Travel through Sri Lanka under 30,000 for 2!

This blog will give you guys a heads up of how to travel cheap through Sri Lanka (Excluding flight tickets) while staying at good Hotels. Also, places to be covered and the type of food available.

-Galle

-Mount Lavinia

-Colombo

We started our journey from Chennai International Airport on an early morning flight that reached Colombo at around 7:30 am. Quick access through immigration as we got our Visa's online (Free for Indians till April, 2020) and customs and we were out of the airport where we already had a prebooked car waiting for us. You could book a taxi through taxi.lk (That's the site I booked it from). They're are  affordable (4100 INR) and professional.

We reached Galle after A beautiful 2 hour drive from Colombo Airport. Booked a place through Agoda (in advance) for around 2500 INR a night. Went straight to the hotel for lunch as we were damn hungry. Had a burger and pizza for INR 443.

We didn't do much on the first day as we were pretty tired as we had been traveling through India as well. So we decided to take a walk around the area we wwe were staying at. Picked up some fruits, luncheon meat, bread, noodles etc. and then had the all famous Kottu for Dinner

We woke up are around 9 am and headed straight for the rooftop hotel of the resort. Spent around INR 800 per head. On the higher side in terms of price, however, They view was awesome! It needed sometime for us to digest the breakfast, LOL so we decided to head back to the room and chill

We left for Galle fort at around 3 pm on a Tuk Tuk, which cost us around INR 160. Galle fort is pretty small, so 3 hours should be enough to go through allthe lanes of this beautiful Dutch fort. However, ensure you go at sunset as its scorching hot in the afternoon.

Places to visit at Galle fort are:

Peddlars street - For shopping

Galle Light House - For the view

Galle Cricket stadium - For the Cricket lovers

We walked through all the lanes of Galle fort. We stopped for lunch at a small cafe and spent around INR 350 for a Sri Lankan fish dish. Headed to peddlars street to buy a few souvenirs (INR 325) and then took a Rick (INR 160) back to the resort as the sun has completed sucked the juice out of us!

Dinner for us was just plain and simple Cup Noodles (A life saver!)

Rest day. 

Had luncheon meat sandwiches for breakfast

No lunch as we went too late and all the restaurants had already started serving tea

We decided to have Dinner at the Hotel itself for around INR 443

We had to travel North to Mount Lavinia, hence we decided to take the 10:25 am train from Galle to Mount Lavinia. The cost of a ticket was a mere INR 174. Compare that to a cab charging INR 4000! Anyway, it was one of the best decisions we've made as the view was just spectacular, a ride all along the coast of Sri Lanka! We reached Mount Lavinia Station at around 12 pm and walked for around 500 meters to our Hotel, so no cash spent on transfers, yay!

Checked in at 12:30 pm and headed for lunch to a nearby restaurant. Had Crab curry and beef curry. Was a bit expensive though as the cost was INR 900. We then headed to towards Keels Supermarket to buy essentials and Beer. A tin of Anchor beer would cost you INR 80. Cheap, but the more you drink, the more you pay, LOL!

We didnt go out for Dinner, however, we ordered American Pepperoni Pizza from Pizza hut for INR 508. Pretty reasonable!

Breakfast on Day 5 was cheap as well as we decided to skip the buffet breakfast which was around INR 1000 and instead ordered breakfast in bed. Scrambled egg, bacon, sausages, toast, juice etc. for just INR 386. Was certainly a steal.

We researched on google for places to visit in Colombo and booked a taxi accordingly to the Kms. We hired a cab on taxi.lk for around INR 2400 for the whole day, which was cheap. Uber was charging more or less the same amount with additional taxes. Anyway, the places we visited are below :

Lotus Tower

Galle face

Pettah floating Market

Independence memorial hall

St Anthony's Church

St. Andrews Church

Old galle buck light house

Since we had the cab with us until midnight, we decided to head back to our Hotel in Mount Lavinia to freshen up. We'd decided to head for dinner to the ministry of crab which was in down town Colombo, an rather expense. However, they were full. Hence, we ended up at another place called Tap Resto Bar which had a live band and didn't hurt the pocket too much.  INR 1083 for a beef burger, prawn pasta and 4 mugs of beer to be precise.

We had to check out on Day 6 at 11 am, hence, decided to order breakfast in bed once again for INR 386. A cab to that Airport cost us around INR 1101. Mind you, it takes around an hour an a half to reach the Airport from Colombo. The Airport isn't actually in Colombo, but Negombo!

Total Amount spent :

Day 1

Taxi - 4116               
Lunch - 444                  
Foodstuff - 315
Dinner 250                                         

Day 2

Breakfast - 1637     
Rick - 161
Souvenirs - 345
Lunch - 327
Rick - 119

Day 3

Stuff brought from the Supermarket - 528                            
Dinner - 453

Day 4

Rick - 158    
Tickets - 174
Lunch - 961
Keels Supermarket - 290
Dinner - 508

Day 5

Breakfast - 386
Taxi - 2589                     
Lunch - 572
Dinner - 1383

Day 6

Breakfast - 386                                        
Cab to the Airport - 1101
Snacks at the Airport - 354
Hotel Stay - 250 per night (Average)            

Important tips :

- Do your research on the places you want to visit
- Use apps such as Uber eats or Pick me to order food. Its certainly cheaper than going to a restaurant.
- Buffet breakfast could be expensive so buy Luncheon meat (If your Non Veg), Cheese, bread etc. 
- Cup Noodles. It is a life saver like i said earlier!
- Book your cab through taxi.lk or Uber. Certainly cheaper than a lot of taxi operators
- Exchange your INR for USD in India itself and then exchange your USD for SLR in the city.
- Travel by train if you want to go from Colombo to Bentota, Galle, Matara, Kandy.

Hope you've enjoyed reading this! Please do visit Sri Lank, it's beautiful!