What to Wear
Light cotton dresses and light weight suits. A wide-brimmed beach hat and sunglasses, comfortable shoes/sandals. In the hill country pullovers will be necessary. Visitors should be decently clad when visiting any place of worship. Beach wear is not suitable for temples and shrines. All visitors to Buddhist and Hindu temples are expected to be unshod and have their heads uncovered.
Currency
One Sri Lankan rupee is made up of 100 cents. Currency notes are in the denominations of Rs10, Rs20, Rs50, Rs100, Rs200, Rs500 and Rs1000. Coins are in the following denominations: 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, one rupee, two rupees, five rupees and ten rupees.
Banks
National banking hours are from 0900 hrs to 1500 hrs. On weekdays, banking hours may be different at private banks. Teller machines (ATM) are operated throughout the day. Credit cards and charge cards are widely accepted in Sri Lanka. In some cases the shops may try to add a surcharge to the price of the merchandise purchased. This is not an acceptable practice and in such cases the card company should be contacted so that corrective action can be taken.
These services are available at the Departure lounge and in Kandy and Colombo. Bank of Ceylon Bureau de Change York street, Colombo 1 Tel 422370 Hours of Business: Weekdays — 0900 hours to 1800 hours. Holidays — 0900 hours to 1600 hours.
International Airport, Katunayake, Tel : 452424 Encashment of travelers checks, foreign currencies, re-exchange of unused Sri Lanka Rupees. All days 24 hours services. Sri Lankan Airlines Office Level 19-22, East Tower, World Trade Center, Echelon Square, Colombo 1 Hours of Business: 0900 hours to 1500 hours. http://www.srilankan.lk/ Cey Bank — Travel Center, Kollupitiya Hours of Business: Weekdays — 0830 hours to 1730 hours.
Sri Lanka standard time is 6 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Post offices, agency post offices and payphone booths provide local as well as I.D.D. facilities. Phone cards in denominations up to Rs500 are available at Post Offices and Shops. Foreign cables are accepted at the G.P.O. Janadhipathi Mawatha, Colombo 1.
Newspapers
National daily newspapers are published in English, Sinhala and Tamil and in magazine type editions on weekends. A comprehensive selection of international publications, newspapers, journals and magazines are available at newsagents, bookstalls and in hotel foyers.
The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation operates radio transmissions in 9 Languages — Sinhala, Tamil, English, Hindi, Nepali, Kannada, Telungu, Malayalam and Japanese to listeners between 0530 hours and 2300 hours. TNL and other FM Service Transmissions are also available to listeners islandwide. Please check daily newspapers for programs.
There are 8 channels in operation — Rupavahini, ITN, MTV, TNL, Dynavision and ETV. A wide variety of programs covering various subjects are telecast on these channels which include news from BBC, Sky News & CNN. Please refer to daily press for programs.
In addition to Saturday and Sunday, the full moon day (Poya Day) of each month is a holiday in Sri Lanka.