Getting around Sri Lanka

For the vast majority of travel within Sri Lanka, you’ll need to navigate the county’s road system. Sri Lankan roads can vary from well-maintained highways to pothole-ridden tracks, and the rules of the road can seem chaotic and somewhat baffling to westerners!

Public transport is also a little hit and miss. Buses can be slow and crowded, and probably not what you want when you’re wrangling your family and all your luggage.

For that reason, we almost always recommend a private driver to get you around Sri Lanka.

Although we sometimes offer simple point-to-point transfers to get our budget-conscious travellers around Sri Lanka, for family travel we almost always recommend having your own car and driver for the duration of your holiday – it’s not too much extra in terms of cost and the benefits are clear to see!

Having your own car and driver gives you the flexibility to do things when you want to and without having to worry about finding a taxi and negotiating rates every time. Whether that’s heading out to a restaurant you’ve heard about, visiting a national park during your free time, or even just taking a drive to explore the coast, your driver will be happy to oblige.

 

Our local partners operate a fleet of modern vehicles, all perfectly suited to travel Sri Lanka’s highways and rougher rural roads. Depending on the size of your family, this could either be a standard car or a minivan and we’ll make sure you’ve got enough room not to feel cramped on longer journeys. All vehicles are air conditioned too, which is very welcome when you’ve been out exploring in the heat!

Our drivers are friendly, fairly paid, and know Sri Lanka’s roads as well as anybody. Our local partners work with experienced drivers who have excellent safety records, so you can be confident they’ll take good care of your family throughout your holiday. There’s really nobody better to navigate you through Sri Lanka’s traffic and bumpy country roads.

Although they aren’t trained as tour guides, the drivers we use will speak a good level of English and have lots of useful local knowledge to share. Want to know a good local place for lunch or where to buy your souvenirs? Just ask! By the end of your holiday you’ll probably know your driver pretty well, and it’s a great chance to ask about life in Sri Lanka.

Your driver will sleep overnight nearby or in the same hotel as you (many Sri Lankan hotels have driver accommodation), so they’ll be on-hand if you need anything.

Although you’ll have the luxury of your own private car throughout your holiday, you may want to try out some of Sri Lanka’s iconic transport options while you’re there – it’s all part of the experience, after all!

You’ll see these little three-wheelers zipping about all over Sri Lanka, especially in towns and cities, and they’re a fun way to get around and avoid the worst of the traffic. Kids usually love the tuk tuk experience and we include a tuk tuk tour in our Colombo bite-sized trip. But even if you’re not visiting the capital, why not hop on a tuk tuk for a quick ride around?

Sri Lanka’s train network is a little limited so you’d struggle to make this your primary way of getting round – plus the trains can be pretty slow and uncomfortable so your family might not thank you for that decision! However, if you want to experience an iconic Sri Lankan train journey, we recommend doing so in the tea hills on the way to Ella.

Train travel isn’t for everyone so we don’t include it as standard in our Hike Through the Hills of Ella bite-sized trip, but if this is something your family would love to do then your travel specialist can arrange it for you!