Guides
The things worth knowing before you book
Four guides, written to set expectations rather than to sell. Between them they answer most of what goes wrong on a first trip here: the wrong coast in the wrong month, an itinerary that is secretly all driving, and a bill of entrance fees nobody mentioned.
When to visit, and which coast
Sri Lanka has no best time to visit. It has a different right answer every month, and getting it wrong costs you a week of grey sea.
Two monsoons run on opposite schedules: the southwest soaks the south and west May to September, the northeast closes the north and east October to January. Region-by-region ratings for all twelve months, plus the wildlife and surf windows.
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Realistic drive times
The island is small. The roads are slow. This is the gap that ruins more itineraries here than anything else.
Average road speed in Sri Lanka is about 40 km/h in the lowlands and 30–35 km/h in the hills. Door-to-door times for the transfers our routes actually use, plus what the expressway network does and does not cover.
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Visa and ETA basics
Sri Lanka made tourist visas free for forty nationalities in May 2026. You still need an ETA, and people still get caught out by that.
Since 25 May 2026 nationals of forty countries get a free 30-day double-entry tourist visa, but everyone still has to obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation before arrival. What that means in practice and what to check before you book.
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What things cost
Site entrance fees in Sri Lanka are high, rising, and a common source of resentment. Here is the whole list rather than the small print.
Sigiriya is US$35, Horton Plains approaches US$30, and Pigeon Island is US$50 before the boat. What foreign visitors actually pay at the major sites, which of our trips cover them, and how to think about the local-versus-foreign differential.
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