Sri Lanka Tour From India 3 Days & 2 Nights

Sri Lanka sits a short hop south of India, and this three day trip is built for the traveller who wants a first real taste of the island without spending a week of leave to get it. You fly into Colombo, settle into a comfortable 3 star hotel on Galle Road for two nights, and split your time between the city's colonial waterfront, its busy markets and its easy after dark buzz. Every ground arrangement is handled for you, from the airport pickup to a guided city tour and daily breakfast, so you land, drop your bags and start exploring. The land cost is Rs 32,999 per person, flights are easy to add from your metro, and any day of it can be stretched towards Kandy or the hills if you want more.

This package holds a 4.2 star rating from 396 travellers who actually booked and travelled it, and it runs on the same TravelTriangle promise that has planned trips for 40 lakh plus happy travellers since 2011. You book through a verified Sri Lanka agent rather than a faceless engine, the whole itinerary is customisable down to a single day, and the terms are put in writing on your quote before you pay a rupee.

At a glance

Your 3 day Sri Lanka itinerary from India

This is an honest 2 night, 3 day Colombo break, not a seven day circuit dressed up as one. Here is exactly how the three days run, and where you can add more if you have the time.

Day 1 Colombo, arrival. You land at Bandaranaike International Airport, where our representative meets you and drives you the roughly 45 minutes into the city. Check in on Galle Road, drop your bags and take the afternoon at your own pace. As the heat drops, walk the Galle Face Green promenade by the sea, then dip into Pettah market for the full colour, noise and spice-stall chaos of old Colombo. The city also runs on a surprisingly lively night scene, so if you fancy it, the evening is yours for a casino, a rooftop bar or a late dinner before you head back to the hotel.

Day 2 Colombo, city tour. After breakfast your guide takes you through the heart of the capital. You will see the Galle Face Green and the green lungs of Viharamahadevi Park, the National Museum for the island's history, and the colonial Fort district with the Old Parliament building and the Twin World Trade Center towers. Independence Square and a handful of Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian places of worship sit close together, a neat picture of how mixed the city is. Leave an hour for shopping at Odel, House of Fashion or Majestic City, where Ceylon tea, spices and batik make easy gifts to carry home. Lunch is your own choice before you return to the hotel for the night.

Day 3 Colombo, departure. Have a relaxed breakfast and use whatever time you have before pickup for a last walk or a final round of shopping. After check-out, our driver takes you back to the airport for your flight home. If three days has only whetted your appetite, this is the point where most travellers ask us to bolt on Kandy and the hill country, which is covered in the section below.

What's included and what's not

You are free to reshape the trip before you pay, and all the terms that apply to your dates are set out in writing on your final quote, so you see them before any money changes hands.

Planning your Sri Lanka trip from India

The practical bit. Here is what an Indian traveller actually needs to sort out before this trip: flights, the ETA visa, when to go and what the whole thing costs in rupees.

Flights. Colombo is one of the easiest international trips from India. Chennai and Bengaluru are barely 90 minutes in the air, while Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata run around three to three and a half hours, mostly direct. SriLankan Airlines and Indian carriers fly the routes daily, and return fares start from about Rs 18,000 per person off-season. This package is land only, so you book flights to suit your metro and budget.

Sri Lanka ETA visa for Indians, step by step. Indian passport holders need an Electronic Travel Authorisation before they fly. It takes about ten minutes online:

• Open the official Sri Lanka eTA portal and start a tourist application.

• Enter your passport details, travel dates and Colombo hotel address.

• Pay the tourist ETA fee, currently about USD 50 (roughly Rs 4,200) for a 30 day double-entry visit.

• Wait for the approval email, which usually lands within 24 to 72 hours.

• Travel with the printed approval plus a passport valid for at least six months and a return ticket.

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Our full Sri Lanka visa guide for Indians walks through the paperwork if you want the detail.

Best time to go. For Colombo and the whole west and south coast, December to March is the dry, bright window, which lines up neatly with winter holidays from India. May to September flips the weather to the east coast. Our best time to visit Sri Lanka guide breaks it down region by region.

What it costs from India. Here is a realistic per-person budget so there are no surprises. Figures other than the package price move with your dates, so treat them as a planning guide and see our Sri Lanka trip cost from India breakdown for more.

Want to see more of Sri Lanka? Extend or customise

Three days covers Colombo well, but the island's best known stops sit a few hours inland and along the coast. You will not see them on this short break, and we will not pretend otherwise. If you have five to nine days, we can extend this trip or build a full circuit that adds the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, the rock fortress at Sigiriya, the cave temples of Dambulla, the tea country around Nuwara Eliya and Ella, a safari at Yala, and whale watching off Mirissa. Tell your agent what you want and use the Customise button, or start from our full range of Sri Lanka tour packages.

Travelling as a couple or a family? There are dedicated Sri Lanka honeymoon packages and family packages built around the same island, with the pace and stays changed to suit.

Why book this Sri Lanka trip with TravelTriangle

You book with a verified local agent who runs these Colombo trips week in, week out, not an anonymous checkout. The itinerary flexes to your dates, the price is transparent, and the 4.2 star rating comes from 396 travellers who have actually been.

"Do the Colombo city tour first thing and start before 9 am. You beat the Galle Road traffic and the museum crowds, and you still have the afternoon free for the market."

Prices and inclusions on this page are checked by our Sri Lanka desk against the live operator offer before every booking.

Edited by TravelTriangle