Best time to visit Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka can be roughly broken into 4 regions with different weather patterns, confusing for such a small country. The great thing about this is it means that its a great time to visit somewhere in Sri Lanka year round.

Southwest, Tea Country, and the South Coast

Most of the beaches you'll see on IG are located along the south coast to the west of Yala National Park. The best time to visit this area is from December to April in the dry season with gorgeous blue skies.

The coastline all the way up to Negombo north of Colombo shares this weather pattern so you can pick any of the myriad of small beach towns that sound like your idea of paradise to visit.

Tea country of Ella and Nuwara Eliya also have their driest period from December to April, though it is much much cooler in Nuwara Eliya and tends to rain a little year round.

East and North Coast

The east side of Yala National Park, all the way up the east coast to Jaffna in the north has its dry season from April to September. This includes the surfing paradises of Arugam Bay and Trincomalee and a host of other beautiful beach areas.

Cultural Triangle

Anuradhapura, Polonnawura, and Kandy form the cultural triangle that includes Dambulla and Sigiriya. This area is much drier than much of the rest of the country and is pretty good year round. Though it get most of its rain in November and December.

Northwest Coast

Kalpitiya and Mannar have their own climate as strong winds protect them from the worst of the monsoon rains. This makes them year round great destinations to visit, but it does depend on what you want to do.

The best wildlife viewing, birds, whales, and safaris, is from October to March.

The best winds for kitesurfing, what Kalpitiya is most famous for, is from April to September.