My first time in Sri Lanka. Bits from our journey so far !!!

In this video I will share with you what we had to deal with in order to come to Sri Lanka during the pandemy. These rules may change in time, so will be better to inform yourself, from government sites, which are daily updated and more acurate.

We planed to come to Sri Lanka a long time ago, but because of the COVID-19 situation, tourists weren't allowed to travel to Sri Lanka. Only on 21st of January 2021 they open their borders for tourists to come. Since knowing this... we did everything to take advantage of it, until its not to late.

In the following order, we organised our journey :

1. We book our staying in one of the SAFE & SECURE CERTIFIED LEVEL 1 HOTELS. Will be mandatory for any tourist, who comes to Sri Lanka, to stay in one or more hotels, from the following list - https://sltda.gov.lk/storage/common_media/Level%201%20Hotel%20List%20as%20at%2012th%20Feb%2020211794712054.pdf . They will provide you transport from airport to their hotel (we paid 70$ for a small car), 1 month medical insurance ( 12 $/per person) and 3 PCR tests (40 $/1 test), and there will be 3 tests/per person.
After making the payment to the hotel, they will forward your details and booking confirmation to SLTDA (Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority). Later on, SLTDA will help with getting your visa aproved. So bare in mind to ask the hotel to provide you a payment link for : 3pcr test/ per person, medical insurance/per person (valid 1month), and taxi transportation from airport to hotel.

Once you arrived at the hotel, you must to do your first PCR test, which if will be negative, you'll be able to use all the facilities. The hotel premises are secured by security.

We recommend Heritance Ahungalla Hotel. Everything went so smoothly, we always recieved quick replies from them. Ther staff are so polite, mannered. With them, we got our visa approved very quick, they know how to deal with it.
Also, there are facebook groups, where people who just traveled to Sri Lanka, are very happy to share precious information about the process.

2. We bought our flight tickets. I had to come to Frankfurt/ Germany from Romania, and together with my lady, we had straight flight to Colombo/ SRI LANKA. Coming from Romania to Germany, I thought I had to provide another PCR/antigen test, but being in transit, for no longer than 24 hours, I didn't had to. All I had to do, was not to leave the aiport.

In order to get on board , you must present a negative PCR-type molecular test with a negative result for SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, performed a maximum of 96 hours before departure.

3. We applied for our visa on https://eta.gov.lk/slvisa/ . If the hotel arrange the payment link, for you to pay the staying (if its they require advance payment), PCR tests, medical insurance and transport from airport to hotel, and forward the payment confirmation and booking to SLTDA, your visa should be processed within aproximately 1-2 working days.

If there are some things that I forgot to mention, don't hesitate to let me know by leaving a comment.


The information I provided, might be out of date by the time you watch this video, I would recommend to check for newly updated information from government institution websites.

Thank you for watching. If you are new to this channel, don't forget to like and subscribe it, so you can be updated whenever I will release a new video. Also, it will help me to keep it runing.

Music

intro
00:00 - 00:07 - OurMusicBox - Easy Stroll

07:00 - 05:04 - Outside the Box - Patrick Patrikios
05:54 - 08:09 - Outside the Box - Patrick Patrikios