I recently returned from a trip travelling around beautiful Sri Lanka. We went from Columbo via the Kandy - Ella route, finishing up on Mirissa beach. You can read our 2 week detailed itinerary here.
We visited lots of places in 2 weeks (about 9 in total!), so we were on the move a lot, experiencing lots of different climates, as well as different types of accommodation.
I thought it would be useful to write down what we packed that was useful in Sri Lanka, and also what was not so useful.
THINGS WE FOUND USEFUL:
A SARONG
I had a large, square cotton-feel sarong from a previous trip to South East Asia, and my trip to Sri Lanka reminded me just how useful this square bit of material is to have in your day bag! We used it in the following ways: as a beach towel to lay on, as a modesty cover up in temples, as a chair cover on the sweaty leather seats of tuk tuks, as a blanket on a chilly 4am safari ride, as a skirt when popping to lunch on the beach, etc etc. A great thing to pack if you have one already.
MODEST CLOTHING
It's worth mentioning modest clothing here, which you need to adhere to when visiting religious sites in Sri Lanka. It essentially means covering your shoulders and knees, but I had no idea what to bring and how modest I needed to be - so I definitely brought too much. In the end, I always ended up leaving the accommodation with a cap sleeved t-shirt and long flowy trousers/culottes in the day bag. For guys, you need to have your shoulders and knees covered too, so you can either wear a t shirt and use the sarong (mentioned above!), or wear longer shorts.
A TORCH
We found it useful taking a small, powerful torch with us. We used it on a few of our morning and evening hikes, as well as in the jungle, where the phone torch just couldn't cut it.
INSECT REPELLENT & ANTHISAN
In the jungle and by the beaches, there were lots of mosquitos. We had the strongest Deet sold in the UK, and it was somewhat successful - but we definitely needed the Anthisan/Tiger Balm too! Next time round, I think I would also go to a local pharmacy to get their local repellent spray, as I find these can be even more effective.
A FEW BANK CARDS: MONZO & HALIFAX CLARITY MASTERCARD
We saw lots of people having card/bank/money issues, but we were fine so I wanted to share what we used - although mainly I recommend bringing multiple cards to see what works. At the airport, there was only one ATM working (which I have heard happens a lot) - Commercial Bank was the one working here. This was therefore the bank ATM we tended to favour throughout Sri Lanka. Both our Monzo and Halifax Clarity Mastercard worked every time with Commercial Bank. We took both cards because Monzo is great to use for card payments, as there are no fees, whilst the Halifax Clarity Mastercard was perfect for taking cash out at ATMs, again as there are no fees. Both of these cards worked for us without problem in Sri Lanka.
ONE JUMPER/SWEATSHIRT
Bear in mind that we travelled end of Jan through to mid-February, but one jumper was all we needed to take. It was great to have for early morning hikes and safari, as well as the chilly nights in Nuwara Eliya...and definitely needed when we touched back down in London.
THINGS THAT WERENT SO USEFUL:
PLUG ADAPTORS (UK)
We had English plug sockets in all of our accommodations. I would take just one to be safe, but generally we found English plug sockets everywhere.
MICROFIBRE TOWEL
I brought a microfibre towel with me, but I didn't use it once. We stayed in places where we always had room towels (and sometimes pool towels, see where we stayed here) and when I thought I would use it (ie. beach) I always plumped for my sarong instead.
HAIR TOOLS
It's so humid that I tried to straighten my hair one day and it looked far worse after 5 minutes outside than if I had just left it. Also no need for hairdryers as all of our hotels/guesthouses/homestays had those too.
SOME TOILETRIES
We bought a shedload of toiletries to take (as I always do before travelling) but we had shampoo and shower gel in every accommodation we stayed in - and some were pretty cheap guesthouses. In most accommodation we actually had conditioner and body lotions too, as well as shower caps etc. I think you could definitely skip taking shower gel if you're staying in similar accommodation and want to have as light a bag as possible.
CLOTHING-WISE..
We so nearly packed thermals and a coat after hearing about how chilly Nuwara Eliya can get, but I'm glad we didn't. As I mentioned, all we needed was one jumper for the evenings (and actually sun cream in the day!). You also don't need jeans or walking boots either. Jeans + humidity are a no-go, and a good pair of trainers are more than sufficient enough for the hikes.
MOSQUITO NET
Every accommodation that we needed this in, provided it already.
Hope that helps!
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