Sri Lanka — Colombo & Kandy Trip Plan — 5-Day Itinerary
Sri Lanka🗓️ Best season: December to March — the driest months for the west coast and the hill country
🛂 Visa from Pakistan: FREE ETA — since May 2026 the 30-day tourist ETA is free for Pakistani passport holders (see the official eta.gov.lk list). Free does not mean optional: apply online BEFORE you fly, carry the approval, and apply about a week ahead.
🌍 From other countries: Most visitors use the same ETA system; many nationalities now receive it free and others pay the standard fee — check eta.gov.lk for your passport.
Colombo's coast, Kandy's sacred temple and tea hills, and the great rock fortress of Sigiriya.
🌡️ Live weather: loading…
Route: SriLankan Airlines flies direct from Karachi and Lahore to Colombo (about 4 hours). From Islamabad, connect via Karachi, Lahore or a Gulf hub.
- Day 1: Colombo: Galle Face Green at sunset, Gangaramaya Temple, the Pettah and the Fort
- Day 2: To Kandy (train or road, 3–4 hours): Kandy Lake, the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic at the evening puja, a cultural dance show
- Day 3: Peradeniya Royal Botanic Gardens and a working tea factory; the Bahirawakanda viewpoint
- Day 4: Sigiriya day trip: the Rock Fortress, and Dambulla Cave Temple on the way back (a long day)
- Day 5: A Kandy morning, then back to Colombo and fly out
What to carry & what you need:
- Your printed ETA approval, passport, return ticket and hotel bookings
- Sri Lankan rupees in cash for tuk-tuks, markets and temple tickets — cards work in hotels and malls
- A Dialog tourist SIM from the airport — the widest coverage, including the hills
- Light cottons, plus a light jacket for cooler Kandy evenings
- Modest dress and easy-off shoes for temples — you will remove footwear often
- A rain jacket outside December–March
Official visa page: Sri Lanka ETA (official) ↗
Note: The official site warns that payments on third-party 'ETA' websites are not valid — apply only at eta.gov.lk.
Weather on this page is live at the moment it loads — always check it again on the day you travel, and follow official road and weather advisories. Photo: Bernard Gagnon (Sigiriya) — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).