Use two ride apps, book scenic trains early, and keep cash beyond the cities
Apply through Sri Lanka's official ETA portal before departure and check the rules for your passport.
Fees and eligibility can change, and fake visa sites target travelers, so use only eta.gov.lk. Carry Sri Lankan rupees and more than one physical card. Cards work at many larger hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and tourist businesses, but cash remains important for guesthouses, local eateries, markets, buses, tuk-tuks and rural travel. PickMe and Uber are both worth installing, yet neither is dependable everywhere.
Driver supply can be thin outside Colombo and other busy areas, and long-distance app bookings may be cancelled or renegotiated, so arrange critical transfers in advance. Sri Lanka Railways uses separate official systems for reserved seats and ordinary tickets. Scenic reserved seats open up to 30 days ahead and can sell out quickly. Check current rail and road conditions before travel because monsoon rain and landslides can disrupt routes.
Stay inside moving train carriages. Save 1990 for the free national emergency ambulance service, 119 for police and 1912 for the tourism hotline.
The main channel for coordinating hotels, drivers, guides, safari operators and airport pickups.
The best general map for roads, businesses, accommodation pins and basic route planning across Sri Lanka.
A free offline OpenStreetMap backup for roads, paths and places without requiring an account.
The official specialist app for Pekoe Trail stages, GPS navigation, offline maps and trail passes.
The official web reference for selected interprovincial bus timetables, fares and booking links.
The official government portal for checking eligibility and obtaining required electronic travel authorization.
Official advance ordering for Sigiriya, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and selected heritage sites and museums.
The official reservation service for visitor permits at the Sri Lankan national parks currently listed.
A practical aid for Sinhala and Tamil text, short conversations, signs and showing a destination.
The only official online platform for reserved seats on eligible Sri Lanka Railways services.
Sri Lanka Railways' current official service for buying ordinary train tickets, including unreserved travel.
The government-backed portal for advance seats on the long-distance bus routes currently listed in its search.
The official app for Sri Lanka's free, island-wide emergency ambulance service and location-assisted calling.
The official tourism website and 24-hour 1912 hotline for visitor information and assistance.
The official Disaster Management Centre source for warnings and assistance during floods, landslides and other hazards.
Reliable mobile internet at better prices than most travel eSIMs, with polished iOS and Android apps and support for making and receiving phone calls.
One of the biggest travel eSIM brands, with a very large destination catalog.
Known for unlimited-data plans in many destinations, at a higher price per gigabyte.
Getting connected here is unusually easy: dedicated tourist products, English-language carrier pages and staffed 24/7 airport counters. Pick your carrier by terrain: Dialog for general use and the coast, Mobitel for the hill country, Hutch only if price matters most and you are staying urban. Airtel now operates in Sri Lanka as a Dialog-licensed brand rather than an independent fourth network. Pack validity varies sharply (14 days on Mobitel's tourist SIM versus 30 on Hutch's), so match the pack to your trip length rather than comparing headline gigabytes.
Best overall coverage, reaching roughly 95% of the population on 4G, and the usual pick for tourists. Runs a dedicated Tourist SIM and Tourist eSIM.
State-owned and a close second, particularly strong in rural and plantation areas. The better pick for the hill country.
Cheapest data in the country and fine in cities, but weaker in remote regions.
The essential apps for Sri Lanka are PickMe, Uber, Uber Eats, WhatsApp, Google Maps.
We've curated 19 apps across 11 categories for traveling in Sri Lanka, including 10 essential apps.
PickMe is the top-rated ride hailing app in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's main local app for tuk-tuks, cars, vans and scheduled rides in supported areas.
Tracked rides, official tickets and cash backups make Bangladesh easier to navigate
Prepare entry, payments and city-specific transport before a complex trip
Arrange arrival and island transfers first, then add local apps only if your itinerary needs them
Use ride apps in Kathmandu, carry cash beyond cities, and verify every trekking permit
inDrive in the cities, cash for daily life, and official alerts for the road north
