Taking public transportation in Sri Lanka is a great way to travel sustainably and cheap and we found that Sri Lanka’s transport system is extremely easy and efficient. You will read and hear big times that you need a driver to go around efficiently in Sri Lanka but this is actually not true. There are busses going basically everywhere around the country and they are very very frequent, so do not be fooled by people saying otherwise. A driver might be the best choice if you don’t have any budget limitations and if you like travel with confort. However, if you like to experience a bit of adventure and the local life, the public transportation is the way to go!
We loved to take the bus in Sri Lanka and on the south coast they were so frequent that we never needed to rent a scooter. Most of the time we waited a couple of minutes before jumping on a bus and we never waited more than 10 minutes.
Below you can find some useful info on how to travel around with trains and buses.
Trains
Below a train map of the Sri Lanka railway system. In order to get a train ticket, you have different options:
- Buy it online directly here . If there is no train shown it might mean different things. Either all seats (allocated for online slots) have been reserved for that date or the date entered has exceeded 30 days or there are no seats left for the given number of passengers. Last possibility is that seat reservation cannot be made for the journey start station or destination station you have provided
- As for many countries the official website is not very user-friendly, therefore you might find handy to buy them at third party websites like 12goasia.
- Buy them directly at the station. If you don’t manage to book a ticket online beforehand you can also purchase tickets directly at the train station on the same day, and it will also be considerably cheaper. There are always some tickets available on the same day.
How to I reserve tickets from Kandy to Ella?
Same as described above. If you don’t find tickets online, do not panic you will find them directly at the station but you might need to stand on the train given that tickets bought on the spot won’t come with a reserved seat.
Buses
Buses are ubiquitous in Sri Lanka, you will find them going everywhere, and they are extremely cheap, meaning that you will spend just a few euros for a couple of hours ride.
Travel by bus is definitely the way Sri Lankan moves around the country, so you will find out that they are usually very crowded, especially in the late afternoon (when people returns home).
There are two types of buses: Private- and State-run. State-run buses tend to be painted red on the outside, while the privately owned buses can appear in different colors. You will find that most of the time you will ride private busses. They are extremely colorful, and each of them have different ones. They usually have written on the front their final destination.
In order to take one, you can just ask locals where the closest bus station is, but no worries because:
- Bus stations are quite close to each other especially around tourist destinations or on the coast. Even though it might not very clear where is it, you can always ask somebody around the exact location.
- Busses are quite frequent for popular routes.
- Busses are quite flexible and if they are not full and crowded they will stop even if you are not on the right place.
As the bus goes on makes sure to check on Google maps when you are approaching your destination because busses usually go very fast and they do not stop at all stops if you don’t call out your stop. Even better, tell the driver or the assistant your destination, so they will inform you when to go down.
Getting off the bus
In case you’re feeling local, when you hear your stop called out or you know when it’s time simply push the button that’s on the ceiling of the bus or if there’s a rope, pull it.
Overall it sounds harder, but it is actually super easy and fun. Busses have often loud music and smiling people willing to help you.
How do you pay for the bus in Sri Lanka?
For all the busses we took we paid directly on the bus. Just make sure to have some cash at hand.
Alternative and more expensive options to travel around Sri Lanka are hiring a driver or renting a tuk tuk for the whole stay. You can hire a driver online or directly when you arrive. It is extremely easy to find a driver, just ask for one at your accommodation. Another option is to rent a tuk tuk. If you make sure to have the right documents to drive in Sri Lanka, you can actually rent a Tuk Tuk from different companies for your whole vacation. It is quite funny, but it is also pricy, so we ended up not taking one and just rent a scooter from time to time.
