The honest answer is that the flights and the hotels decide it, and almost everything else is noise. Here is how the pieces break down, and which ones are worth spending on.
Hotels on our routes start at US$45 a night. That is the only price on this website, and it is deliberate: our partner rates are contracted with each hotel and we are not free to publish them. What we can do is quote your dates in an hour.
Everything below is about the shape of a budget, not a price list.
Food, local transport within a town, and entrance fees to most sites are small against the hotel line. Eating well in Sri Lanka is inexpensive almost everywhere, and the best meals are rarely the dearest.
The exceptions are the big ticketed sites. Sigiriya in particular is the most expensive single entrance fee most visitors will pay, and the national parks add up once you have done two safaris.
Hired separately, a car and driver is a real daily cost for the length of your trip. On our routes the drives between your hotels are included, which takes that line out of your budget entirely.
If you are comparing us against a quote from somewhere else, that is the line to check. A cheaper hotel rate with the transport added back on is often the more expensive trip. Our guide to hiring a private driver explains what a day rate normally covers.
Both our ten-night routes are quoted full board: breakfast, lunch and dinner at your hotel every night. For a first visit that removes most of the daily spending decisions, and it is the reason those trips are easier to budget than a self-planned version at the same hotel standard.
If you would rather eat out and pay for it yourself, say so and we will quote half board instead.
We are not going to publish a table of made-up daily budgets. Your total depends on your dates, your hotels and how many of you there are, and a planner can work that out in one message. That is faster and more accurate than anything we could write in advance.
Food, local transport and most entrance fees are inexpensive. Hotels and flights are where the money goes, and hotels vary enormously. That is why we quote rather than publish a price list.
Our rates are contracted with each hotel and we are not free to publish them. The only public figure is that hotels start at US$45 a night. Send us your dates and we will quote the real rate within the hour.
Flights, entrance fees at temples and parks, meals away from your hotel, and anything you add that is not in the "what is included" list on the route page.
Rates on each coast follow its monsoon. The south and west are cheapest roughly May to October, the east roughly November to April. The catch is that cheap season and good weather are the same thing in reverse.
Every drive on these is included, which is what most of the advice above is about.
Suggested route 10 nights
Sigiriya, Kandy, Ella, Yala and the south coast
Everything, without rushing. Two nights at every stop, so you unpack once and stay put for a day.
Price based on
Suggested route 10 nights
Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Haputale and the south coast
For people who would rather go high and then go flat than tick off ancient cities. Four nights in the hills, four on the coast.
Price based on
Ask a planner in Sri Lanka. Same people, whichever way you get in touch.
Send your dates and who's travelling. We'll reply with a plan and real prices.
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travel@genuinesrilankans.comPlan it face to face with a planner, and see the hotels and routes on screen together.
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