Recently, my wife and I spent a week in Sri Lanka with our toddler son. The whole experience was quite amazing, but there were some unexpected learnings I thought I’d share:

Getting a Local SIM is Trivial

I was able to get a working, local Sri Lanka number even before clearing immigration. Mobitel, one of the larger mobile operators in Sri Lanka, has a counter right after the boarding gates. The process was seamless and took less than 5 minutes—the only document they needed was my passport, and they activated the connection on the spot. The 7-day validity plan, with 10 GB bundled data, was priced at ₹540.

I didn’t encounter any major coverage issues with Mobitel during our trip.

Remove Airtel Postpaid SIM Before Landing

I swapped out my Airtel SIM with the Mobitel one within 30 minutes of landing. Airtel still charged me ₹700 for a 1-day international roaming pack even though I had never consented. I was able to successfully dispute the charge (via the in-app chat) and get them reversed. But I have learned my lesson.

Plan for Cash

Unlike India, Sri Lanka is still a cash-heavy country. Many places don’t accept credit/forex cards, even for large transactions. One should plan to carry cash from India or withdraw it from a local ATM.

For example, we visited the amazing Victor Hasselblad Sea Turtle Research And Conservation Centre which charges 2,000 LKR per person and only accepts cash. Local autos (aka TukTuks) too only accept cash.

I suggest withdrawing cash at the Colombo airport itself since there are several ATMs near the exit. The ATMs in towns can be far and between and also get crowded.

Err on the side of withdrawing too much rather than too little since visiting ATMs can be a hassle and you can always clear extra cash later. For instance, I took out 20K LKR as cash on our second day of the trip. We spent 12K over our 5-day trip and I used the remaining to clear the hotel bill on the last day.

INR cash too has pretty good acceptance (even with local autos) but use it as a last resort since the conversion rates can be terrible.

Note: UPI is compatible with LankaQR, the Sri Lankan standard for QR-code based payments, but I didn’t use it anywhere. Unlike India, I didn’t find a place that accepted LankaQR but not credit cards. Also, UPI international seems to charge 3.5% forex fee which was higher than the 2% fee on our credit card.

Not All ATMs Are Equal

Using an ATM in Sri Lanka felt like navigating a minefield: the banks were too eager to slap on additional charges, often using dark patterns. HNB, for example, didn’t let me withdraw cash unless I accepted 800 LKR as additional charges for withdrawing 20K. This fee would have been in addition to whatever HDFC would’ve charged me for currency conversion and using a foreign ATM. Commercial Bank too was insistent on a 5% additional charge. I chose to walk away from both.

Bank of Ceylon (BOC), on the other hand, didn’t charge any additional fee for the cash withdrawal, likely because they are Sharia-compliant.

Booking Directly with Hotel Can Be Cheaper Than OTAs

We stayed at The Charleston, Galle Fort, which I highly recommend. We had called the hotel to enquire about the rooms but asked for the nightly rates, just out of curiosity. We were pleasantly surprised to know that instead of the ₹75K+ that OTAs like Booking.com and Agoda were charging, the hotel was offering the same room directly for ~28% less (₹54K, all inclusive).

We got a room booking confirmation over WhatsApp and then made half the payment as advance. We paid the remaining during checkout. The final bill was in LKR and was further 1% cheaper at the ongoing LKR/USD rate. We were a little apprehensive of going direct but I’m glad that we took the leap.

Uber TukTuk is Cheaper and Convenient Than Hailing One Off the Road

TukTuks were readily available everywhere we went but they charge absurd rates. This is especially true for autos at tourist centers, like the Galle Fort Shopping area, or the Jungle Beach, Galle. Getting a Tuktuk via Uber, in contrast, was much cheaper. For instance, for a one-way trip from Galle Fort to Japanese Peace Pagoda, the TukTuk off-the-road asked for 1200 LKR while the one via Uber cost us 450 LKR.

Uber can charge your card directly so you don’t need to worry about paying cash either; we observed a typical waiting time of ~5 mins.

Keep in mind that autos near main tourist centers are likely part of cartel members and they frown and scream at TukTuks that you avail off Uber. One TukTuk operator who worked with Uber suggested choosing pick-up points that are slightly further away from the main stands to avoid a scene.

Be Aware of Different Uber Intercity Options

Uber operates two Intercity tiers in Sri Lanka: Premier and Zip (cheaper). We chose Uber Zip to travel from Colombo Airport to our hotel in Bentota. Getting the Uber was convenient and the ride was comfortable but it took us 2+ hours to reach instead of the expected 1.5 hours. I wouldn’t blame the driver; you could tell that the Maruti Van-like car just wasn’t meant for highways.

Since the car and driver were decent, we chose Uber Zip again for roaming around Bentota. But for our Bentota to Galle, and Galle to Colombo travel, we chose Uber Premier to get fast sedans.

Plan Your Tea Purchases

Sri Lanka is famous for its luxury tea (we didn’t know), and there are more grades of tea than I could wrap my head around. We delayed the decision to buy until the end and unfortunately missed our chance to buy from a local market—shops in Galle Fort close early.

We eventually bought some tea for gifting at the airport but had limited overpriced options to choose from. If you’re interested in taking back some Ceylon tea, plan your purchase early.