Budget Sri Lanka, how expensive is Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, that has everything you need for a wonderful trip. Prepare for insane safaris, beautiful mountains, green tea fields, relaxing beaches and delicious food. It is a slightly more expensive destination than other backpacking countries in Southeast Asia these days, though. Are you curious about how expensive Sri Lanka is? In this article, we answer all your questions about Sri Lanka’s budget and costs.

We traveled in Sri Lanka for 90 days in 2024. All our expenses are based on 2 people.

What currency is used in Sri Lanka?

In Sri Lanka, payment is made with the Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR). To make it easy, we have already converted everything to euros in this article. We take you through the budget for Sri Lanka below. Costs are broken down into activities, accommodation, transportation, food and beverages and other. This is all based on two people. At the bottom of this article you’ll find a handy overview of common expenses in Sri Lanka.

The exchange rate is – after the economic crisis in Sri Lanka – on average between 300 and 330 rupees for €1. The rate does fluctuate greatly and is very dependent on the economy and climate in Sri Lanka. This table uses an exchange rate of €1 = 300 Rupee, but always check the current exchange rate online.

Withdrawing money in Sri Lanka without additional fees

In Sri Lanka, you can withdraw money “for free” at the BOC bank (Bank Of Ceylon). There is no fee to withdraw money from the ATM. However: your own bank always charges a fee if you need to exchange your currency (euros, pounds, dollars etc.) to withdraw local Sri Lankan rupees from the ATM. These fees vary by bank, but are often around €5 per cash withdrawal. So when you stay abroad for an extended period of time, these unnecessary costs add up considerably.

Fortunately, there is Wise. With Wise, you can exchange up to €200 per month to the local currency for free. This way, it doesn’t cost you any extra money and you get more rupees for the same amount of euros. We have written an extensive article on how this works, what the advantages of Wise are and how you (with 2 persons) can withdraw up to €800 per month for free in the local currency. Read here how to withdraw money abroad without extra fees or request a free Wise card here. There are no monthly fees and there is no obligation to open an account!

Cost of accommodation in Sri Lanka

We always try to spend as little money as possible on accommodation. Since this is often just the place where you sleep and barely spend any other time, we don’t mind a bit of simple sleeping. We have only two criteria: it must be clean and it must be near the center.

For a simple double room, you pay between €12 and €25 per night in most places. When it is the right season in Sri Lanka – for the south between November and March – you do pay a lot more right away. So prices for accommodations in Sri Lanka depend heavily on high or low season.

In Sri Lanka we spent an average of €20 per night together on accommodations, €10 per person that is. This is a good average for a couple in Sri Lanka. Are you a solo traveler? Then on average you will spend between €8 and €15 for a good hostel.

Costs for activities in Sri Lanka

The cost of activities in Sri Lanka depends tremendously on what type of traveler you are. There are a few amazing activities that you will pay a lot of money for, but you can also do some great hiking in nature or enjoy the beaches for free.

Some activities in Sri Lanka that you do spend (quite a bit of) money on:

On average, we spent €19 per day on activities. This includes the big expense of the ecolodge and all the safaris (4 times) we did. There are 7 cool safari parks in Sri Lanka, so delve well into where you want to do a safari.

Cost of renting a tuktuk in Sri Lanka

A must do in Sri Lanka is to rent your own tuktuk. Drive your monster tuktuk through the tea fields, mountains and along the beaches of Sri Lanka and enjoy the ultimate freedom. We ourselves have traveled by tuktuk for 2 months in Sri Lanka and can tell you that this is a truly amazing experience. You can rent a tuktuk in Sri Lanka at tuktukrental.com from $18 per day, or a convertible tuktuk from $22 per day (prices in 2025). Read everything you want to know about renting a tuktuk in Sri Lanka here.

We have a discount code for you if you want to rent your own tuktuk. If you rent the tuktuk trough this link, you’ll automatically get a 5% discount.

Cost of eating and drinking in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has delicious local cuisine. Think of the traditional rice & curry, which comes standard with 5 different curries, each with a distinctive taste. Or the most delicious breakfast of all: coconut roti with dahl and coconut sambol. This is by far our favorite local breakfast in Asia. Local food in Sri Lanka is not as cheap as you are used to from Asian countries. It’s still cheap, but you won’t find €1 dishes like in Thailand. On average, you’ll spend about €3 to €5 for a local meal in Sri Lanka, in a tourist area.

If you want some Western food now and then, you will have to pull out your wallet. Prices for Western food in Sri Lanka are quite high. For a sandwich you will soon pay €8. An oat cappuccino you will not find under €4. For us this is no problem because we can easily eat local Sri Lankan food for months on end, but good to perhaps take this into account.

We found these prices disproportionate to the living standards in Sri Lanka. It is also considerably more expensive than in other Asian countries such as Thailand and Indonesia. We spent a total of €28 per day together on food and drinks, €14 per person. For this amount we always ate 2 meals a day and sometimes 3. With a good division between local and Western food, this is certainly doable.

Cost of transportation in Sri Lanka

Transportation in Sri Lanka is pretty well organized, but sometimes takes a very long time. The distances in Sri Lanka are not that long, but there are almost no highways so you can’t really drive a lot of miles per hour. Buses have priority everywhere. They really tear past everything and drive like crazy. The train is a more comfortable way to travel, but also takes a long time.

The cost of transportation in Sri Lanka is bizarrely low. For a 5-hour bus ride, you pay €2 per person and for the world-famous train ride from Kandy to Ella – which takes 7 hours – you also pay only a few euros in 3rd class. You can also choose to take cabs as transportation in Sri Lanka. Then you’ll spend around €30 an hour on average. If you have rented your own tuktuk, you will pay less than €1 per liter for gasoline.

Other costs

In addition to the expenses above, we did some laundry, bought toiletries, gave tips, bought sim cards, took massages and bought day passes for the gym. In total, we spent a combined total of €4 per day on other expenses.

For the visa for Sri Lanka, you will also spend about €50 for 30 days. Anno 2025 you can get a visa on arrival, or apply for a visa in advance through the official website.

Average daily budget for Sri Lanka

After 90 days in Sri Lanka, we arrive at a daily budget of €47.50 per person. This, of course, does not include any flight to and from Sri Lanka. For us, this is one of the more expensive countries in Southeast Asia. Still, we would 100% recommend visiting Sri Lanka. It is a beautiful country, which has everything for travelers, in a small area.

It should be noted that we travel and work at the same time, on weekdays we spend less money. We also move less frequently, which reduces travel costs.

An average daily budget for a budget traveler is about €38

An average daily budget for a luxury traveler is about €60

Cost overview budget Sri Lanka

To help determine your budget properly, we have written down below the common costs of your trip through Sri Lanka. This will make it easier for you to set your budget for Sri Lanka.

Please note that this is an average: in high season, prices are a bit higher everywhere, and in low season, of course, lower.

Want to know about all the cool activities in Sri Lanka? Then navigate to our articles via the blogs below or check out the Sri Lanka page to find all the blogs (over 40 of them) about Sri Lanka.