Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is an island in the Indian Ocean, just south of India. It is known for its natural beauty, with stunning beaches all along its coastline, great wildlife and biodiversity, tea plantations, orchards, temples, monuments, and a cultural heritage dating back several millennia. Wikivoyage
Cities
Cities with a full Wikivoyage guide, largest first.
Can I go? Entry and visas
From GOV.UK, for United Kingdom passports, updated 21 September 2026:
To enter Sri Lanka, you need to apply for an ‘Electronic Travel Authorization’ (ETA) which is a form of visa.
Passport validity
To enter Sri Lanka, your passport must have an ‘expiry date’ at least 6 months after the day you arrive.
Check with your travel provider that your passport and other travel documents meet requirements. Renew your passport if you need to.
You will be denied entry if you do not have a valid travel document or try to use a passport that has been reported lost or stolen.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Your embassy in Sri Lanka
Finding embassies…
For a lost passport, an arrest or an emergency.
Sri Lanka's embassy in United Kingdom
Finding embassies…
For a visa before you go.
Entry rules change, sometimes overnight. Always confirm with the official source before you book or travel. This is a pointer, not legal advice.
Good to know
Emergency numbers in Sri Lanka
- Currency
- Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR)
- Time
- UTC+5:30
- Tue 21:46 there now
- Plugs and power
- Types D, G · 230 V
- Driving
- On the left
- Calling code
- +94
- Languages
- Sinhala, Tamil
- English spoken by about 10%
- Capital
- Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
From Wikidata, Unicode CLDR (currency, languages) and the IANA time zone database; checked 10 October 2026.