Sri Lanka
Our guides in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka · region
Ella
Get your free ETA online before you fly: Israeli passport holders have been on the free 30-day list since 25 May 2026, but the authorisation must still be issued before arrival. From Colombo airport it is about 234 kilometres to Ella by road. For the train, drive or ride to Nanu Oya and take the 09:00 departure, daily, which reaches Ella at 11:27, or the 14:30, not on Wednesdays, which arrives at 16:57; seats open 30 days ahead on the Sri Lanka Railways reservation site. In Ella, walk to the Nine Arch Bridge for a morning train, climb Little Adam’s Peak, and do Ella Rock early, from late September to mid-March for a sunrise at the top. Take a tea-factory tour, spend a day in Haputale for Lipton’s Seat and the Benedictine monastery at Adisham, which opens only at weekends and on holidays, and give Horton Plains an early start. Plan for rain from October to December, and for the driest weather from June to August.
Sri Lanka · region
Mirissa
Get the free 30-day ETA online before you fly: Israeli passport holders have been on Sri Lanka’s free list since 25 May 2026, but the authorisation must be issued before arrival. From Colombo airport it is about 184 kilometres by road, most of it on the Southern Expressway, leaving at Kokmaduwa about nine kilometres from the harbour. Book a whale trip for the morning after you arrive: Raja and the Whales checks in at 06:00 and sails at 06:30, charges 20,000 rupees an adult, and runs daily from November to the end of April. Swim on Mirissa beach in the calm months only and near the lifeguards, walk up Coconut Tree Hill for a sunset between late August and mid-April, take a surf lesson in Weligama Bay, and go to Dondra Head or Talalla if you want a sunrise over the sea. Give the Hiriketiya Chabad house a call before you count on it, and expect no direct flight from Tel Aviv this season.
Sri Lanka · road trip
Sri Lanka Round Trip
Start near Colombo, head to the cultural triangle for Sigiriya and Dambulla, continue to Kandy for the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, climb into the hill country around Ella and Nuwara Eliya, then finish on the south coast at Galle.