10-Day Sri Lanka Motorcycle Tour

Island of Dharma

The definitive Sri Lanka motorcycle tour. Follow the coast in a massive loop of the island, through lagoons and over huge mountain passes. Visit awesome locations like the colonial old town of Galle, Sirigiya Rock Fortress and Udawalawe National Park, and test your riding skills on the insane Devil’s Staircase switchback.

Location

Sri Lanka

Distance

1400 km

Duration

10 days

Difficulty

Intermediate

Pillion

pillions welcome

Day 1: Negombo – Kalpitiya Beach

From the beach town of Negombo, head north along the coast towards Kalpitiya. There, we’ll check out Kalpitiya Lagoon, which consists of 14 little islands over an area of about 16 kilometres. Being on the west coast of the island, it’s famous for its sunsets and is home to some cracking seafood restaurants.

Day 2: Kalpitiya Beach – Sigiriya

Now it’s time to head inland. Wind your way over little countryside roads, over farmland and through some gorgeous forests. On the way, stop to check out Thabbowa Tank, a large reservoir famous among bird watchers. It’s a great place to take a few photos, but our next stop, Sigiriya Rock Fortress, is even better: in fact no Sri Lanka motorcycle tour is complete without checking it out. The ancient stronghold was built in the year 5 A.D. on a monolithic rock pillar that rises to an elevation of more than 1,000 feet.

Day 3: Sigiriya – Wasgamuwa

At this point, our route starts increasing in elevation. Ride the winding Gonawawa mountain pass south through the mountains overlooking our destination, Wasgamuwa National Park. Entering the park itself, there’s another gorgeous pass that follows the Kalu Ganga reservoir.

Day 4: Wasgamuwa – Knuckles

The Knuckles mountain range is definitely one of the highlights of our adventure. We spend some time in its foothills before ascending via a massive series of switchbacks. The views up there are incredible, and there are some fantastic waterfalls to stop off at along the way, one of which is right near a crazily big tea plantation.

Day 5: Knuckles – Nuwara Eliya

The big industry up in this area is tea: Sri Lanka’s famous for producing some of the best in the world. Ride some scenic, sometimes fairly technical mountain roads, and perhaps even stop off at one of our friends’ factories to learn how the stuff is processed.

Day 6: Nuwara Eliya – Ella

Spread out over the two highest mountains in the area, UNESCO World Heritage Site Horton Plains is one of our favourite places in the country. It’s on a massive plateau, filled with grassland, forests and lakes and looks like something out of Jurassic Park. The area is also home to the Devil’s Staircase, a steep, challenging zig-zag trail. We’ll definitely hit it up if you’re up for it!

Day 7: Ella – Udawalawa

After descending from the plateau onto the plains, we’ll be riding through Udawalawe National Park. This place was set up essentially as a new home for the wildlife displaced by the Udawalawe Reservoir (which we’ll also check out). There’s a really cool, humanely-run elephant sanctuary there, too, and it’s honestly awesome to get up close with those massive beasts.

Day 8: Udawalawa – Galle

Out of the plains, we head for the coast, on our way to Galle, the capital of Sri Lanka’s southernmost province. The coastal road’s great, and there’s some fantastic seafood to be eaten along the way, but the town itself is gorgeous and has so much history. With Dutch, Portuguese and Jesuit influences, it’s a great place to take some photos and check out the architecture.

Day 9: Galle – Ratnapura

From Galle, the coastal road’s actually quite busy so we head back into the hills. The road takes us through lush forests and past grand country estates, and we actually get back up to a pretty high elevation. There’s an interesting gem market in Ratnapura, our destination: while we never buy anything there, it’s a pretty cool sight.

Day 10: Ratnapura – Negombo

There are some really fun little forested mountain tracks on the way back to Negombo, and we’ll take full advantage. They’re not as crazy as the ones in Horton Plains, but that does give us the opportunity to open up a bit. We’ll have our farewell dinner in one of our favourite of the town’s many awesome restaurants.

Pricing X Availability

Honda XR 250 $2200/rider

R.E. Classic 350 $2200/rider

Tour Gallery

Inclusions X Extras

English-Speaking Guide

Each of our guides has years of experience running motorcycle tours and is an expert on the local area.

All speak English and the local language, and guides who can speak other languages are sometimes available on request.

Motorcycle X Fuel

The cost of hiring your motorcycle is included in that of the tour. All running expenses, including fuel, are included as well.

Food X Drink

All meals are provided, as are drinks and snacks along the way.

You’ll dine sometimes in your accommodation, sometimes at quality local restaurants.

Let us know in advance of any preferences or dietary requirements and we are happy to cater for these.

Accommodation

Accommodation is minimum 3-star quality.

Standard is a twin share room but on occasion (due to remote location) we will share one large, dorm-type room: in a stilt house or a yurt, for example.

All locations have been scouted beforehand and checked for cleanliness and good service.

Waterproof Gear

Conditions in many of our destinations, in Asia, for example, may be really different from your home country.

Rain can be heavy, and start falling at a moment’s notice.

We’ll sort you out with a waterproof rain poncho and overtrousers where necessary.

Private Accommodation

We offer twin-share accommodation as standard. In most locations, though, we can arrange single occupancy if you prefer.

This comes at a small surcharge, but in most tour destinations is quite reasonable.

Motorcycle Gear

While most riders prefer to bring their own gear, we do have a limited range of extra gear (boots, gloves, armour and helmets, for example) in most of our tour destinations.

Naturally, whether or not we’ll be able to supply you with gear depends on size and availability.

Pre X Post Tour Accommodation

We are happy to provide suggestions on pre and post-tour bookings in accommodation: knowing the area well, we know the best places to stay at all price points.

We can even book for you as an added extra without any service fee, sometimes even at a discount.

david ellis 4 months ago

Overall a amazing few days spent on the bikes, taking in some lovely scenic trails, well organised and set up, nice and relaxed attitude to life, strongly recommend, love2all!!!

...

Derek Page 2 months ago

Did an amazing 7 day trip with ADV in April in northern Vietnam. Great blend of windy pavement, flowy doubletrack and fun singletrack. The guide was super friendly and knowledgeable, taking us on routes off the beaten path, and knew all the best places to stop for tasty food and coffee. Good accommodations as well. Highly recommended!

...

Hal 9000 4 months ago

Danny and his crew are fantastic. Did a Cambodia trip with them in March, 2024 and it was insanely good! Riding through jungles, hidden temples, awesome off-road tracks: these guys had it all scoped out. Food and lodgings were great. Excellent adventure at a great price. Highly recommended.

...

Alex 4 months ago

Once in a life time experience, went on a 5 day tour with Danny who was an unbelievable guide, very informative and took us off the beaten track.
We hired the Honda XR 150 and it was perfect, very reasonably priced when you consider the homestays and great food we had.

Will definitely be booking another adventure 10/10.

...

Charlie Georgiou 4 months ago

Went on tour with ADVOutriders a couple of weeks ago in Vietnam. It was a fantastic tour. We rode the Honda CB 500x up to Ha Giang and Cao Bang. Bikes were great and we really enjoyed it. Highly recommend!

...