Our trip to Sri Lanka was technically intended to be our honeymoon. However, true to our style, we decided we would stay in the country for nearly a month. Since neither of us could swing taking off work, our trip to Sri Lanka was 3-4 days of honeymoon followed by 4-5 days of working holiday, repeated until we flew home later in the month.

The Plan

During our planning stages, we couldn’t help but notice that the tiny country dribbling off the southern coast of India did not have the reputation as a digital nomad destination. As two people who were accustomed to regularly spending time in places that score poorly on Nomad List, this did not deter us.

We did what research we could and decided to come prepared, with low expectations for remote work. We did a large amount of planning, and a small amount of pre booking. However, we did make reservations for 7 days at Verse Collective, one of the very few coliving/coworking spaces in the country, in Dikwella, a hipster beach town on Sri Lanka’s scenic southern coast. This way, we told ourselves, if all else failed we could get some work done there. We had done the same in Taghazout, when planning a three-week trip to Morocco and that worked out great.

A rocky arrival in Negombo

Our trip had an exhausting start when our flight from Kuala Lumpur was delayed for several hours, pushing our our arrival time in the country to 2 am, which ultimately had us arriving at our homestay after 3 am.

Upon arrival we drowsily bought SIM cards at a booth selling them near the visa desk. After hearing horror stories of unstable wifi, I bought 58 gigs for $23 and Jim bought 25 gigs for $15. This way we would always have data hotspotting as a backup. I ended up using less than half, with frequent hotspotting.

FYI: if you fill out the visa on arrival online prior to your arrival, which we recommend, you do not need to do anything beyond lining up at customs when you arrive at the Colombo Airport. Apparently they already have your information in their system? We–accustomed to the Vietnam online visa process–waited in line at the visa counter thinking we needed to do something there, when in reality, we should have gone straight through customs, like you would in any country without a visa.

Negombo

Airport Gateway Residence

We stayed at the Airport Gateway Residence, which offered a pickup service for USD$10. We found the family run guesthouse to be comfortable, clean, and friendly; overall, a good value. Free drinking water and our first traditional Sri Lankan breakfast added to the charm. There was strong mobile wifi with a private router in our room. Though we did not do any work here, our hosts mentioned that they had an online English teacher who extended his stay to get some work done, mentioning they had some of the best internet he had encountered during his trip in Sri Lanka.

Travelling by train between Negombo and Galle

After our very tiring and late travel day, we took our time our first morning. After reading reports raving about the very scenic train ride between Negombo and Galle and of complaints regarding the hectic public bus, we opted to take the train.

A few blog posts recommended picking up the train in the Maradana Station instead of the main Colombo Fort Station as this increases your chance of getting a seat. We would never learn if this was true or not, however, because we ended up at the Fort station. Both our taxi driver and hotel hosts mentioned they didn’t think seating would be an issue during low season. Unfortunately for us, there were no seats available for the 2.5 hour ride until the last 30 minutes.

Though grumbly at first, we quickly got over it once the train left Colombo city limits and we were treated to lovely tropical landscapes and sea views. We ended up standing in the open doorways at the back of our traincar to enjoy the breeze and unobstructed views. A journey that reminded me that sometimes the hard way is the most memorable and adventurous way.

TIP: If you are traveling during high season, you will want to plan better than us. If you are bothered by the heat or prefer comfort over adventure, definitely book first class tickets online prior to your day of departure. We do not recommend 3rd class–we accidentally entered the wrong train car and discovered this train car is hot and beyond cramped, with no available seats and limited standing room. Second class is probably the best option when its not super busy.

Impressions of Galle

We arrived at our destination and promptly got a tuktuk to our airbnb, just 5 minutes away, within Galle’s historic stone fort walls. We thanked the Gods of airbnb that our rental was lovely, comfortable and well located. Galle is a city on Sri Lanka’s southern coast famed for its colonial fort.

Now the fortified neighborhood is a UNESCO World Heritage site with narrow stone roads, cool Dutch colonial architecture and loads of boutique hotels, charming cafes and lovely, though mostly non-local, restaurants. Many people seem to pass by on day trips or stay only a night or two, but we were happy to take our time and soak up the chill pace of life. And despite some minor setbacks, left Galle more relaxed than when we arrived.

Challenges of Digital Nomad life in Galle

We spent 5 days working from our covered rooftop terrace, periodically taking long breaks to wander the sleepy and atmospheric streets. On our first official work day in Galle the power went out at 10 am and did not return until after 5 pm. At that time, I was almost finished with my work calls for the morning and I was already using my mobile hotspot. Luckily many of the nicer hotels have a backup generators for these apparently frequent power outages. So, when our Macbook batteries drained, we ended up going to a cafe down the street connected to the 56 by Deco Hotel It was no problem for us to use their very decent internet, and plug in for a few hours as we enjoyed fresh juice and green tea.

TIP: If you are concerned about power outages, you may consider staying in a hotel or guesthouse with a generator.

As we quickly learned, most of the internet in Sri Lanka is from mobile 4G routers. This often worked adequately for our day to day work, however, was sometimes not strong enough for online teaching or video conferences. Hotspotting on our own mobile devices, however, using the SIM cards we got at the airport along with our own Google FI worked great in Galle.

In Galle, don’t miss…

Lucky Fort for their 10 curry lunch

Coconut Sambal for their lunch buffet & homemade ginger beer

Healthy smoothies at Calorie Counter

Sunset walk around the fort wall

Afternoon lounging on the beach by Unawatuna at Jungle Beach

Next on to Tangalle…

After Galle, we scheduled 2 nights in a jungly cabana by the beach. Upon arriving, we immediately wished we had more time here. We stayed at the Palm Paradise which is just outside Tangalle. This piece of paradise was a bit pricier than where w usually stay (it was our honeymoon after all), but I noticed there are regularly good deals online, especially on weekdays. We ended up loving it here; it was lush, tropical and jungly and the beach in front was amazing. It felt like we were living inside a postcard. I did not try to teach online here, however Jim was able to successfully work from our beachy cabana, and even conduct video calls. Like in Galle, and what we’d learn pretty much everywhere, the internet was 4g mobile.

TIP: We travelled from Galle to Tangalle using the app Pick Me, which is quite similar to Uber. We spent around $27USD for the private transfer. This is significantly less than many hotels will quote you for a private taxi and faster, more convenient and more comfortable than a bus or tuktuk.

Udawalawe National Park

After Tangalle we headed 1.5 hours north to Udawalawe. Udawalawe is famous for its massive nature reserve home to hundreds of wild elephants, plus a variety of other interesting wildlife. We stayed 3 nights at a friendly family homestay and ended up doing one full day safari in the park. Despite it being November and rainy season, this turned out to be a great experience. We saw over 25 different animals including over 30 wild elephants including babies, herds of spotted deer, monkeys, peacocks, hornbills, jackals, a crocodile and more. We booked our safari directly with our homestay. For a full day private excursion with lunch & snacks it was $65 a person.

In Udawalawe, don’t miss:

A safari at the national park

A home cooked meal at your homestay

Verse Collective in Dikwella; the epitome of workation

We arrived at Verse ready to be productive, eat healthy, and enjoy gorgeous beaches. And lucky for us we found the perfect spot for it. We instantly fell for Verse’s breezy open air vibes with views of a wild beach and palm covered hillside. A delicious, healthy cafe and nice coffee shop make it the kind of place you’ll never want to leave. Want to surf? No problem you are a 10-15 min walk from a famous surf spot. If you’re a digital nomad, you’d be a fool not to schedule some time working from here. We stayed in one of their suites, but they also offer a cheaper, dorm-like option. However you don’t have to stay there to work there. We do recommend it–I still dream of their healthy breakfasts and fresh Earl Grey tea with homemade coconut milk. YUM. The 7 days we spent here ended up being our favorite during our whole Sri Lanka trip…

How was Verse for teaching online?

Not great, unfortunately. The coworking space is wide open and there are not call rooms. However, if you book a private room in one of their suites you can easily and comfortably teach from there. However, I did end up using my hotspot for most of my lessons as the wifi was not as strong in the room. Overall, teaching with hotspot in Sri Lanka worked out quite well and I was able to get high quality audio/video everywhere I attempted to use it.

Next up: Ella

After a blissful 7 days at Verse Collective we hired a driver to take us to Ella, a popular highland backpacker hotspot. Here the temps are slightly cooler, the air is fresher and nature is abundant. We spent 3 days wandering, hiking and sightseeing. We were lucky with the weather and avoided too much rain. With gorgeous viewpoints and great hiking, Ella was very touristy. We stayed at Leisure Dream Inn and would absolutely recommend it. We choose to take time off work while in Ella, however noticed that the internet situation was not a whole lot different than elsewhere.

In Ella, Don’t Miss;

A hike up to Little Adams Peak

A hike up to Ella Rock

Take a break from the ubiquitous rice & curry at AK Restoro

The famous train ride from Ella to Kandy

Suckers for a good train ride, after Ella we took the justifiably famous Ella-Kandy train route, stopping for a few nights in Nuwara Eliya. We definitely recommend this ride.

TIP: When buying train tickets between Ella and Kandy you might consider booking the observation car in advance. In our experience, this option was less crowded and more comfortable. We also had pretty good luck buying second class tickets on the Nuwara Eliya to Kandy leg. This will likely completely depend on the time of the year you visit.

Check it out: While in Sri Lanka, we learned about The BNKR, self-described as “a crossfit box, beach gym, coworking space and cafe,” where you can stay in their ecoresort, get fit and work all at once. We discovered it a bit too late to change our plans, but absolutely love the concept.

Train ride Ella to Nuwara Eliya Sri Lanka

A side trip to Nuwara Eliya

We decided on a 2-night stop a few meters higher, in Nuwara Eliya. Famous as a British getaway, with many European style buildings and hotels and a noticeably cooler temperature, Nuwara Eliya definitely has a unique feel to it. We stayed at a new airbnb apartment so we could get some work done when we weren’t exploring the nearby teafields. On our only full day in town we paid a friendly tuk tuk driver to take us on a tour of the area, stopping at 3 different tea factories and a waterfall. While this was pretty cool, looking back, we wish we would have instead made the effort and put aside the time to stay closer to Adam’s Peak and make the big climb.

Getting tired in Kandy

By the time we reached Kandy, our busy schedule had started to drag us down. The weather wasn’t ideal–windy and wet–and the traffic clogged streets turned us off immediately. We spent much of our limited 2 days in Kandy at our hotel. Since we can never turn down a visit to a botanical garden, we spent one morning at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Next to our hotel’s massive breakfast and dinner buffet, his turned out to be a highlight for our time there.

We attempted to visit the Buddha's tooth temple, but were turned away due to our attire (Jim was wearing shorts and I a sleeveless dress), and didn’t care enough to head back and change. The weather had turned bad, so we gave up and headed back to the hotel.

Many people had suggested skipping Kandy and looking back, I wish we had. Unless you haven’t spent much time in South East Asia or seen many temples, there wasn’t anything new, and what we saw of Kandy wasn’t worth the low energy we had at the time.

Back to Negombo

For our last 2 nights, we found a hotel near the beach and the airport. We thought we’d rest up for our long flight back. Turns out two nights is way too long for Negombo and we ended up wishing we had just stuck to one night. Negombo wasn’t a total waste, as we splurged on the Sunday buffet at the Jetwing Blue. For $25 we had an all you can eat buffet, plus use of the pool and beach. With crappy weather on our last day it felt like a waste.

Getting around Sri Lanka

We found this to be a bit of a struggle. Buses, though cheap, are crazy, crowded and can take hours longer than planned. Trains, were fun, but also quite crowded and a little uncomfortable bringing luggage. If you packed heavy you’ll want to book a ticket first class in advance. The best, though by far the most expensive, option was to hire a private driver. Uber works in some limited areas, so check there before hiring a driver at your hotel. Also the app PickMe is great and generally a good deal for Colombo on down to the Southern coast. You can hire a tuk tuk for most shorter trips, but keep in mind this option is less comfortable and much slower than a car and the major roads can be quite polluted. Again, best if you pack light. TIP; for Sri Lanka travel, PACK LIGHT!

So how is Sri Lanka for Digital Nomads?

While it has it’s challenges, it’s definitely an up and coming and I predict within the next 5 years you’ll see coworking spaces popping up and an influx of remote workers coming from all over to enjoy Ceylon. With amazing nature, delicious food, hipster hotspots and surfing, it’s got serious Bali vibes without the overcrowding issues. Verse Collective alone, may be reason enough to add it to your list of workations or surf + work spots.

Sri Lanka Digital Nomad Trip Report & Tips