Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka7 guides across 1 destination — where to go, when, what it costs and what to eat.
Destinations in Sri Lanka
Practical essentials for Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan rupee (LKR)
Sinhala and Tamil are official; English is a recognised link language and is widely used in Colombo and the tourist trade
Type D/G/M, 230V 50Hz
Tuk-tuks booked through the PickMe app handle short hops, trains cover the scenic long routes, and hiring a car with a driver is the usual way to cross the country.
About 10% in restaurants and hotels; tuk-tuk and taxi drivers don't expect a tip, though small change is welcome.
Tap water is not safe to drink — buy sealed bottled water and skip the ice outside good hotels.
Left-hand side; visitors need an International Driving Permit plus a Sri Lankan recognition permit issued by the Automobile Association in Colombo.
119 police, 110 ambulance and fire; 1912 tourist hotline
Country-level guidance, checked against official sources. Currency, fares and entry rules change — confirm anything time-critical before you travel.
Recent stories from Sri Lanka
Three Budgets, Three Colombos: A Bed for Each
In Colombo the price you are willing to pay does not only change the room; it decides the postcode, the commute and how much of the city you actually meet.
Breakfast to midnight: eating your way through Colombo
Colombo eats in shifts, from pre-dawn hoppers to midnight kottu — a one-day route through the city's food, and the detours worth taking if you have longer.
The Traffic Picks Your Hotel: Where to Sleep in Colombo
In a city strung along a single road, where four kilometres can cost you ten minutes or fifty, the smartest booking decision in Colombo is made around the road you will leave by.
The backstreets and local markets of Colombo
Colombo keeps its best self in the backstreets — a full day on foot through Pettah's trade lanes, Fort's colonnades, a temple on the water and the seafront at dusk.
Choosing Your Colombo Postcode, From Fort to Mount Lavinia
Colombo is navigated by number rather than by name, and the district you book decides whether your days run along a seafront promenade, under rain trees, or on a commuter train to the beach.
What to Eat in Colombo: A Dish-by-Dish Guide
Sri Lankan food is finally getting its due, and Colombo is its table — from bowl-shaped hoppers at breakfast to lagoon crab at dinner. Eat it in this order.
Ten Things Colombo Has That the Rest of Sri Lanka Doesn't, Ranked
Colombo's real competition is not other capitals but the other sixty-five thousand square kilometres of Sri Lanka, so we ranked the city by what only it can give you.