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Sri-LankaWhere to rent a motorbike in Sri Lanka and prices
Renting motorcycles and scooters in Sri Lanka is common. From personal experience of multiple trips and rentals, mostly simple automatic scooters like Honda Wego 110 cc are rented here, but there are also more serious Indian TVS motorcycles with a volume of 125 cc. In Negombo, we even met classic Royal Enfield motorcycles.
But it is easy to find rentals only in popular tourist places on the coast. In the center of the country at the resorts of Kandy, Ella, Nuwara Eliya, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, etc. it is more difficult to rent, and prices are higher. It is also difficult to find very high prices in the resorts of Kalkuda and Passikuda, in Jaffna, on the island of Delft.
You can find a rental office in a tourist place by asking at the hotel or just walking along the streets and looking for signs or motorcycles with signs "Motorcycle for rent" or "Bike for rent".
In non-tourist places and in the rental center, you will have to search a lot. We personally do and advise you to search like this: ask for "Motorcycle for rent" or "Motorcycle rental" on Google maps, find rental rentals on the map, read reviews. Then you can contact the rental owners via Whatsapp messenger using the contacts in the description to clarify the price and availability.
For example, during our last trip to Kandy, we could not find a single street rental. Several rentals were found on the Google map, but all of them, as it turned out, work without rental points, i.e. they bring a motorcycle to your hotel or to a designated point. Moreover, it turned out to be not so easy to book equipment the next day, because someone simply did not answer, someone did not have motorbikes in stock, and somewhere we did not like the conditions and prices. In general, keep in mind that not everything is so simple here with rent.
You can also find and book a motorcycle in Sri Lanka in advance online, and it is even delivered to the place you need, for example, to a bus station, airport or hotel. You can do this on the website 🏍 BikesBooking.com:
Prices here are greatly overestimated compared to the Southeast Asian countries. From personal experience of renting while traveling for one half of the year in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, I had to pay 2-3 times more for motorbikes in very poor condition.
But you need to bargain. Although they are reluctant to bargain here, but in low season it is quite possible to bring down the price even twice, especially if you will take a motorcycle for a few days or weeks, but not for long trips. If you plan to travel around the island, then you may not get a discount.
The rent usually includes unlimited mileage and helmets. But unlimited is not always. For example, in Kandy we were offered a motorcycle with a limit of 150 rupees/day. And by the way, keep in mind that renting for a day does not always mean a day, since some rental companies mean 1 day by renting for a day. That is, you take a motorcycle in the morning and return it in the evening at the set time. When renting for a few days, you use a motorcycle around the clock.
The minimum rental price varies in different cities/resorts. Here are the approximate advertised prices from personal experience for one day of rental for an old motorcycle with a 110 cc engine at different resorts:
- Negombo – 2500 rupees / 7.57 USD
- Trincomalee – 2200 / 6.67 USD
- Hikkaduwa, Unawatuna, Bentota – 2200 / 6.67 USD
- Jaffna – 2500 rupees / 7.57 USD
- Delft Island – 3500 rupees / 10.6 USD
- Kandy – 3,000 rupees / 9.09 USD
- Nuwara Eliya – 2500 / 7.57 USD
- Ella – 2200 / 6.67 USD
- Passikuda/Kalkuda – 4000 rupees / 12.12 USD
- Arugam Bay – 1800 rupees / 5.45 USD
A passport is required as collateral, plus sometimes $100-300 in cash. Sometimes you can do without just a photo of your passport, especially if you rent a motorcycle at the hotel or guesthouse where you live. Sometimes a written contract is concluded, and in some cases you just give your passport and pick up the motorcycle, it all depends on the rental company. And in Ella and Trincomalee, for example, we (the authors of the site) rented a motorcycle without presenting any documents at all: the distributor did not even look at the passport, but simply asked for the name of the hotel, and gave the keys.
Sometimes you can even find motorcycles with an insurance contract, but this is very rare. In this case, a serious contract is concluded, where your share of responsibility is indicated. Usually it provides for a deductible, i.e. you pay for all minor damages worth up to $ 200 yourself, and the rest is the insurance company.
What rights are needed to rent a motorcycle in Sri Lanka
In order to rent a motorcycle, in most cases the rights will not be needed at all, the distributors rarely check them. Our license was checked at the box office only a couple of times in Jaffna and in Kandy.
But for driving on the roads, of course, there must be rights, and strictly with category "A". There are a lot of traffic policemen in Sri Lanka, and sometimes the police ambush resorts. Without rights, you can get a fine of 25,000 rupees(75.75 USD), or at best get off with a bribe of 2000 rupees(6.06 USD). Also, in the event of an accident without a license, you will be found guilty in any case, and the insurance will not work.
To drive a motorcycle legally in Sri Lanka, foreigners need international IDP rights with an open category "A". And we are not talking about international-style national rights, which are now issued in Russia and other countries, but about an international driver's license or IDP (International Driving Permit), which is issued in addition to the national ID, and is presented only with it. In the Russian Federation, IDUs are issued by the traffic police (traffic police), you can get them through the website Public services, in the MFC or by personally contacting the traffic police (traffic police). They are issued without passing the exam after paying the fee, the receipt procedure is very simple and fast, without unnecessary formalities. In Ukraine, legal IDUs are manufactured by the service center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - https://hsc.gov.ua/
There is an opinion that it is possible to manage transport in Sri Lanka only according to local rights, which can be obtained in Colombo, and the IDP does not work here. In fact, the IDP operates here, which is enshrined in local law, and has been repeatedly tested by many tourists in practice, as well as by us personally. For more information about what rights are needed to rent transport in Sri Lanka, read here...
In addition to the vehicle with a motorcycle, there must be insurance and a document on the payment of taxes, which the owner of the motorcycle must give you. If these documents do not turn out to be, not only the owner of the equipment will have problems, but also you. Usually these documents are stored in the motorcycle in the "in the trunk" under the seat.
Are there police on the road and do they check the rights in Sri Lanka (personal experience)
Yes, there are police, and a lot of them. More than, for example, in Thailand, Bali, and even more so in Vietnam. At the popular beach resorts of Hikkaduwa and Unawatuna, and possibly at others, they even arrange temporary checkpoints with universal verification of documents for all tourists. But even without these checkpoints, it is very easy to get to check documents, because there are really a lot of police, and they really and often check all documents. They work and stop even at night.
From our personal experience, we can say that they can stop anywhere. That is, do not think that if you go away from tourist places, then no one will be interested in you there and you will not meet the police on the road. In fact, traffic policemen can be found on the road in even the most remote village.
To be honest, from our personal experience of traveling to different countries of Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as in the Russian Federation, we have not seen such a large number of expensive police anywhere. Without exaggeration, we can say that you can see more of them here in a day than in a whole year of traveling around the Russian Federation. If you don't believe it, then take a ride in the morning during rush hour in Kandy or Colombo, and you'll see for yourself.
And just in case, we remind you that giving a bribe on the road, if you do not have a license or the appropriate category, is a criminal offense. And if you constantly pay off on the roads, then one day it can lead to very serious problems.
Features of rental and traffic in Sri Lanka
Before renting, carefully check the motorcycle, take a picture and record on video all the damage in case of a possible "divorce" when returning the equipment. Do not leave helmets unattended during use, as even old "dead" helmets manage to steal here (if stolen, then a new helmet can be bought at the nearest store for 500-700 rupees). It is better to use paid parking and locks, because motorcycle thefts happen here.
Now, as for driving on the roads. First of all, the traffic here is more left-sided. For most local drivers, a motorcyclist on the road is not a person at all, even if it is a tourist. There is a popular rule - "Who has more bibikalka is right". More (louder) than all "bibikalka" at buses, and then at trucks. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that other drivers will drive you into oncoming traffic and drive you out of the way by flashing headlights and beeping. It's the same when overtaking: no one pays attention to motorcycles, and when returning to their lane, presses them to the side of the road. In all these cases, do not try to be principled, but rather squeeze to the side of the road and give way to everyone you disturb.
There are very few traffic lights in Sri Lanka. In large cities such as Colombo, Kandy, Jaffna, there are a lot of policemen on the roads. They mainly regulate traffic at intersections and pedestrian crossings during peak hours, but there are also enough document verification posts. We even met with speed measurement radars. The police are very active and really working, so the chance of being stopped while driving to check is great. We have seen only a few video cameras all over the country, but the situation is changing.
Our personal, perhaps subjective opinion is that the movement in Sri Lanka is not as complicated and chaotic as in some popular Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam or Indonesia. Of course, during rush hour, local drivers get impudent and move aggressively, but it's easy to get used to their driving style. Perhaps Colombo and Kandy are particularly difficult, and in other places the traffic is calm, like in a village.
Keep in mind that the standard travel insurance included in travel packages does not cover driving a moped and motorcycle. To do this, you need to take out additional insurance with the option of driving a moped/ motorcycle and /or active sports, which is equivalent to driving a two-wheeled vehicle. You can compare the cost of travel insurance from different insurance companies and arrange it online on these trusted sites:
Where and what to refuel
Attention when refueling! Sometimes gas stations cheat with tourists. They do not reset the meter on the column to 0 after the previous refueling and top up the gasoline to you, and you pay for two refueling at once. It turns out that your four-liter tank includes 6 or more liters. To avoid this, before refueling, look at the numbers at the gas station and make sure that everything is zero.
The motorcycle is refueled with 92nd gasoline. Local gas stations are exactly the same as ours, only they are not self-service, and payment takes place right at the gas station. Just drive up to the right gas station at the gas station, tell how many liters of gasoline you need or say full (full), and the tanker will do everything himself. The most popular rental scooters include 3-4 liters of fuel. If you don't know which pump to drive up to at the gas station, drive up to the one where the other motorcycles are in line, or drive up to the tanker who will call you.
How much you need to pay for refueled gasoline is displayed on the column itself. The cost of gasoline throughout Sri Lanka is fixed, for 92 gasoline it is 299 rupees per 1 liter (0.91 USD), 95 or Euro3 costs from 340 rupees.