Travel Guide to Sri Lanka

Please read our comprehensive guide to visit Sri Lanka and plan your next holiday trip to Sri Lanka and enjoy your holiday.

SrI Lanka is a tear drop shape island location in Indian ocean which extent of ‎65,610 km2 (25,330 sq mi) and has maximum length of 432 KM and maximum width of 224 KM. Formally Sri Lanka known as “The Ceylon“, “Serendib” and “Thaprobain” and also it’s called as pearl of the Indian ocean. it became Sri Lanka officially in 1972. Currently it is a democratic socialist republic country. As per the geographical location, Sri Lanka is located in the prime location in the Indian Ocean and it called as “Business Hub”.

Nearly 150 years, British ruled the country and then in 1948 Sri Lanka became an independence country. Currently Sri Lanka is a member of United Nations, Commonwealth and South Asian Association for regional Cooperation (SAARC).  Sri Lanka has a diverse population. Sri Lanka population is around 22 million and official languages are Sinhala & Tamil. Majority of population is Singhalese and minority will goes to Tamil, Muslims & Burgher. Sri Lanka has various communities profess four of the world’s major religions are Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Official curreny of the country is Sri Lankan Ruppes and also other currencies (USD, EURO, JPN, Riyals etc) are used for international trades.

Colombo is the main city of Sri Lanka and you will find all major business and other operations are running around it. But Sri Jayawardanapura, Kotte is legally named as the Capital of Sri Lanka. The country has been divided into 9 provinces and then twenty-five districts. There are different levels of ruling government bodies for the Country  and then Province, districts so on.

Most Sri Lankan depends on agriculture-related activities and also we can see fastly growing economy in the last decades.wide-ranging diversified physical environment makes Sri Lanka one of the world’s most scenic countries. There are three zones that are distinguished based on elevation. Those are Central highlands, the plains, and the coastal belt. The Costal Belts is 30 meters above from the sea level, Since Sri Lanka is an Island, We can see the Coastal Belt around the border of the country with amazing scenic beaches. Most of the island’s surface covers in the plains between 30 to 200 meters. Most of Sri Lankan populations are laying on these areas. In this zone, we can see most of the area with flat surfaces and some time with hill area too.

Central highlands can treat as a gift from the god. This is the amazing zone in Sri Lanka, All the rivers are rising from central highlands and flow into the sea. The longest river is the Mahaweli river and around 335Km long. Across the zone, we can see hundreds of amazing waterfalls. Babarakanda, Dunhida, Diyaluma, Rawana Ella some of them are and very popular among visitors.

Sri Lanka is having it’s quote hot climate usually. Sri Lanka is getting rainfalls to depend on the monsoon winds from the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The average low temperature is around 15 celsius in hill countries and mainly in Nuwaraeliya and the average maximum temperature is around 33 celsius in the northern area. if we talk about the whole country, the temperature would be average 28-30 celsius. Year begging it will be the very coolest climate and then mid of the year will be the hottest period such as May, June. Most visitors who love for cool temperatures, love to visit on Nuwaraeliya, Bandarawela, Ella areas, and visitors who love to stay in the middle-temperature zone will choose to stay in down south areas or northeast areas. Colombo and suburb is having it’s  a mid-range temperature regularly with some time with heavy showers. You can get the live weather condition of Sri Lanka through the official website of  Department of Meteorology – Sri Lanka.

Is Sri Lanka safe to visit?

After 30 years of civil war, in 2009, the Government took necessary action to end the civil war. Thereafter Sri Lanka is having a very safe environment for travelers. Also, after the civil war, We could see a huge development in all areas especially in the tourism industry and the number of travelers increased with a large amount. Especially, travelers were keener on visiting previous civil war areas as these areas were under the war for more than 30 years. These areas are very popular for cultural and natural beauty such as Naagadeepa temple, Wilpattu National Park, Nallur Kandaswamy temple & Jaffna Fort, Mannar Island, Nilaweli beach is more popular places . Now Sri Lanka is a more safe country and many international agencies have ranked Sri Lanka is one of the most safest countries in the world for travelers. Due to the peaceful situation in Sri Lanka, statistics shows that every year number of travelers visiting Sri Lanka increased by large numbers and could see a slight drop in the year 2019. Reference to the data published by CEIC website, 2019 tourism revenue is US$ 3.6 billions.

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Annually travelers from many countries visiting Sir Lanka. Based on the statistic data of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, in 2018, 2,333,796 international tourists visited Sri Lanka, and its a 4.9% contribution to GDP in the year. India, China, United Kingdom, Germany & Australia were in the top 5 countries that visited in 2018.  Click here to visit the statistic data section of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority for more details about traveler statistics.

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Best time to visit Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka weather conditions defined with two key monsoon seasons. Therefore it’s rainfalls alternatively in West and South coasts and east coast throughout the year and also somewhere will be dry throughout the year. If you are considering weather conditions, the best time to visit the south and west coasts and hill countryside is from December to March. Also, the best time to travel to the east coast is from April to September. If you visiting Colombo, Bentota, Hikkaduwa, Galle, Matara, Weligama, Mirissa, Unawatuna beaches, the best time to visit in December to March as you can feel sunny weather condition. Also, this is the best time to visit Nuwaraeliya, Bandarawela & Ella areas. If you are planning to visit hill country, We suggest booking your hotels in advance as this is a very crowded festival season in Nuwaraeliya. This is the Season of Flowers in Nuwaraeliya and you can get amazing experience visiting hill country during the period. (Picture credits – The Clovelly Bungalow. Nuwaraeliya)

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If you visiting for activities related to the sea, the best time to travel between January to March. During the most likely to see Blue whales and Sperm whales around the offshore area. and if you are just visiting to spend your time on beaches, the best time is October to March. if you are visiting the month of April, its Sinhala & Hindu new year season in Sri Lanka, lots of festival going on. it’s a more important festival for many Sri Lankans. If You are coming in the month of May, mostly the Vesak festival will be during the month of May and this is most important festival for the Buddhist community and then following June will be the Poson festival. 

July and August were dedicated to traditional Esala festivals in Kataragala and Kandy. Esala festival is taking place in Kataragama dewalaya and Sri Dalada Maligaya, Kandy. There are 3 month school holidays in Sri Lanka following, Apri, August, and December. Mainly Sri Lankans are traveling across the country during these seasons. If you are a nature lover, the best time to visit Sri Lanka in March-April, You can spend your time in botanical gardens in Peradeniya-Kandy and Hakgala-Nuwaraeliya. Also, you can visit popular National parks during this period. Yala National Park, Udawalawe National Park, Horton Plains National Park, Singharaja forest, Wasgamuwa, Ridiyagama, Wilpattu National Park are some of them.

Look around Sri Lanka

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