At 65k km² and roughly the size of Ireland, Sri Lanka is a small island which might make you think getting around Sri Lanka is easy. Think again. The road and rail infrastructure are quite outdated and getting around takes time, especially because the main attrations are quite far apart. Roads are narrow and needless to say that Sri Lankans drive way differently of what we’re used to back home.
We were aware of that and on the biggest dilemmas when planning our trip was how to move around Sri Lanka. I’ll list the 4 main ones:
Many foreign travelers opt for options 1 or 2 which are also the cheapest, that is why we were initially inclined to go with one of those. However, looking into it we have realized that saving money would also mean we would be losing lots of time and mostly nerves. In Sri Lanka public transportation is rather unreliable, that is why you can’t plan well ahead. Since we love to have the flexibility and freedom on the road and as our large suitcases also don’t fit in in most tuk tuks, we decided to travel by car for our 3 weeks trip.
Renting a car to drive around Sri Lanka requires you to obtain a Sri Lankan driving license. Yes, an international driving permit won’t do! To obtain it you need to go to Colombo city centre and catch the official hours at the Department of Motor Traffic and provide all the paperwork which will cost you money and time. The better option is to apply beforehand at the car rental place which takes care of the paperwork for you for a minor additional fee.
All the international rental companies are in Sri Lanka, but the prices are rather inflated considering the Sri Lankan purchasing power. We reached to a local rental agency (Malkey Rentals) and got a quote for our 3 week trip.
When browsing through different offers we also noticed that most rental companies have pre-defined option »with driver«. Since we knew that Sri Lankan road conditions are rough, we decided to look into this more, especially because the difference in price was not that huge.
We’ve got a winner! 🙂 Believe me, we had our doubts – we are adventurous, we want to discover things on our own and not be tied to a predefined trip. Why would we need someone to drive us, we both can drive?
We reached out to a few agencies and Insight Sri Lanka caught our eye. We immediately connected with them as the agent / driver ensured us complete freedom during our trip and provided valuable additional suggestions for our trip. In terms of the cost, the final price was merely 30% higher than the quote from the car rental place without the driver. Counting in the gasoline costs we would come to a much lower difference in price, so we just decided to give it a go and it turned out to be the right decision.
I think it’s really important who your driver / guide is, as you spend a lot of time with him on the road so try to get to know him before hitting the road. In our case it was wonderful travelling around Sri Lanka with Dave, our driver and guide from Insight Sri Lanka. He shared with us many fascinating stories and background on buddhism, culture, customs, nature and food so we really got a lot from this trip. On top of that he was also there to negotiate local rates for some nice hotels and was really friendly and professional during our whole trip.
Our fear of missing a true experience of Sri Lanka due to going the agency way proved to be completely the opposite. The right guide can you share you more stories, facilitate your travels and show you more hidden gems that you can Google. Not getting off at Ella but rather on the stop after to ride over the Nine Arches bridge (all the foreigners got off at Ella) is just one of many on this trip. Thanks again for everything Dave!
Oh yeah, and Sri Lankans in fact do drive »differently« – 2 cars on a single lane is pretty common and expect a lot of honking all around. Finding a parking spot in popular spots like Kandy and Galle can also be a drag and some streets are really narrow (especially on the Southern coastline) so watch out if you’re the one behind the wheel! Hope this helps you plan your trip around Sri Lanka!
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Great article. It’s also worth mentioning that Almost all rental companies don’t mention the insurance on self drive cars. They will make you pay for all damages in case you get into some accident. They won’t use insurance to claim as they only use the rental insurance for legal reasons. I almost had to pay £1000 to a rental company but they didn’t have any legal document to state I agreed to those terms. I am a Sri Lankan/ British and I think it’s worth that all tourists know this.
Train journeys are amazing and having a driver from a reputed place is a good choice for foreigners if choosing the car option.
Thank you, Ishy. Wow, did not know that, that's a great point, thank you for sharing. Happy to hear that things worked out for you and I'm sure it will help other travellers getting around Sri Lanka!
hello. would you mind giving us some details about the price you paid for the 3 weeks ?
thanks a lot
Hi Aiham! Just contact Dave, he has different rates depending on your needs, but he is the best out there ;) Have fun in Sri Lanka!