Our four week budget for two people in Sri Lanka was 80 NZD per day (~9400rs/US53).
Sri Lanka is a very easy country to travel on a budget – there’s an abundance of cheap guesthouses in every town, the food is delicious and inexpensive, and swimming in the ocean or lying in the sun is always free. Here’s our budget breakdown for travelling Sri Lanka on the cheap, with the average prices we paid for activities, accomodation, food and transport.
This data comes from the app ‘Wander Wallet’. We highly recommend this app for your travel budgeting, we use it constantly.
ATTRACTIONS:
As you can see, the cost of attractions is comparatively high in Sri Lanka. A single entry ticket could easily come close what we were paying for a nights accommodation, with the average entrance fee to a popular temple sitting around 1500rs/pp (NZ12/US8.5). The most expensive temple we visited was Sigiriya rock, which came in at an eye watering 5,400 (NZ46/US30) per person. (For more info on Sigiriya and all there is to do there, check out 3 Days in Sigiriya).
The other expensive attraction that we splurged on was two half-day safari trips. The first was 7000rs/pp in Sigiriya, the second was 5000rs/pp in Arugam Bay/Yala east. On both occasions we shared the safari vehicle with other travellers.
We probably visited a paid attraction one in every four or five days we were in Sri Lanka. On all other days, we did free or cheap activities – such as hikes, laying on the beach or exploring the area by scooter (1000-1500rs for the day). The Wander Wallet app calculates how much you need to save to make up for an expensive day, and we used this to make sure we never blew the budget.
ACCOMODATION:
Budget accommodation is easy to find in Sri Lanka. Many towns don’t have hostels yet, with hotels or guesthouses making up the majority of the lodging options. For that little bit of privacy, we were always looking to book a cheap double room as opposed to a dorm bed. Nearly every guesthouse room we stayed in had an attached bathroom (though they didn’t always have hot water).
Most guesthouses will also include a Sri Lankan breakfast in the price of the room, or at a very small additional cost. The quality of the breakfast varies from okay to mind-blowingly good. The most expensive room we stayed in was at Sigiriya Village Homestay – NZ40/US27 for a double room, attached warm water bathroom, amazing 10/10 breakfast and hospitality. The cheapest was NZ16/US11 for a double room, attached warm water bathroom, okay breakfast. The average price we paid was around NZ25 per night.
FOOD:
Food in Sri Lanka is generally very affordable. ‘Curry and Rice’ is both the name and description of the main staple that you’ll find everywhere. This dish will nearly always feature a generous portion of long-grain rice, with three or four vegetarian curries on the side, as well as a serve of coconut sambal. One of the curries will usually be dahl. A veg curry and rice usually averaged about 350-650rs (NZ3/US2 – NZ5.5/US4). In more touristy areas, we saw this dish advertised for as high as 1000rs. Adding on a small bowl of meat or fish curry will cost you about 300+.
A plate of chicken khottu (stir fried rotti with chicken and vegetables) averaged around 400-600rs.
We only paid for whole fish when the price was between 900 – 1300rs.
A typical Sri Lankan breakfast of dahl, coconut rotti and coconut sambal averaged 300rs. A tea or instant coffee is about 80rs. An espresso coffee in a touristy area goes for 400rs.
The most expensive meal we ate was a seafood platter on Unawatuna beach. A giant place of crab, lobster, tuna, prawns and cuttlefish was 4000rs. Well worth it.
We didn’t eat any western food, but burgers and pizzas were widely available, but were nearly always more expensive than local food. Touristy beach destinations like Unawatuna and Hikkaduwa had the most expensive food prices.
There’s one budget food hack that will seriously make a difference to your bottom line in Sri Lanka: eat lunch at the bakeries.
Seriously.
Sri Lankan bakeries are everywhere, from carts on the street to small hole-in-the-wall establishments with a few plastic seats. Here you can buy rotti samosas (fish or chicken), crumbed fish rolls, sambal buns, spiced donuts, cardamom cake and coconut-honey pancakes for only a few rupees a piece. A bakery lunch of five items plus two soft drinks averaged around 300rs (NZ 2.5/US1.7), which was more than enough for the two of us.
TRANSPORT:
In terms of getting around, we largely used public transport to get from place to place. For shorter distances, we walked or rode in tuktuks. We only ever rode in the car once, in a taxi from the airport to our first hostel in Colombo.
Sri Lankan tuktuk drivers will try to rip you off, just like anywhere else in Asia. PickMe is Sri Lanka’s version of Uber/Grab and is a lifesaver in the big cities – download the app as soon as you land.
Unfortunately PickMe is not available in any of the smaller towns, where you’re unlikely to get even a short ride for less than 300rs (NZ2.5/US1.7). 10km in a tuktuk will generally set you back around 800rs (expect the price to start at 1000rs), though we generally tried to haggle down to 500 for this distance.
For longer distances, a second class train seat makes for a slow, but pleasant journey. Tickets are around 250rs each for a 5h journey. But trains only cover a portion of the island – for all other journeys, we took us bus, or went by tuktuk.The price of a bus ride on the routes we travelled varied a lot more than the train, at 150-500rs per ticket. The busses are hot, very crowded and swing around the roads like crazy. We did ride an air conditioned bus for 280rs each from Kandy to Dambulla, but didn’t see any other public a/c busses for the entire time we were there. On two occasions, we paid a tuktuk driver to take us a long distance – 5000rs for the Arugam Bay to Ella route (3.5-4h) and another from Talalla to Unawatuna (1.5h), who we paid 2400. In both these cases we could have taken public transport, but we had been eating cheap and had some budget to spare, so the extra cost was worth skipping the complicated bus transfers.
Other costs:
We didn’t do any shopping in Sri Lanka. We typically don’t shop much, and all that was on offer for tourists seemed to be the same baggy pants and painted wooden elephants that you see around other parts of Asia.
Alcohol:
Alcohol is very expensive in Sri Lanka. A bottle of Lion Larger will set you back 400 from a bottle store, more from an eatery. A cocktail will be 700-1000. A glass of wine 900-1200. A shot of the local spirit, Aarak, 600. Unless you’re in a touristy spot, many smaller eateries won’t have a liquor licence, and you will need to buy your drinks from a bar or bottle store. Many of these outlets don’t welcome women. If you’re in a touristy area, drinks will be more expensive but easier to find – and not as sexist.
Water:
The price of bottled water is regulated by the government. 1.5L is 150 and a 5L is 300. We typically bought 5L bottles to keep in our room and refill our day bottles.
Coffee:
400rs for an espresso coffee. But there isn’t really much good coffee to tempt you in Sri Lanka, so this is not an issue.
SIM card:
We bought a Mobitel SIM card from the airport. 1300 for 11G of data and unlimited calls and texts over a month.
ATM fees:
All ATMs we used at a 400rs withdrawal fee. The maximum withdrawal varied between 25000 and 45000. Our New Zealand bank adds 2.5% foreign currency fee on top of this.
Laundry:
70rs a kilo was the standard rate for laundry on the street.
Scooter rental:
Between 1000-1500rs per day for a scooter. Often it was the guesthouse owners personal scooter. Be sure you have the correct licence to drive in Sri Lanka, as we were often pulled over at police stops.
A typical day spending in Sri Lanka for two people:
Accomodation: double room in a guesthouse with attached bathroom and breakfast: 3000
1.5L water: 150
Transport to explore the area (either tuktuk or scooter): ~1000
Lunch at a bakery: 400
Two king coconuts: 200
Dinner, curry and rice with a meat side, chicken khottu and soft drinks: 1700rs
Total: 6450rs (NZ55 / US36)
Potential additional costs:
2x entrance fee to a temple: 3000
2x bus or train tickets: 600
2x beers: 800
2x breakfast – if not included in accommodation: 400-1000
Sunscreen or mosquito repellent: 700
