Ruby Marshall’s Tuk Tuk Adventure in Sri Lanka.
If you’re looking for a wild adventure, can I recommend hiring a tuk tuk to drive around Sri Lanka! While it may sound terrifying, let me tell you why you should consider it.
My partner and I were meeting a friend in Sri Lanka for 2 weeks and hadn’t really planned exactly what we were going to do while we were there, so when researching about a week beforehand we came across tuktukrentals.com.
When my partner first suggested that we should do this I immediately said no. I thought that the traffic would be wild, the roads would be too tricky to navigate and the tuk tuk itself would be too hard to drive. He suggested reading the reviews before making up my mind, so I did just that.
And I changed my mind very quickly. I’ve never seen so many positive reviews for something I thought would have so much potential to go wrong.
I just spent two weeks driving a tuk tuk around Sri Lanka and we had such a fun adventure.
The process of booking and preparing for the tuk tuk
For our journey around Sri Lanka it was myself, my partner and a friend.
We’re not the most organised travellers in the world so we only booked the tuk tuk a few days before we were planning on getting to Sri Lanka, but it was all a relatively quick and easy process.
We contacted the company and told them what dates we wanted to book it for and where we wanted to pick it up and drop it off. Once we’d confirmed our dates with the company we had to send them copies of our Australian licences and fill out the forms on their website. We then had to watch a quick explainer video about the tuk tuk and then book in for an online briefing session, which they host a couple times a day.
You also need to get a special Sri Lankan tuk tuk license if you’re wanting to drive the tuk tuk but the company sorts that all for you. It cost US$40 each for the license.
In terms of the cost of the tuk tuk itself, it depends on how long you book it for and where you pick it up and drop it off. You can pick up and drop off the tuk tuk in pretty much any big town or city in Sri Lanka and the price changes depending where you start and end your trip.
You can check out their full list of pricing here. The cost includes 24/7 emergency support service, a Travel App (which you can download here on iOS and Android), and an on-the-road travel kit.
We had initially booked a tuk tuk for 6 days but with the plan to potentially extend if we were loving it (spoiler alert: we did). We picked it up in Negombo (which is where the main rental office is) and were planning on dropping it off in Kandy. From Negombo to Kandy for 6 days it totalled to US$191 with a US$150 deposit. So divided between the 3 of us it was US$64, plus the cost of the licenses. Once we extended the trip to two weeks and changed our dropoff location to Negombo we ended up paying US$280 total (excluding the cost of our licenses).
It’s definitely not the cheapest way to travel around Sri Lanka (compared to the local buses and trains which are normally around $1 per trip) but it was so worth it for the adventure.
Getting to the office and taking driving lessons
We arrived in Negombo late at night and headed to the tuktukrentals.com office first thing the next morning. They checked us in and the took us out for driving lessons.
They just take you down the small side streets near their office and then after you’ve gotten the hang of it a bit more they get you to drive on the busier main road (honestly so scary when you’ve only had 30 minutes of lessons but you get used to it quickly I promise!). The instructors give you a 30-45 minute lesson each, and be warned, you will stall a lot at first.
It’s a strange vehicle to learn to drive because it’s quite different to a car or a motorbike. It has handles like a motorbike but the break is a pedal on the floor. They’re also manual so if you’ve only ever driven automatic you may find it a bit more difficult to get the hang of, but don’t let that put you off!
Another thing to note is that they drive on the left in Sri Lanka, which for us Australians wasn’t an issue, but if you’re from a country who drives on the right, this is something you’ll have to get used to.
Setting off!
Tuktukrental.com will make sure you know everything about the tuk tuk before you set off. While it will take you a little while to get the hang of driving the tuk tuk you get used to it very quickly.
The office in Negombo is just off a busy main road so you really do get thrown in the deep end immediately. We were headed to Sigaria first so once we were out of Negombo it was relatively quiet rural areas for the whole first day, which gave us time to get the hang of the tuk tuk without the chaotic traffic. A lot of other tuk tuk renters we spoke to though went immediately south which meant going through Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, about an hour into getting the tuk tuk, which I imagine would have been very full on.
On the road
Go with the flow. That’s all I can say. While the traffic may seem chaotic at first, it’s more like a river. You just have to go where the stream takes you. Trust that other drivers know what they’re doing and accept the madness of it all.
The roads in Sri Lanka also have a hierarchy, so buses and trucks get right of way, while scooters and tuk tuks are bottom of the pecking order. If a truck or bus is coming up behind you just slow down a bit and pull over on the road as much as you can.
You will get honked at. Don’t take it personally, most of the time they’re just letting you know they’re there. You should also use your horn when going around blind corners just to let any oncoming traffic know you’re there.
What if something goes wrong
Tuktukrentals.com has such a good support system setup if something goes wrong. They also prepare you for all the common things that could go wrong, like stalling in the middle of a busy road or breaking down. Luckily for us nothing did go wrong so we didn’t have to find out for ourselves but they have a 24 hour support line and Whatsapp chat. If you had any issues, queries or concerns you could call or send them a message anytime. The locals are also super helpful so if something did go wrong someone would definitely help you out.
What’s the traffic like?
Honestly, in the big cities (Negombo, Colombo and Kandy) the traffic can be a little hectic, but as long as you keep a calm head about you and go with the flow you should be ok. Everywhere else the traffic was totally fine, the only part that kinda scared me was driving in the hills when the buses would come flying around the corner at you, but you get used to it (really, you do!).
Other things to note
Rain
Driving a tuk tuk in the rain can be a little sketchy, especially if it’s coming down hard. If you’re not in a rush I would recommend pulling up and waiting for the worst of the rain to pass just to be safe. The tuk tuk does have rain covers you can put up over the doors/windows so if you do want to drive in the rain you won’t get wet.
Luggage
Obviously you’ll have some sort of luggage with you for your journey, but it’s good to be wary of the size of it to make sure it’ll fit in the tuk tuk. The luggage storage is located behind the backseats and it definitely was a squeeze for three of us to fit our luggage. We had one bigger backpack and two carry on sized backpacks, and we managed to just squeeze them all into the storage area. I would recommend not bringing a big suitcase, but rather a backpack or duffel that has more flexibility to be squeezed into the luggage space. There’s also a storage compartment under the drivers seat which you can lock your valuables in.
Parking
Parking in Sri Lanka is fairly casual. Obviously if you’re at a major tourist attraction they’ll have official parking (which you’ll sometimes have to pay for), but otherwise you really can just park anywhere on the side of the street as long as you’re not in the way of a driveway or anything. If you’re worried about your stuff in the tuk tuk, I would recommend locking all your valuables in the compartment under the seat and closing the rain covers. If you’re parked somewhere with shops around you can always just purchase a bottle of water from the closest vendor and ask them to watch your tuk tuk, and from our experience they were more than happy to.
Driving at night
The headlights on the tuk tuk aren’t super good so I would also recommend avoiding driving at night if possible. If you’re just going down the road to a restaurant or something it’s fine but I would avoid long stints in the dark.
Extending your trip
As I mentioned previously, we had only initially booked the tuk tuk for 6 days but after a couple of days we decided we wanted it for our whole two weeks in Sri Lanka. Extending the tuk tuk hire was super easy, all we had to do was send tuktukrentals.com a message on Whatsapp with our new dates and where we wanted to drop it off it off at the end, they sent through the invoice for the extra payment and it was all confirmed.
Insurance
The tuk tuk rental comes with all-inclusive insurance, that covers your rented tuk tuk, any other vehicles in case of an accident, and any personal injuries to anyone involved in the accident. We also got extra insurance on top of our regular travel insurance in case we had to be transported home as a result of an accident in the tuk tuk. Tuktukrentals.com recommend Safetywing insurance as they told us it covered tuk tuks. Insurance for tuk tuks seems to be a bit of a gray area because it’s not a car, a motorbike or quad (which is what is what you can normally get insurance for) so we just went with what tuktukrentals.com recommended, and it didn’t cost us much at all.
Music
If you want to play music in the tuk tuk you can rent a speaker from the company, but otherwise bring your own. It really adds to the vibes of the journey. Also bring a carabiner to hang the speaker up in the tuk tuk.
The backseats
This is just a warning that if you’re a passenger in the back seat the seats are not very comfortable. But once again you get used to it. It’s part of the adventure!
Overall I would HIGHLY recommend renting a tuk tuk and driving it around Sri Lanka. It was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure and I will remember it for the rest of my life. We had such a blast and I can’t believe I ever considered not doing it.
You can find out more and book your trip now on their website.
