Travelling by motorbike all around Sri Lanka

November 30, 2018

So I decided to rent a motorbike for a longer period of time and drive all around Sri Lanka with it. It was actually the idea of another guy who I had met in the hostel (cheers Jason!), but I went along with it and decided to do the same. Funny story, he ended up backing down from renting it though. Anyways, in this blog post, I go through the route I took and summarize the expenses which came along with renting a scooter for 24 days in Sri Lanka.

I took a train from Colombo to Hikkaduwa and from there I rented a scooter. If you wonder how to rent a scooter in Sri Lanka, then just look around on the street for a sign which says “motorbike rental” or something like that. I got the bike from a random backyard of a restaurant.

The cost

Price for the scooter – 700 LKR/per day. Ended up renting for 24 days so in total 16 800 LKR (82 €). As I heard from others then usually the daily rental price is higher. If renting for a day or two then the rental places usually charge anywhere between 1000-2000 LKR. So I managed to score a pretty good deal. I needed to leave my passport with them though. The other option was to leave a big amount of money for collateral.

Another significant cost is fuel. It comes pretty cheaply and the price for a full tank is between 2-3 euros. In total, I spent on fuel about 5000 LKR (25 €)

So the cost of transportation for 3 weeks in Sri Lanka was only 107 € in total. It is probably a little bit cheaper to take public transportation (trains and buses), but not significantly. Do not forget about the cost for a tuk-tuk from a bus stop to your hotel as well.

The route

An interactive map with the general route I followed through Sri Lanka. It is not 100 % what I did but just a conclusion between the cities.

Part 1 - Hikkaduwa to Unawatuna (25 km)

The road follows the coastline. The traffic is quite busy on this road since this is the main highway along the south coast. At the same time it is beautiful and already this first leg of my trip left me with a feeling that it was totally worth it! I ended up spending 7 nights in Unawatuna. During that time I used the bike frequently to go to the shop, nearby beaches or Galle. Again, saved a lot of money of tuk-tuk costs and had more freedom.

Part 2 - Unawatuna to Thissamaharama (150 km)

I slept only 1 night in Thissa. The only reason to go there was to take part in a safari. The road from Unawatuna started off with driving on the seaside and making stops along the way. I got to take some photos of the famous local fishermen and visit a Blow Hole in Kudawella. Soon after the blowhole, the road turns away from the seaside and gets bigger and more empty. At some point, there is even a 2+2 highway. The speed limit is still 70 km/h there, even though the conditions allow to go faster for sure. It was getting really windier as well when getting inland. Wide open fields really let the wind blow.

Part 3 - Thissamaharama to Ella (100 km)

I spent 2 nights in Ella and was using the motorbike really regularly since I booked the hostel a bit away from the city centre. Having a bike in Ella really made the difference and allowed to get around easily (to Ella Rock and the beginning of Little Adam’s Peak). The road from Thissa starts off flat and straight with big side winds but starts to rise to the mountains from Wellawaya. The way from Wellawaya to Ella is in great condition and was truly a great drive on winding and turning mountain roads!

Part 4 - Ella to Arugam Bay (140 km)

I spend 2 nights in Arugam Bay, while I was not using the bike even once. Everything was quite close by and I did not feel the need to use it there. The road from Ella goes down from the mountains back to Wellawaya from where it turns east and gets flat and straight. At one point just before Arugam Bay, some open fields appeared and it got really windy! It was even difficult to keep myself on the road and the passing buses came really close at one point.

Part 5 - Arugam Bay to Batticaloa (125 km)

I spent only 1 night in Batticaloa and used a bike for sightseeing around the city (the fort area and the lighthouse). The drive from Arugam Bay was pretty easy with an almost empty road which was surrounded by wide open fields full of wildlife (and cows) from time to time. I also passed by some interesting beaches with black sand and graveyards on the sand.

Part 6 - Batticaloa to Trincomalee (140 km)

I spent 3 nights in Trinco and was using the bike a couple of times going to ATM and some sightseeing. There is no ATM nearby to Uppuveli beach where I was staying at, so the bike came handy. This leg was pretty similar to the previous one with empty roads. The east coast is totally different to drive at than the south coast.

Part 7 - Trincomalee to Kandy (stop @ Sigiriya Rock) (190 km)

On the way, I made a stop in Sigiriya Temple Rock. I climbed to rock next to it (Pidurangala) which took only 2 hours from the day.

Part 8 - Kandy to Adam's Peak (90 km)

Even though the distance for that day was not long, it was still quite a hard drive. The road is still basically in the city and is surrounded by houses for the first 10-20 km’s which means more traffic as well. From halfway it started to get more mountainous and beautiful though. The road became more narrow and the condition of the pavement went worse. At the same time, we (another guy joined me in Kandy with a scooter for this leg) were driving through numerous tea plantation and were stopping for photos quite often. We even stumbled upon a high waterfall in the middle of the forest. We saw it from distance and decided to pay a visit there. It took about 2 hours to find the entrance to the waterfall and visit it. We reached the accommodations next to the foot of Adam’s Peak right before sunset.

Part 9 - Adam's Peak to Mirissa (250 km)

That day was most definitely the hardest day of driving. At the same time, it was one of the most beautiful ones. When you check the recommended route on the map then it actually almost passes Colombo in the west but I decided to push through the mountains and go straight to the south. The road conditions were really bad in the beginning and it was raining from time to time which made it even harder. I could not go faster than 20-30 km/h in these conditions. This continued for about 4 hours in the beginning. At the same time, it was one of the most beautiful sceneries in Sri Lanka. All of the hills were covered with tea plantations. If the asphalt cover would be changed and repaired then the trip through these mountains would definitely be one of my top recommendations what to do in Sri Lanka. The road changed from Ellarawa where the bigger highway started from. I started driving from Adam’s Peak at 11.30 AM after waking up at 3 am and hiking the peak and I reached Mirissa in the dark at about 7 PM. So the day was almost 8 hours of straight driving with only a few stops.

Part 10 - Mirissa to Unawatuna (30 km)

An easy drive back to Unawatuna to take a rest for a couple of days at the end of my stay in Sri Lanka.

Part 11 - Unawatuna to Hikkaduwa (25 km)

I drove back to Hikkaduwa in the early afternoon, returned the scooter and took a train back to Colombo from where I was flying out the following day.

In total, according to the odometer, during these 24 days, I drove 1547 km.

Important things to consider

Police. There are police checking vehicles and drivers absolutely everywhere in Sri Lanka. Almost at the entrance and exit of every small town, I saw the checkpoints. Interesting though – I was never stopped by them! I was expecting to for sure. Everyone I talked to had been stopped at least once while driving a scooter in Sri Lanka. There is no reason to be afraid of the police though if you have the proper paperwork (see the next point).
License. An international driving license along with motorbike license is needed to drive in Sri Lanka. Well.. I do not have either of them and everything worked out fine. The “rental company” does not ask for a license. Just to keep in mind though, that if driving without a license you will be driving illegally and if something happens (an accident), then the insurance most probably won’t cover anything.
Speed limit. The speed limit in towns for motorbikes is 50 km/h and outside of cities is 70 km/h. There are usually signs showing the speed limit before and after the towns.
Average speed. You will be driving under the speed limit inside of cities just because of the traffic. If not making any stops then it is possible to calculate your time required to get to the next destination with about 50 km/h. But, you will also want to make stops on the way for sure. So I would say that I was doing an average of 30 km/h, and to cover 100 km, I needed at least 3 hours.
Gas stations. Almost in each small town.

Driving a motorbike (scooter) in Asia gives you so much freedom and ability to see more. And it is so easy to rent and drive one. I had even never driven a bike before coming to Asia and I just learned in here. I DO recommend though to have proper license and paperwork though. You would not drive illegally back home, right?