Sri Lanka – 1. Introduction

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Motorcycle: Honda XR 250 Baja at 15 USD per day from Negombo Motorcycle Tours. Deposit of 100 USD is required.
Distance Covered: ~1500KM
Reference: Lonely Planet Sri Lanka and free local maps
Spendings: 650 USD excluding air tickets and insurance (250 USD for bike rental and petrol, 100 USD for ticketings, 200 USD for lodgings and USD100 for food). 1 USD is worth about 115 Rupees.
Quick Review: Cultural sites, hill country and beautiful beaches

Route
Negombo > Anuradhapura > Trincomalee (Nilaveli) > Sigiriya (Polonnaruwa, Ritigala, Dambulla) > Kandy > Delhouse (Adam’s Peak or Sri Pada) > Nuwara Eliya (Horton’s Plains) > Haputale > Galle (Unawatuna) > Colombo > Negombo

Clockwise loop around Sri Lanka, a teardrop-shaped island off the tip of India


If you would like a copy of my actual GPS route and some waypoints (as shown above) in Garmin GDB format (to open using Mapsource), just post a comment and I will send the download link (2mb file) to your email address.

Unlike some of my previous long-winded trip reports, this will be a very brief report with mostly photos.

The Sri Lanka trip report is divided into the following sections:

  1. Introduction (You are here)
  2. Journey Day 1-2 (Negombo to Anuradhapura)
  3. Journey Day 3 (Anuradhapura to Trincomalee)
  4. Journey Day 4 ( Trincomalee to Nilaveli to Sigiriya)
  5. Journey Day 5-6 (Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Ritigala, Dambulla, Kandy)
  6. Journey Day 7 (Kandy to Dalhousie – Adam’s Peak)
  7. Journey Day 8 (Adam’s Peak to Nuwara Eliya)
  8. Journey Day 9 (Nuwara Eliya to Horton Plains to Haptale)
  9. Journey Day 10 (Haputale to Galle)
  10. Journey Day 11-13 (Galle to Unawatuna to Colombo)

Disclaimer: This trip was taken in December 2009. The information is provided ‘as is’ with no warranties and confers no rights. If you are interested to know more, please add a comment and I will update the post with more details. :)

71 thoughts on “Sri Lanka – 1. Introduction”

  1. hello. love your trip.
    im going to sri lanka in march. would to follow your exact route but sadly i’ll be only spending a week there.

    can you still send me the GPS file? many thanks.

  3. great journey!

    going to have 7 riding days in two weeks there.

    could you please send me information about points of interest, map and route?

    Thank you in advance!

  4. missed my email )
    kamandir(a)ukr.net

    thanks!

    what do you think about that route:
    1 Negombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka
    2 Kandy, Sri Lanka
    3 Ella, Uva Province, Sri Lanka
    4 Hambantota, Sri Lanka
    5 Hikkaduwa, Southern Province, Sri Lanka
    6 Negombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka

  9. hello
    thank you to share your nice trip and informations, I am going to Sri Lanka next week for 17 days with my wife and we should like do something like you.
    I am from Italy living in Paris. I was traveling by motorbike many years with my wife in different countries. I have my Enfield bike in India but this time i should like discover Sri Lanka.
    Can you send me GPS file and map informations.
    Thank you very much.

  12. Good day mate,

    Thanks for sharing your amazing trip. I am heading off to do the same in less than a week and would appreciate if you could share your gps file on sri lanka.

    Many thanks!

    Cheers
    Ted

  14. Hello there and thank you so much for all this valuable information, I would also love to have a copy of your actual GPS route and waypoints, I have viewranger on my phone which reads standard GPX files, but I suppose I can convert them myself.

    Thanks again.

    Bobak.

  16. Pingback: sri lanka - www.hardwarezone.com.sg

  18. Hello

    We are planning a bike trip to Sri Lanka trip look really nice can you sent your way points. What time of your did you go

    Thanx

    Marc

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