Sri Lanka international travel guide in May 2023

Sri Lanka 🇱🇰

Last updated: May 26, 2023

Sri Lanka is part of Asia with main city at Colombo. It's usually 🌤️ 28.16 °C in Sri Lanka with a rainfall of 🌧 122.02 mm. Tipping is quite common in Sri Lanka and it's good etiquette to leave one. Internet speed in Sri Lanka is on average 4.8 Mbps. In Sri Lanka you drive on the left side. Its Developing country with a population of 21M people. The main currency is Sri Lanka Rupee. The languages spoken are Sinhalese and Tamil. Automatic teller machines are rare in Sri Lanka. Current travel safety advice is Exercise a high degree of caution. Get other useful information like socket plugs, SIM cards and emergency numbers.

👍 Developing 🌤️ ~28.16 °C 🌧 ~122.02 mm 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 21M people

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Sri Lanka Travel Advice

🛡️ Travel safety

Exercise a high degree of caution

Public demonstrations can occur throughout Sri Lanka. Several violent incidents have taken place during large demonstrations, and you should avoid areas impacted by demonstrations. We advise you exercise a high degree of caution in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is experiencing an economic crisis which has led to shortages of fuel, cooking gas, food and medicines. Power cuts regularly occur due to electricity rationing. We now advise: Exercise a high degree of caution in Sri Lanka due to the threat of civil unrest, shortages of fuel and other supplies and the risk of terrorism.

Issue date: November 4, 2022

Sri Lanka Weather

🌤️ Temperature

🌧 Rainfall

Sri Lanka Essential travel details

🔌 Plugs

Sri Lanka uses 230V, 50Hz with sockets and plugs Type D and Type G.

🌐 Languages

The languages that are typically spoken are Sinhalese and Tamil

Money in Sri Lanka

💱 Currencies Used

Sri Lanka uses the Sri Lankan rupee (symbol: Rs), code LKR.Banknotes come in denominations of 5000, 2000, 1000, 500, 200, 100, 50, 20 and 10 rupees. Rupee is subdivided into 100 cents. Coins come in denominations of 10, 5, 2 and 1 rupees and 50, 25, 10, 2 and 1 cents.

🏧 ATMs

Automatic teller machines are rare in Sri Lanka. Your best bet is to look for them in large cities and community places.You do not need a chip & PIN card to use an ATM — your standard magnetic card will work fine.

💁‍♂️ Tipping

Expected to tip Tipping is quite common in Sri Lanka and it's good etiquette to leave one. How much money you leave depends on the service and how happy you were with it. Receipts usually include a service charge.

Calling in Sri Lanka

📡 Internet

Internet speed in Sri Lanka is on average 4.8 Mbps. WiFi coverage in Sri Lanka is low. It is not as easy to find one.

📱 Phones

You can buy a SIM card for about 479.16 LKR, which includes 6 GB of data plan. You can choose from 5 telecoms: Airtel, Dialog, Etisalat, Hutch or Mobitel. Sri Lanka uses GSM mobile networks GSM 900 and GSM 1800. If you don't want to buy SIM card in Sri Lanka upon arrival, make sure to check the roaming charges with your telecom provider before your departure so there are no surprises when you return home.

📞 Calling

To call Sri Lanka, dial +, then 94 (the country code for Sri Lanka), then the area code (without the initial 0) and the local number. For local calls within Sri Lanka, start with the area code (with the initial 0). In the case above area code is 112 .

Driving in Sri Lanka

🛣️ Road rules

In Sri Lanka you drive on the left side. Most cars have manual transmission (stick). Unless otherwise posted, the speed limits for cars and motorcycles are as follows: 50 km/h (31 mph) in all built-up areas, 70 km/h (43 mph) on undivided highways, 70-100 km/h (43-62 mph) on motorways and 70-100 km/h (43-62 mph) on expressways.

🆘 Emergency

Universal

112

Police

122

Ambulance

124

Fire department

123

Sri Lanka country map

Sri Lanka travel details

It's important to consider getting travel medical insurance to ensure you're covered in case of unexpected medical emergencies. For just $42, you can get coverage for 4 weeks, providing peace of mind and financial protection while you're away from home.

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