I will be travelling to Sri Lanka this coming February with a friend of mine for 4 days and solo for 3 days. We plan to visit temples, tea plantations and maybe visit Yala National Park. We also plan to go sight seeing in Nuwara Eliya. Trip would be mostly sightseeing. We are not luxurious travelers but we don't travel too cheap either. We are not interested in resorts but would like a comfortable accommodation. How much should we budget for each day (accommodation, transportation, food and entrance fees)? Someone advise me to bring ATLEAST 1000USD for 7 days per person (6 and a half days to be exact)!!! This is shocking to me since I thought Sri Lanka is very affordable for the average tourist. Can someone enlighten me? I though 500USD would be enough for a week vacation. Thanks in advance to those who can give me some tips, advice and information. :)
US$1,000 does seem excessive unless you are going on a real splurge. I cycle and stay in reasonable budget accommodation. I reckon on about $30 per day.
A lot will depend on how you travel. If you use local transport then you will rarely spend more than a few dollars a day on transport. If you rent a car and driver it will be much more ($60 upwards?).
You can often find reasonable accommodation for 2000 rupees for a double, but if you want a bit more luxury, then obviously you will need to pay more. Maybe budget on something between 4 000 and 10,000 rupees depending on where you are. Also, to give you an idea you can look at a few areas that you will be visiting on an internet booking site to see what prices are for your required standard.
Entry fees to the main sites are unreasonably high eg $30 for a site.
Food from small local restaurants is very cheap. It gets more expensive in tourist style restaurants, reckon on 500 to 1000 rupees a meal. Although something special can be much more.
Hi! Thank you so much for the insights. I knew 1000 USD is too much for the average traveler. I just wanted to make sure. Thanks again. ;)
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