Renting a Jeep in Sri Lanka: Amazing Adventure or Costly Mistake?

If you’re thinking of travelling to Sri Lanka and you’ve landed on this article, you’re probably trying to figure out the best way to get around. There are a few options, including public transport (buses and trains), chauffeurs, taxis, tuk-tuks and hiring your own vehicle. We looked at all these options (and have used many of them during our time in Sri Lanka) and can say that renting a jeep in Sri Lanka was definitely the most adventurous and interesting experience we’ve had. 

During a 3.5 week trip around Sri Lanka, we covered over 1,500 km, travelling from Negombo across to Trincomalee, through the central highlands, down to Yala National Park and around to Weligama. From this big adventure, we learned many things about renting a jeep in Sri Lanka (the good and the bad), and we’ll share it all with you in this article.

Reasons You Should Rent a Jeep in Sri Lanka

1. It’s incredibly fun

Ok, we’ll start off with the good stuff. Firstly, it’s stupidly fun to drive a 1990s Jeep. It’s a novel experience, and Sri Lankans will be incredibly surprised to see a foreigner driving around in one of these older cars. The number of smiles, waves, compliments about the jeep and constantly getting asked if we owned it or rented it (literally everywhere we went!). 

Yes, the engine is loud, and the ride can be a bit bumpy, but it’s all part of the fun. It’s an old vehicle, what do you expect? If you can look past the imperfections of not being in a brand-new car with the AC blasting, then it really is the adventure of a lifetime. 

Even on occasions when everything wasn’t going perfectly, we just said to each other that there can’t be many people in the world who have had this experience, and that thought alone is reason enough to rent a jeep in Sri Lanka.

2. Freedom to be flexible

When you’re travelling around Sri Lanka, it’s nice to have some sort of flexibility. You might find you love a place and want to stay a little longer, or you might want to take an unconventional route to see places that aren’t easy to access, or the unpredictable weather might force you to change your plans.

The beauty of renting a Jeep in Sri Lanka and having your own vehicle means you can be as flexible as you like. We found in some places (particularly Nuwara Eliya) that tuk-tuk drivers would only want to take you on specific tours that they had planned out. However, we had done our own research and figured out the places we wanted to visit. They were a bit more spread out, so tuk-tuk drivers didn’t want to do them. Because we had the jeep, we were able to go to all the places we wanted to see rather than a prearranged tour.

3. Easy to get to all your accommodations and off-the-beaten-path places

Every travel route around Sri Lanka has at least one stop at a national park. A safari is one of the must-do things here. Around these national parks, you’ll find a huge choice of accommodation, but a lot of them are a bit off the beaten path and down dirt tracks. The tropical nature of the island means these roads are impassible for most vehicles, especially if it’s rained!

However, when you rent a jeep, you just knock it into 4-wheel drive and go for it. We stopped in two national parks on our trip with the Jeep (Wilpattu and Yala), and we were easily able to get to both of our accommodations – and it was stupidly fun driving to them. Particularly in Wilpattu, where the rain was torrential, the mud/dirt track was like a river, and water was flying everywhere!

🐘 Book a safari to Wilpattu National Park (we stayed at Moni Farm House)
🐆 Book a safari in Yala National Park (we stayed at Kulu Safaris)

If we didn’t have the jeep, the caretaker would have had to meet us on a scooter, holding his umbrella, with his scooter sliding all over the place in the mud (not sure what we’d have done with our bags at this point!).

4. Space for your luggage

One of the reasons we opted for renting a Jeep in Sri Lanka was luggage space. Lauren doesn’t pack light, and with carrying laptops for working, a camera, drone, etc. we had 5 bags in total (2 carry-on size suitcases and 3 backpacks). If you too can’t pack light and want to self-drive, then renting a Jeep in Sri Lanka is definitely the way to go as there’s plenty of room in the back of the Jeep.

5. It feels much safer than other self-drive vehicles

Apart from buses and the odd big truck, you’re basically the king of the road in a Jeep. Sri Lankan roads work in a way that the bigger you are, the more priority you take. Slower moving vehicles move the the left, so you can easily overtake, and in busier areas, people tend to avoid getting in your way because they’ll get a lot of damage.

This made journeys a lot more enjoyable and less stressful. In a tuk-tuk or on a motorbike, the bigger vehicles can sometimes be a little daunting, especially because people are giving you a little less respect on the road.

Things to be Aware of When Renting a Jeep in Sri Lanka

1. It’s not cheap

Renting a Jeep is definitely one of the more expensive ways to travel around Sri Lanka. But for the price, you get safety, convenience and freedom. You’re looking at prices starting at around $40 per day if you hire the Jeep for 1 week. And, as with most rental the price comes down the longer you rent for. You’re looking at $36 per day if you hire the Jeep for 4-weeks. 

Yes, this is more expensive than a tuk-tuk, motorbike and other types of cars, but you don’t get the same experience. And, if you opt for public transport or a chauffeur, you don’t get the freedom of self-driving.

2. It’s not all plane sailing

As we mentioned, these Jeeps aren’t new. They’re a little weathered and have been driven a lot. They’re well-maintained, but you’re going to be a little more involved than renting a new vehicle. 

For example, we needed to check the levels every couple of days to make sure things were running smoothly, and we needed to stop at a couple of mechanics to get things sorted during our journey.

It’s the luck of the draw if you have issues or not. Plenty of people report simply having to top up the oil once and nothing else, but just be prepared for potential issues.

However, whenever we had an issue, it was easily solved. There are mechanics everywhere in Sri Lanka, and Suranga from Sha Lanka Travels was always on hand to help. In fact, when we were renting a Jeep in Sri Lanka, he arranged for someone to come to our accommodation to fix an issue because we had a busy schedule that day and needed to travel to our next location the following day.

3. The long drives can be tiring

Sri Lanka is bigger than you think. Well, at least bigger than we thought. If you’re moving around frequently, it can be quite tiring to drive constantly. Particularly if you then have to drive to different attractions too. 

Sometimes, we found ourselves getting tuk-tuks when we arrived in places because I was exhausted from driving so much. It’s not a problem, because tuk-tuks aren’t expensive, but it is an additional cost to bear in mind. 

What You Need to Rent a Jeep in Sri Lanka

There is a lot of different information on the internet about what documents you need to rent vehicles in Sri Lanka. In fact, you need different documents for different vehicles. 

So, let’s try and break this very confusing license situation down in an understandable way.

To rent a Jeep in Sri Lanka, you need one of the following.

1. An International Driving Permit (IDP)
2. A Sri Lankan Driving Permit

Most of the information you see online tells you that you must have a Sri Lankan Driving Permit, even if you have an International Driving Permit (which is bizarre). You get one of these by going to Colombo. However, we were told by Suranga at Sha Lanka Travels that the IDP is fine for driving a jeep or car, and you only need a local permit if you plan on driving a motorbike or tuk-tuk. You can find out how to get an IDP in our guide here.

In our experience, we were stopped multiple times by the Police while in the Jeep, and every officer accepted the IDP and didn’t ask for the local permit.

Personally, we’d recommend getting a Sri Lankan Driving Permit anyway. If you decide to rent a tuk-tuk or scooter for a day or two, you’ll need it. However, you won’t need to go to Colombo because Sha Lanka Travels can sort this out for you for $50 US. Which includes the license and someone physically going from Negombo to Colombo to complete the process for you.

Our Recommendation for Renting a Jeep in Sri Lanka

After deciding that renting a jeep in Sri Lanka was what we wanted to do, we started looking around for companies and were surprised to find very little choice.

We stumbled across Sri Lanka Jeep Tours, which is part of the Sha Lanka Travels company. Although the company is called ‘Tours’ they have a section on the website for self-drive jeeps. 

After reading reviews on the self-drive Jeeps and the tours, we decided to go ahead and message to find out prices, what we needed to do etc. 

Suranga, the owner, was very helpful and responsive from the start and as we mentioned above, was on hand to help out throughout. We even adjusted our dates the day before we were supposed to collect the Jeep and he was super flexible.

And, as well as arranging our local licence, they kindly stored our large suitcases in their office and collected the Jeep from Weligama when we were finished travelling, so we didn’t have to drive 5+ hours to Negombo!

You can contact Suranga on WhatsApp to ask any questions, find out more about availability or discuss pricing. His number is +94 77 748 8746.

Jeep vs Tuk-Tuk

We took a lot of time to weigh up the Jeep vs. Tuk-tuk debate. Having seen so many people doing this same route in tuk-tuks, it was very appealing. However, we were very happy with our decision of renting a Jeep in Sri Lanka for a few reasons.

• Speed: Tuk-tuks are limited in how fast they can go, and they struggle up hills. We did the maths, and some journeys would take double the time in a tuk-tuk than the Jeep. Tuk-tuks particularly struggle up some of the steep hills.
• Weather: The tropical weather in Sri Lanka means you’re going to experience biblical downpours. In a tuk-tuk, you’ll have to wait for very heavy rain to pass. High winds can also be a problem too.
• Safety: In the Jeep, we felt well protected from all of the occasional chaos going on around us. When we’ve been in a tuk-tuk, we haven’t felt that so much.

Should You Rent a Jeep in Sri Lanka?

We’re rented vehicles all over the world, from Barbados to Bali, and deciding to rent a Jeep in Sri Lanka was honestly one of the most fun and memorable experiences we’ve had with transport rental. If you want to have an adventure that not many people have had, enjoy driving in some challenging situations and want to have stories for a lifetime, then renting a Jeep in Sri Lanka is a must-do. 

Expect a few hiccups along the way, but know that everything will be solved quickly, and you’ll have an incredible time!