How to move to Sri Lanka for a few months and how much it costs to live there, traveler Yulia Kondinkina told in her column for the portal 72.RU . The expenses of the Russian woman on the island, according to her, did not exceed $ 500 per month, which is about 46 thousand rubles. The girl gave some tips that can greatly reduce the costs of inexperienced tourists and “winterers” from Russia.
1. Visa
To move to Sri Lanka (albeit temporarily), first of all you will need a visa. Until March 31, Russians can apply for a 30-day visa for free via the Internet. If a tourist plans to extend their stay on the island, you need to pay another $ 50: either on the spot, at the embassy, or also online. This will allow you to stay in Sri Lanka for up to 270 days. It turns out that in total you can stay on the island for 10 months for a fairly modest amount.
2. Currency exchange
The cards of almost all Russian banks in Sri Lanka do not work. The exceptions are Gazprombank and Rosselkhoznadzor, but it is necessary to clarify the nuances. A win—win option is to have cash in dollars or euros. You can exchange currency at a very good rate immediately upon arrival at the airport, there is the most profitable rate. In tourist places, it will be 2-5 rupees lower.
3. Trains and buses
From Negombo (a city near the international airport) to the capital of the country, Colombo, the tourist traveled an hour and a half by bus, paying 40 rubles for it. If you go to the south of the island from the capital, there are two options — bus or train, and both stations are located in the center of Colombo. A train ticket can be bought for 500 rupees, which is about 150 rubles. For this money, you will travel in a first-class carriage, which is used mainly by tourists who are ready to pay for a seat.
You can leave for free, but in a second-class carriage, and you will have to stand there all the way. The bus goes a little longer than the train and it is noisy. Public transport has priority here, drivers are constantly honking loudly, demanding to give them a way.
4. Tuk-tuks
If you need to call a taxi, a tourist in Sri Lanka has two options: a tricycle with a roof – tuk—tuk – or an air—conditioned car. For those traveling in a small group, it is more convenient to take a taxi, while for singles it is easier to call a tuk-tuk. By the way, you can save money on taxi services. To do this, you need to approach a younger local resident and ask them to call a tuk-tuk or taxi for you in the local application — Uber and PickMe. In this case, the price of the trip will be fixed.
5. Housing
The cost of accommodation in guesthouses on the island starts at $ 8. As a rule, this is an ordinary two-storey house of local residents, where two or three rooms are rented to guests.
“I lived in just such a guesthouse. There were two rooms for rent, my neighbor was a French girl with whom we became friends and continue to communicate. She paid only five dollars a day for living in her guesthouse, the house was a ten-minute walk from the beach. An additional bonus was the silence, birds sang around the clock, palm squirrels, monkeys and wild peacocks came,” recalls Yulia Kondinkina.
Life Hack
Book accommodation through the aggregator for a short period of 3-5 days, and negotiate directly with the owners on the spot. It will be cheaper this way, because the booking site keeps its own percentage from each guest.
As for more expensive tourist accommodation, you can stay in a hotel in Sri Lanka for $ 20-50 per day. A separate category of hotels are resorts: most often these are detached villas, prices for accommodation there start at $ 60 per day and go on indefinitely.
6. Catering
Prices in cafes and restaurants vary greatly depending on the location. The further away from the beach, the cheaper it will be. If you do not be lazy and walk a few tens of meters, you can save a lot, the traveler warned.
Alcohol is expensive in Sri Lanka. Half a liter of beer will cost about 300 rubles. Any wine or spirits in Sri Lanka are imported, hence the high price tags.
If you are also actively planning a future vacation, look at the differences between hotels of different “stardom”. Perhaps this will help to avoid misunderstandings during trips.
According to the materials 72.RU .
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