[zebo]

Originally Posted by callmeneo

Great Travelogue. What was the overall cost of the trip.

Wish there was a way to take our cars on a ship to anywhere in SL and then drive on from there.

I do know that there was a ferry before but it doesn't exist anymore.

You can via Carnet. Supercar group (Performalux) from India had done this few years back shipping cars to Srilanka for their drive event. In fact via 'carnet' you can take your car temporarily to a host of countries, an expensive affair though I presume.

[RajeevMD]

@Dr.AD , Glad that you and your buddies enjoyed the trip through our country.

Unfortunately the cars you hired were't in great shape because we haven't had any new vehicles since the 2020 lockdown and due to overwhelming tourism demand, the rental agencies just buy out old high mileage cars to rent out.
Yes, thats an entire country that hasn't had access to new cars for full 4 years now due to our forex crisis !

[callmeneo]

Originally Posted by zebo

You can via Carnet. Supercar group (Performalux) from India had done this few years back shipping cars to Srilanka for their drive event. In fact via 'carnet' you can take your car temporarily to a host of countries, an expensive affair though I presume.

Hey. Ya the carnet route is always available, albeit expensive though as you mentioned. And hence I was reminiscing about the old ferry which would also take in cars for a fee.

[amyntor]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Thank you very much!

Yes, we can drive there on Indian Driving License, but it needs an endorsement/permit from local authorities. The car rental companies arrange for this endorsement, but of course, at an extra fees. We did this through our car rental company and our local endorsement documents were handed over to us at the time of renting the car. That local endorsement plus our Indian Driving License become the combined documents allowing us to drive in Sri Lanka.

...

I visited Sri Lanka in September last year and rented a motorcycle and a scooter to ride through the whole country.

I was told by the rental agency I contacted that one could not drive on Sri Lankan roads with just a foreign driving license (including IDP). The only legal way is to get your Indian license or IDP approved by Sri Lankan automobile association and get a temporary Sri Lankan driving license. I paid $35 in advance and shared my Indian license with them. They arranged for my local license by the time I landed in Colombo. It remained valid for 3 months.

This is how the document looks like.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by busydrive

Fantastic travelogue.

Originally Posted by callmeneo

Great Travelogue.

Thank you very much to both of you!

Originally Posted by karthikd21

Wow, AD and Robi! You guys are amazing with your photography. Superb report. Yala National Park seems very very beautiful. Overcrowded safari reminded of my recent visit to Kaziranga!

Thank you very much Karthik! Yes, very true, Yala reminded me of Kaziranga a lot. Kaziranga was the first thing that came to my mind when we were stuck in that huge line of safari vehicles waiting to enter the national park.

Originally Posted by NPV

Dr.AD Thanks for sharing yet another wonderful travel and driving experience, this time outside India. The pictures are captivating

Thank you very much NPV!

Looks like you’ll time-boxed the trip and didn’t include other places in your itinerary, probably saved for another visit.

True, we were short on time due to work constraints and had to finish our trip within 5 days. Also, usually I am not interested in covering a lot of things in one trip. I like a slow and relaxed trip focused on a few selected experiences. Yes there are many other places in Sri Lanka that we could not visit this time. We will probably visit those in the next trip.

Originally Posted by RajeevMD

@Dr.AD , Glad that you and your buddies enjoyed the trip through our country.

Thank you. Yes we indeed enjoyed road trip and absolutely loved the experiences in your country!

Yes, thats an entire country that hasn't had access to new cars for full 4 years now due to our forex crisis !

Thanks for the explanation. Yes that makes sense!

However, in spite of the forex crisis, I must say I was very impressed by the infrastructure, the roads, and the driving discipline in Sri Lanka. As I mentioned, we had a great experience everywhere. Hospitality and service standards was another highlight wherever we went. People very friendly, polite and professional. The food was great too. We loved so many things about Sri Lanka!

[Capt. Haddock]

What are the chances of coming across this thread while the bug of a driving trip to Sri Lanka just started buzzing in my head! If anybody could please provide a list of reliable self drive car rental companies in Sri Lanka, it would be very helpful for those of us in planning stages. Google does provide a long list, but I have trust issues with search results!

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Capt. Haddock

If anybody could please provide a list of reliable self drive car rental companies in Sri Lanka, it would be very helpful for those of us in planning stages.

I would say SixT and Europcar are probably the two most reliable car rental companies in Sri Lanka.

[Quatro]

Hi, curious to know whether Ioniq was an EV and if yes, how was the charging infrastructure in SL.

Thanks.

[a_chelat]

Great travelogue and amazing photos!!

I was also on a road trip in Sri Lanka for two weeks, from January 13th to 27th But I chose a different route to include a few hikes, hills and the beaches. I drove an i10 through Negombo-Sigiriya-Kandy-Ohiya-Ella-Yala-Mirissa-Galle-Colombo. We, me and my wife, didn't have any fixed plans and had an absolute ball - we were even lucky to sight a leopard at Yala.


As you said the roads were amazing and well marked - we covered close to 1000 kms on our trip and except for a 3 km stretch in the hill country, impeccable tarmac all through and not just the express ways. The driving discipline was again something that really surprised me, although Colombo was an exception and closer to what we see here.

Anyone looking for a reliable car rental in Sri Lanka, do check out Kings Rent A Car Pvt. Ltd. We had initially booked a Vitz with 25k kms on the odo but they messaged us before the trip asking if we would like a new i10. It was virtually brand new, with just 1903 kms on the odo. And no, I am not affiliated to them in any way; just a very satisfied customer.


Was too lazy to pen down a travelogue of my own and when I eventually tried making a thread, most of my photos were above the max file size giving me another excuse to abandon the effort. You have inspired me to hijack your thread and post a few resized, lower resolution photos

[MohanHolla]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Roads and Hotels

Coconut water break on that road reminded me of driving back home (except that these Sri Lankan coconuts were orange in color, and they had a very nice sweet taste):
Attachment 2568105

The above pic reminds me of the stretch of road in Marwanthe.

[CJ78]

Nice Travelogue and pictures. Tempted to plan and visit Sri Lanka now

[Doc Hudson]

What is the typical deposit that they charge ? I asked a couple of rental providers in Sri Lanka and the deposit in cash for 6 days ranges from USD300 to USD 500 . Is this standard?

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Doc Hudson

What is the typical deposit that they charge ? I asked a couple of rental providers in Sri Lanka and the deposit in cash for 6 days ranges from USD300 to USD 500 . Is this standard?

Yes, there was a deposit of around $400 for car rental (I do not remember the exact amount now). But it was not in "cash" as you said it. This was using credit card. They just swiped my credit card for this amount and got it authorized, but never really charged it. They said they will use this only if they need it. Later when I returned the car, it was all fine, and this authorization on credit card expired on its own - it was never really charged and never showed up in my credit card bill.

So yes this is a standard practice to charge such deposit on rental cars in Sri Lanka, but not in cash.

[adi.mariner]

Great travelogue with awesome pictures Dr AD. I had done the almost the same road trip with my wife back in 2013. We had taken an Alto K10 on rent and had started from Colombo and went to Galle and onwards to Yala National Park via Hambantota. From Yala we had come to Kandy through Nuwara Eliya and then back to Colombo. It was a 7 days trip with impromptu stays at local places. The road infrastructure and the traffic sense was excellent with cars stopping at Zebra crossings for pedestrians to cross. Also I had a booklet driving licence and so couldn't apply for an IDP. I got the Sri Lankan Temporary DL by applying at their Colombo RTO. It was a very smooth process as far as I can remember.

[Rhik94]

Originally Posted by adi.mariner

I got the Sri Lankan Temporary DL by applying at their Colombo RTO. It was a very smooth process as far as I can remember.

Could you please tell me how did you go about doing this? I made a booking for a Hyundai H1 through Sixt but did not come across an option where they could help with getting the necessary permits on top of my Indian driving license.