leopards.

Best homestay in Udawalawe: Walawa Cottage was our home during our trip to Udawalawe National Park. Our homestay host organised our excellent safari for us on the same day we arrived. Though the food wasn’t as outstanding as our other homestays, it filled your belly after a day out in the park.

Best restaurants in Udawalawe: There are basically no restaurants in Udawalawe! When visiting the National Park, you’ll need to eat meals at your homestay.

Mirissa (2+ days)

Mirissa is for the beach lovers. This beautiful beachy bay is the place to enjoy a coconut on the sand and a swim in the sea. There’s a tiny (I mean about 50m wide, so really tiny) surf spot but it’s rocky and not well suited to beginners. If you want to learn to surf, head further round the bay to Weligama. Tourism is hotting up in Mirissa and you’ll find a variety of local and Western restaurants, more hotels and yoga classes.

Best accommodation in Mirissa: Lanrich Eco Villas is the best place to stay in Mirissa. These newly built private villas are a 5-minute walk from the beach and set back away from the busy main road. The villas are nicer than they look in their pictures with modern decor, wooden ceilings and green surroundings. The villa is simple with just a bedroom and bathroom, but great value. Wifi is super fast (very rare in Sri Lanka!)

Best restaurants in Mirissa: We mostly avoided the overpriced restaurants running along the beachfront and ate local Sri Lankan food. The most popular place in town is Dewmini Roti Shop for freshly made roti breads at cheap prices.

Weligama, Midigama, Kabalana Beaches (2-3 days)

Sri Lankan’s southern coastline has lots of little beaches, bays and surf spots all the way along. After Mirissa, we headed up the coast by tuk-tuk to check them all out. The only shame is that there’s a massive road running along the seafront the whole way up the coast which is noisy AF, but oh my the beaches and sunsets are lovely. Weligama is a hotspot for beginner surf lessons (we surfed here and loved it) and is full of a more stylish, affluent surf crowd. A 1.5 hour surf lesson costs 2000 Rupees. Midigama is just around the corner and much quieter than Weligama. Next stop up is Kabalana, where there’s nothing except fishing and hardcore surf. We wouldn’t say that Midigama or Kabalana are the best places to visit in Sri Lanka unless you’re an advanced surfer. Instead, stay in Mirissa or Wegligama.

Accommodation along the beaches: You can easily reach all of these beaches for day-trips if you’re staying in Mirissa, Weligama or Unawatuna.

Best restaurants: For breakfast, we loved Ceylon Sliders Cafe in Weligama — try the homemade granola or the chickpea scramble. For local food, try Meewitha Cool Spot in Weligama and Mama’s Restaurant in Midigama (all-you-can-eat rice and curry for 400 Rupees). Choices are limited and more pricey in Kabalana, but check out Cantina Lanka Taqueria for tacos and Spice Lane for breakfast.

Dalawella Beach and Unawatuna (2 days)

Continue up the coast on our Sri Lanka travel route and you’ll reach Dalawella beach. This quiet beach was one of the best places in Sri Lanka! Wake up to see soft pastel-coloured sunrises and enjoy spending time on a more secluded beach. Dalawella is close to the popular but more touristy Unawatuna. Dalawella has a much nicer beach but it’s worth going into Unawatuna for a bite to eat.

Best accommodation along these beaches: Dalawella has beautiful private beach house getaways right on the beach front. My dream beach houses are Skinny Beach House (book on Airbnb here) and Marley’s Beach House.

Best restaurants in this area: Stop by Le Cafe Francais Bakery in Unawatuna for coffee and croissants. Mati Gedara serves a basic but good rice and vegetable curry buffet for 350 Rupees.

Skinny Beach House – my dream beach house!

Dalawella beach, right in front of Skinny Beach House

Galle (2 days)

The final stop on our Sri Lanka travel route is the Dutch fort town of Galle. If you did the travel route the other way round, then Galle would be the first stop.

Best homestay in Galle: Inside the fort, prices are a little higher but we stayed at this homestay for a very reasonable price. The homestay has an incredible location on the main street next door to the Barefoot artisan shop. Get £25 off your first Airbnb booking here.

Best restaurants in Galle: For breakfast, check out the little-known Bastille Fort Galle, open from 7AM. It’s a simple cafe and their Sri Lankan set breakfast (60 Rupees) of fruit, hoppers, dhal, sambol and coffee is generous and delicious. Stop by Pedlar’s Inn Gelato for an almond ice cream and an espresso al fresco. For dinner, we ate vegetable rice and curry (550 Rupees) al fresco at Pilgrim’s Restaurant and hoppers with potato curry at Hoppa.

Sri Lanka Travel Costs

In Sri Lanka, the currency is Sri Lanka Rupee. This is not the same as the Indian Rupee. The exchange rate is approximately £1 = 200 Rupee and $1 = 150 Rupee. The cost of travel in Sri Lanka is generally quite low

• 1 night in a homestay (double room) — 3000-4000 Rupees
• Rice and curry — 200-500 Rupees
• Cup of tea — 100 Rupees
• Coconut — 50-100 Rupees
• Lion beer — 300 Rupees
• Train from Kandy to Ella — 240 Rupees
• Shared transfer between towns — 2000 Rupees
• Recommended daily budget: £20 per person

Homestays in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, the best type of accommodation in our opinion were local homestays. We always prefer to choose travel accommodation which supports local people and staying in a homestay provides an income for that family. Even better, the homestays in Sri Lanka have excellent home cooked food which is better than restaurant food and you can learn about local life and culture. Hostels and dorms are quite rare in Sri Lanka and most backpackers opt to stay in a homestay. A double room in a homestay usually costs 3000-4000 Rupees.

Food & Drink in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan food is some of the most delicious in the world. Staple dishes in Sri Lanka are rice and curry, lentil dahl and roti bread. You’ll likely be served these dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We never went hungry in Sri Lanka and often found our hosts to be overly generous with the amount of food they cooked. A local meal can cost anywhere from 200-500 Rupees and up if you’re eating in touristy restaurants.

Tea is common in Sri Lanka and often drank black or with sugar. Coffee is much less common and will rarely be served at breakfast unless you’re in a tourist cafe. I purchased coffee at the local supermarket and brewed my own at breakfast.

Alcohol is rarely served in Sri Lanka. It won’t be found on the menu at most restaurants except for tourist beach-front bars. Many Sri Lankans do not drink for religious reasons.

Transport in Sri Lanka

Bus and Train — Local buses and trains in Sri Lanka are very cheap. The iconic train ride between Kandy and Ella costs 240 Rupees per person for a second class ticket. Buses between towns cost even less than this. Most of the time trains and buses are packed and you will have to stand. There is no AC on most buses and trains.

Private Drivers — In Sri Lanka, it’s unusual to hire a private driver. However, the cost of a private car between towns is around 7000 Rupees depending on the journey.

Shared Vans — For our trip from Ella to Udawalawe National Park, we travelled by shared van for 2000 Rupees per person. But shared vans like these do not commonly run between cities in Sri Lanka and we didn’t see these on offer for any other travel routes.

Planning a Trip to Sri Lanka

Has our Sri Lanka travel guide has convinced you to visit this beautiful country? If so, here’s what you need to know about planning your trip to Sri Lanka.

Flights to Sri Lanka — Flight prices to Sri Lanka can vary. If you’re flying from India, flight prices tend to be very reasonable. We flew from Bali and again found flight prices to be reasonable. If you’re flying from the UK, airlines run deals to Sri Lanka at certain times of year so it’s worth keeping track of prices. We use Skyscanner to compare flight prices.

VISA for Sri Lanka — A VISA is required to enter Sri Lanka. Your passport needs to be valid for six months in order to apply. You can apply online for a Sri Lanka VISA at www.eta.gov.lk. Applications for online VISAs usually only take a few hours to process. However it’s better to be prepared and apply for the VISA at least 7 days in advance. You will receive your eTA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) by email. This is a 30-day VISA and costs £50.

Sri Lanka is a rare travel destination unspoilt by tourism. Though there are lots of tourists exploring the country, Sri Lanka felt like a more off-the-beaten-path travel destination than many of the countries we’ve visited. What’s great about it is that your money is nearly always going to local people — families who run homestays and restaurants, locals who drive tuk-tuks and so on. Our advice is to avoid tour operators and go local when you travel in Sri Lanka.

If you want to ask us any questions about the best places to visit in Sri Lanka or need advice on what to do in Sri Lanka, ask us in the comments below.