Set in a picturesque lush backdrop, Sri Lanka, an island located off the vast southern coast of India is a hidden gem untouched by mass tourism. Quickly gaining recognition from people all over the world as a top tourist destination of 2015, this remote country will soon be a vacation secret no more. It has gradually been picking up momentum in the tourism department since the end of its unfortunate 30-year civil war and the devastating Tsunami of 2004. However, the typical first-time traveler to Sri Lanka has much to learn. This part of the world is still largely unexplored by tourists, westerners especially.
My boyfriend and I spent 10 days in Sri Lanka. In that time we managed to visit 8 different cities and spend less than $350 each for the entire trip. When I first started to research Sri Lanka it was very intimidating. I knew nothing about the country. I had a lot of work to do and I knew it immediately after looking at the map. After weeks of note-taking and sleepless nights I was able to plan a 10-day trip around Sri Lanka hitting 8 different cities in that timeframe. We wanted to experience the city-life, the jungle, the people, the cultural sites, a safari, and spend some time on the world-renowned beaches. Not too much to plan in a 10 day period, right? Joking, it was A LOT. But now I’m here writing this for you all to say that that’s exactly what we did and you can do it too. Please make note there is SO much to do in Sri Lanka we had to cut a lot of great things out of our itinerary. For example, we planned on doing the famous pilgrimage morning trek up Adam’s Peak but exhaustion and time cut that short. Note that unless you have a private driver, getting around Sri Lanka does take some time. Public transportation is efficient but in general pretty slow.
SRI LANKA TRAVEL GUIDE
Here is the route we took around Sri Lanka starting in Negombo from the Colombo Airport:
1: Negombo – Colombo
2: Colombo – Kandy
3: Kandy – Dambulla/Sigirya
4: Sigirya – Ella (via Kandy & Nuwara Eliya by train)
7: Ella – Kataragama
8: Kataragama – YALA National Park
9: Yala – Mirissa
10: Mirissa – Hikkaduwa
11: Hikkaduwa – Colombo
1: Negombo (1 night)
We landed at the Colombo International airport around 8am. Although the airport is technically in Colombo, it’s to many people’s surprise that the airport is actually closer to Negombo. Negombo is a funky little town right on the beach just a little north of Colombo. We specifically came here to wake up early the next day and go to the most famous fish market in Sri Lanka, the Negombo Fish Market. We stayed on the beach with A/C for 3000 Sri Lankan Rupees…the equivalent of $23. It did, however, take some bartering to get this price.
The fish market the next morning was very culturally interesting. We showed up at 6am, a little before even the earliest of tourists and thought we missed it. We were actually there just in time. There were hundreds of fishermen selling seafood to the locals as well as vendors. We hired a local to show us around. He walked us through the drying fish fields and explained the whole process. From a cultural standpoint it was well worth the time and energy of going to Negombo just for the Negombo Fish Market.
2: Colombo (0 nights)
After the 6am arrival at the Negombo Fish Market we grabbed our bags and hopped on a train to Colombo. The total fair was something around .30$ each. The ride was about an hour and a half and was a fascinating way to see Sri Lanka. We were able to see locals living out their normal daily routines. The open train doors allowed us to see the beautiful green landscape as we passed villages and farms. Some people prefer to spend more time in Colombo since it’s the capital of Sri Lanka and more like a city than any other town but we were hitting Colombo on the way back.
3: Kandy (2 night)
From Colombo we took a late afternoon train to Kandy to explore the mountain town and see some of the cultural triangle, most easily accessible from Kandy. Be warned, either get to the train station early or buy your tickets in advance. We arrived about an hour before the train departed and all they had left were 3rd class seats. We had to stand for 3 hours in a crammed hot train that moved almost as fast as a snail. It honestly doesn’t sound that bad but trust me, it was bad. Try to avoid 3rd class at all costs. When we finally arrived in Kandy we were a bit overwhelmed since we didn’t book accommodation ahead of time. We went into a few hotels and they were too pricey. Even though we couldn’t afford the hotels, the people working at them were friendly and pointed us to hotels closer to our price range. We stayed at an affordable hotel in Kandy for 2 nights at around $23/night.
THE CULTURAL TRIANGLE: ANURADHAPURA/ SIGIRYA/ POLONNARUWA
From Kandy we wanted to see as much of the cultural triangle as we could in a limited timeframe and on a limited budget. However, we slowly realized this was going to be easier said than done. We originally thought we could visit two sites in one day, but that really wasn’t the case unless we hired a private driver for the day. Most people do hire private drivers but it wasn’t in our budget. For around $50-60/day you can hire a driver if that’s something you’d prefer.
4: Dambulla (0 nights)
After some investigating I found a bus we could take to Dambulla. Dambulla is known as the heart of the cultural triangle. It was also very close to Sigirya and halfway to Anarapudha- the most “important” site in the Cultural Triangle to the Sri Lankans. If we could get to Dambulla maybe we could get to the other sites easier. So we took that early morning bus for around $2 each. It took 2 hours and then once we arrived we had no idea what to do. We wandered around Dambulla as people said it was the town where everyone branches off to the triangle sites from, but really there wasn’t much there. Some bloggers said it was the town to leave from for the cultural triangle but to us the town felt mundane.
5: Sigiriya / Pidurangula (0 nights)
After a plate of friend rice we headed on out not sure what our next move was. The tuk tuk drivers were heckling us relentlessly. We usually ignore them so if we do end up using them we can bargain for a good price, you never want to look too eager! So that’s what we did for about twenty minutes before realizing we most definitely needed help. One driver offered to take us to Sigirya but then mentioned something about a rock called Pidurangala when we said the tuk tuk was too expensive. We had never heard of Pidurangala. It was the rock right next to Sigirya. He knew we were on a budget, as we wouldn’t agree to a high tuk tuk price. He got creative and suggested that instead of lowering the tuk tuk cost why don’t we lower to site cost. He explained we could hike a different rock, very very similar to Sigirya but a fifth of the price. We were intrigued by this idea…
The tuk tuk driver showed us his diary of past people who he took to the other rock and after reading a few comments, we were in. We bargained and bargained and finally we agreed on a price. He explained that Sigirya would cost $30 a person and Pidurangala (the rock next to it) only $5. We’re all for the bargains so we hopped in his tuk tuk and drove off with him.
Let’s just say we were SO happy with the decision we made. Not only did we save $25 (each) but the rock was also such an interesting and fun climb. Although it wasn’t Sigirya when we got to the top the views were breathtaking. You could almost yell to the people on top of Sigirya they were so close. In the picture below Sigirya is the rock in the distance right behind me.
TRAIN FROM KANDY TO ELLA
Everyone raves about the train ride from Kandy to Ella. Kandy is a large city in the heart of Sri Lanka and Ella is a small, teeny-tiny town in the middle of Tea Country. The train ride is seven hours long and has been rated as one of the most beautiful in the world. To go to Sri Lanka and not take the train from Kandy to Ella would essentially be a travel crime.
We showed up at the train station the NIGHT BEFORE to book our tickets for the train the next morning. After our last train experience sitting third class for three hours we were not about to do that again, let alone for six hours this time! Like I said, we went to buy our tickets the night before to be safe. You’ll never believe what happened, the train was SOLD OUT! “Sold out?!? What does that even mean??” I exclaimed to the train bookie. I was livid, freaking out, having a mild panic attack. “Why were trains so difficult in Sri Lanka?” I kept self-deprecatingly repeating to myself. This was going to throw off our entire 10-day itinerary if we didn’t get on this train. I was determined to figure out how to fix this dilemma.
I called a tourism company we had been in contact with and asked if this was first, normal, and secondly, true? Three hours later I got a message from one of the tourism agents. He said it looked like there were still seats on the train the next day. He said they may just be holding them and suggested we show up early the next morning to buy tickets. Although this seemed very fishy to me (I like things to be concrete) there was nothing we could do but show up and see if there were actually indeed seats.
We packed up our things and without knowing our fate, hopped on a tuk tuk and headed for the train station. I went up to the ticket booth and nervously said, “Two to Ella please.” “Your total will be $14” he responded. I looked back at him and said, “Today, right?” He said, “Yes, it leaves in 45 minutes…” I pretended like nothing was strange about it and left with our two tickets in hand almost skipping with joy. We were ON the train and this time in 2nd class, WAHOO!
We patiently waited for the train looking out onto the tracks anytime we heard a noise. We didn’t know when the train was going to arrive exactly, but we wanted to get seats. We figured we had 2nd class so this time it wouldn’t be a huge deal getting seats but we didn’t want to chance anything.
Forty-five minutes rolled by and the train came roaring in. My boyfriend and I split up. He took the bags and it was my job to snag two seats. As soon as I boarded the train I realized it was a madhouse, feeding frenzy. Everyone had the same idea, get a seat. I epically failed. There were already people on board so there were no two seats together. I kept looking for two seats, which resulted in NO seats. My boyfriend just looked at me and shook his head. We ended up sitting on the floor.
I was so confused. How did we have 2nd class tickets but NO seats were available? Twenty minutes into the train ride these two German girls signaled for me to come over. They were very friendly. In their best-broken English they told me what was going on. They explained that most of the Sri Lankan people sitting in these 2nd class seats had 3rd class seats but they just sit in the 2nd class and the ticket-counters don’t care. One of the girls suggested I walk up to each seat and ask to see their ticket. She said on the train the day before she did that and her and her friend ended up getting two seats next to each other. Although I was pretty heated by this and the fact that we spent more money on tickets than they did, AND they were sitting in our seats, the truth of the fact was that I wasn’t about to kick a Sri Lankan out of their seat when I was visiting THEIR country. We were going to get seats; it was just going to take a few minutes. I saw the next major stop was in thirty minutes and told my boyfriend just to hold on tight and soon enough we would have seats. It all worked out. Within about an hour we had seats next to each other.
The train ride was just as beautiful as everyone said it was. The landscape switched back and forth between a jungle and a forest. Banana leaves followed by pine trees. We cracked our window and stuck our noses out smelling all of the potent natural scents. Soon into it we were passing natural waterfalls amidst the perfectly landscaped tea hills through Nuwara Eliya all the way to Ella. It was definitely all it was cracked up to be.
7: Ella (1 night)
We made it to Ella around 330PM after leaving Kandy on the train at 945AM. It was a long haul and we were ready to eat and find a nice place to crash for the night. People had talked about the peacefulness and serenity of Ella in everything that I read, but to be honest when we got there it felt a little too small. I’m not the type of traveler who can stay in a village with thirty people for much longer than one night; I need human interaction. It was beautiful but it felt a little out in the middle of nowhere. Some people like that, but I felt one night was enough. We enjoyed our one night and stayed in a great guesthouse for $20/night that we found from one of the guys at the train station. The guesthouse was equipped with hot water, a very friendly staff, decent wifi and front window views looking right out into the emerald Sri Lankan hills. It was serene AF. There’s plenty to do in Ella, for instance you can tour a tea plantation, visit waterfalls, go on hikes, visit one of their raved spas and get a massage, etc. The highlight for me was just being surrounded by the beautiful mountains and hearing waterfalls in the distance nearby.
8: Kataragama (1 night)
After our six-hour train ride and one night in Ella we really had no idea how we were going to get to Kataragama, a pilgrimage town in southern Sri Lanka. The guy at the guesthouse said there wasn’t a way to get there directly by bus but I thought he was wrong. I could’ve sworn I read somewhere that the buses leave every hour from Ella to Kataragama. I told my boyfriend to listen to me and I was going to figure it out. I felt it was probably best to go to the bus stop early morning since the ride would take 2-3 hours. We showed up early and asked around for buses to Kataragama. They said, “Yup in thirty minutes it comes.” I looked at my boyfriend and smiled, I was always right.
We took a bus from Ella to Kataragama. The bus was hauling ass down some of the steepest cliffs I’ve ever seen in my life. An Asian tourist was barfing in the seat behind me, lovely.
We wanted to make Kataragama a priority; it’s a multi-religious sacred town known for their nightly offerings to God Kataragama. Every night people gather at the temple and offer fruit to the Gods. They sometimes have elephants, light candles and do large services with music and drums. It was the cultural experience we were looking for. It wasn’t a typical touristy thing but that’s what we liked about it. It was also convenient because Kataragama is located extremely close to Yala National Park where we wanted to go on a safari the next morning. We connected all the dots.
We had a difficult time finding a reasonable guesthouse, as the town is a little spread out with very few foreign visitors. We went the opposite way we should have. If you take the bus into town walk in the direction the bus was going, not the way you came in. It looks as though there’s nothing in that direction but forward is the way to Yala, meaning they have several guesthouses for people specifically in the area for safaris. Yala is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Sri Lanka so it’s not wonder there’s a massive amount of guesthouses in that direction.
The ceremony that night in Kataragama was unlike anything I had ever been to before. Hundreds of people were lined up with their baskets of fruit waiting to give it to God Kataragama. Although it was a little hard to understand what was going on there were elephants, fires, flames, and a whole bunch of fruit offering. Masses of people in town gathered for this event. There were vendors everywhere selling fruit. I could understand if this was a once in a month type of deal but to have it every night was just so hard to wrap my head around. *If you do decide to go to the Kataragama offering bring bug spray…obviously the mosquitos had a field day with my bare legs.
9:YALA NATIONAL PARK (0 nights)
Yala National Park is the most-visited and second largest wildlife national park in Sri Lanka. It consists of six national parks and three wildlife sanctuaries within the entirety of the park itself. The park itself mainly focuses on the conservation of elephants, leopards and birds. We didn’t book a safari in advance; we actually booked it the night before around 8pm. We negotiated to pay 9000 Sri Lankan Rupees each. This price included the safari jeep, the driver as well as park entrance fees. You couldn’t find this price online if you died trying. Everything online is listed minimum $95 up to thousands for overnight packages.
The safari itself was an adrenaline rush. You wake up at the crack of dawn, it’s still dark out and your go searching for animals in a safari car, pretty cool. Right as we pulled in the park at 7am the sun was rising and we saw a crocodile basking in the sun.
The next four hours were enjoyable, although the ride itself a little bumpy! We saw elephants, deer, crocodiles, water buffalo, peacocks, birds and even a leopard! I was most excited about the leopard. We should’ve seen one considering Sri Lanka has one of the densest leopard populations in the world. He was tricky to spot though, it took hours of back and forth walkie-talkie talk among the safari guides. When it was all said and done and we tipped our driver a generous amount we paid less than $75/each…a steal.
10: Mirissa Beach (2 nights)
After 8 days on the road we were ready for some R & R. The beach sounded phenomenal. Straight after the safari we grabbed our bags and headed to bus station in Kataragama. We hopped on a 3-4 hour bus ride to Mirissa Beach.
The local tourism company we made friends with said Mirissa was the nicest beach in Sri Lanka…they were right. It was gorgeous. White sand, pretty clear water for Sri Lankan standards but SO many tourists. Although we didn’t mind seeing tourists after over a week of being surrounded by locals, it felt like we had left Sri Lanka. The beach is secluded and everything is either right behind or on the beach so it honestly felt like I was just in Hawaii or something.
The beach reminded me of Hawaii a little, but anyway…it was nice to say the least. We got a killer deal on a guesthouse with hot water, finally! It was $20/night right across from the beach. We enjoyed the day sipping colas beachfront and the nights eating fresh-caught fish at the local restaurants right on the beach. We bartered for the fish and one night ending up costing the equivalent of $5 for an entire fish! It was enough for two of us.
11: Hikkaduwa (2 nights)
From Mirissa we planned for two more beach days in Sri Lanka. We were going to be heading north, back up the coast toward the airport. I read about Hikkaduwa and from the pictures it seemed lovely, similar to Mirissa. The bus only took 1.5 hours and let us off right on the main drag. We did the typical walk in and ask method at every hostel/guesthouse. We thought we’d push our luck this time so we went into a few ocean-side hotels, to our surprise the second one we walked into was 1500 Sri Lankan Rupees a night, or $12/night oceanfront.
The cove we stayed at in Hikkaduwa is a little north of the main Hikkaduwa beach. We enjoyed walking south to the larger beaches during the day but it was a nice, perfectly great beach for us to stay on. There were frequent sea turtles we could swim with and lots of snorkeling in the area. To the south the beach was vast! The sand extended almost hundreds of yards between the road and the water line.
One incredible thing we did while in Hikkaduwa was go the Tsunami Museum. There are a few, but we went the one run by a single woman in her home, now turned museum. It wasn’t easy to find. GPS brought us to a grand new museum about a half-mile away from her house that was in the process of being built.
Then we proceeded to ask locals who sent us to another new museum a quarter mile away from that. Finally, I kept saying the one run by the woman! Someone knew what I was talking about and pointed us to her house. When we arrived it was something else.
The woman, Kamony spent an hour with us going all of the pictures and retelling the events of that tragic day in 2004. It was beyond special to have someone be so personal and open with complete strangers.
After Hikkaduwa we made our way back to Colombo for a night before our flight out, back to India! 10 days, 8 cities, Sri Lanka was a success.
[…] right on the beach in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka for 1500 Rupees/night, around $12. Check out my Sri Lanka Travel Guide to learn more about how I traveled around Sri […]