Visas and entry requirements

Citizens of all countries apart from the Maldives, Singapore and the Seychelles require a visa to visit Sri Lanka. Visas can still be obtained on arrival, although it’s much easier (and significantly cheaper) to apply in advance at eta.gov.lk for an online visa (also known as an “ETA”, or Electronic Travel Authorization).

The visa is valid for thirty days and for two entries and currently costs $30 if bought online ($20 for citizens of SAARC countries) or $40 if bought on arrival. It’s also possible to get a ninety-day tourist visa either in person or by post from your nearest embassy or consulate. You can also buy a thirty-day business visa online ($40, or $50 or arrival; $30 for SAARC nationals). For all visas your passport must be valid for six months after the date of your arrival.

The thirty-day tourist visa can be extended to three (or even six) months at the Immigration Service Centre (Mon–Fri 8.30am–1.30pm; T1962, immigration.gov.lk) at the Department of Immigration, Sri Subhithipura Road, Battaramula, Colombo. You can extend your visa as soon as you get to Sri Lanka; the thirty days included in your original visa is included in the three months. You’ll need to bring one passport photo. Fees for three-month visa extensions can be checked at www.immigration.gov.lk; they’re currently $54 for UK nationals, $16 for citizens of the Republic of Ireland, $30 for Australians, $34.50 for New Zealanders, $50 for Canadians, $100 for US citizens and $44 for South Africans. Conditions for extensions are an onward ticket and proof of sufficient funds, calculated at $15 a day, although a credit card will probably suffice. Expect the whole procedure to take an hour or two. Foreign embassies and consulates are virtually all based in Colombo.

Sri Lankan embassies and consulates

Australia and New Zealand srilanka.embassy.gov.au.

Canada www.canadainternational.gc.ca/sri_lanka.

South Africa dirco.gov.za/colombo.

UK and Ireland gov.uk/world/sri-lanka.

US lk.usembassy.gov.

Sri lanka in the fast lane

Sri Lanka’s nineteenth-century highway infrastructure received a long-overdue upgrade in late 2011 with the opening of the country’s first proper motorway, the E01 Southern Expressway from Colombo to Galle (subsequently extended from Galle to Matara in 2014, and with a further extension to Hambantota currently underway), while 2013 saw the opening of the country’s second motorway, the E03 Colombo–Katunayake Expressway, linking the capital with the international airport. A third expressway, the E02 Outer Circular Expressway (serving as a Colombo ring-road and linking directly to the E01 – but not the E03) followed in 2014, and is also now being extended. The E04 Central Expressway from Colombo to Kandy is due to open in 2020, while there are also plans for an E06 Ruwanpura Expressway, connecting Colombo to Ratnapura and Pelmadulla.

The 350km network will, when finished, transform travel around many parts of the island. The Southern Expressway has already reduced the three-hour-plus slog from Colombo to Galle into a pleasant hour’s drive and made the whole of the southwest and south coasts accessible as never before. Similarly, the Central Expressway to Kandy is also likely to cut current journey times by about two-thirds and significantly reduce onward travel times to other places in the hill country – making many of the travel times given in this book obsolete in the process.

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