Sri Lanka Personal Tour Driver in private vehicle

Recommended by 99% of travelers

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Great choice

5+ bookings last month.

3 to 14 days (approx.)
Pickup offered
Mobile ticket

Overview

What's Included

Air-conditioned vehicle
Bottled water
WiFi on board
Private transportation
Fuel surcharge
Parking Fees
Baby or child car seat
Child stroller

Entry tickets to national parks or other sightseeing activities
Hotel or accomodation charges
Additional fees if distance per day exceeds 100km

Meeting and Pickup

Pickup points

Select a pickup point

Pickup details

We are happy to pick you up upon your arrival at the airport or at any location of your choice

Drop-off point

Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport
Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited, Canada Friendship Rd, Katunayake 11450, Sri Lanka
We can drop you at Colombo airport at the end of the tour , or at any location if your choice

Arranged start time

Confirm time with the local provider in advance of your experience.

Select your preferred transportation option to see hours.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Infant seats available
Most travelers can participate
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

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Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

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Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Asad_J

Amazing service, care and professionalism with remarkable attention to detail! Communication was excellent and started weeks before we landed to ensure our time and itinerary was taken care of and all questions and concerns were addressed and answered. Our driver Anurudda (Anu) was exemplary and simply the best! I highly recommend him and you should specifically request him. He is punctual, kind, caring and professional. He was more than a driver to us. He was our tour guide, itinerary planner, local translator, trip coordinator and became our friend. He took care of us in every way possible. He welcomed us like his family and friends and treated us this way. From the moment we met him at the airport, he took us immediately to get our included esim cards from the best cell company in Sri Lanka, which ensured that we had the best cell service and ability to communicate with him and each other at all times. The vehicle was spotless and extremely comfortable with plenty of space for us and our luggage. Driving in Sri Lanka is very challenging with tuk tuks, motor bikes, traffic, small roads and mountains. Anu ensured our safety was priority every time and is an excellent driver with spotless safety record. He navigated the most difficult roads, cities and mountains with ease, delivering us to our remote hotels on top of a mountain in Kandy and Ella in pitch darkness without hesitation and with the utmost safety and care. Anu helped us plan the most perfect itinerary and recommended the best sites to see and planned the timing perfectly as we moved from city to city. He made sure we had all admittance fees for parks and temples on us and planned everything ahead of time with care and purpose. He gave us the best local recommendations for restaurants and always called ahead to our accomodations to make sure they knew our exact arrival and had everything ready for us. Our comfort, happiness and care was his top priority at all times. Because of him this was one of the most stress free trips we've ever taken. Anu always had a clean car, cold water and cold AC waiting for us. Anu made our trip truly special and memorable and I highly recommend him and the company to everyone visiting Sri Lanka.

Reviews

5.0

based on 898 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

DREADFUL and TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL. No Seat Belts, Sick, Reckless and Incompetent Driver, did not speak English

Rajen_S, Mar 2026

We engaged Sri Lanka Personal Tour Drivers (SLPTD) after reading the many positive reviews about the company on both google and TripAdvisor. Unfortunately our experience with SLPTD ended up being DREADFUL, and I would not recommend this company. Ultimately the experience you have with SLPTD depends on the driver, and we got given a terrible driver called Farnas. // I will provide a detailed review below, but the summary is: 1. Driver spoke very little English. 2. Driver was sick, constantly coughing and spluttering in the car. 3. Passenger seatbelts did not work (which is illegal in Sri Lanka). 4. Driver was very reckless and very unsafe, usually with only one hand on the steering wheel and his head buried in his phone (not watching the road). 5. Driver was involved in a collision with another vehicle. 6. Driver was late, when we wanted an early start to get to Sigiriya. 7. Driver was totally clueless about the sites and took us to the wrong place. 8. After putting up with a sick, reckless and incompetent driver for 3 days, we had to ask for a new driver. // Detailed review: Initial contact with SLPTD was good, with prompt WhatsApp communications to organise the tour itinerary. This included telling us that our allocated driver was Shazeen, a couple of days before pick up in Colombo. // However, it all went wrong from the start of the trip on day 1, when we went to meet Shazeen in the hotel lobby. He was not there, and instead someone called Farnas said he was our driver for the trip. As we had not had any communication about the change of driver, we were immediately suspicious that this was a SCAM, and we spent half an hour confirming with SLPTD that Farnas was our driver for the trip. // I never got a straight answer from SLPTD about why there was such a last minute change of driver, without any notification to the client. After we saw Farnas in action, we figured there was no way he could have been a regular driver for SLPTD. I would draw readers’ attention to the 3* google review posted by SN Edwards in March 2025, where similar issues emerged. I believe what happened with us is that Shazeen, for whatever reason, had to pull out of the trip at short notice. Shazeen then asked one of his mates, Farnas, to cover for him, and SLPTD knew nothing about this change (and that is why they made no contact with me to alert me to the change). Totally UNPROFESSIONAL. // It was clear that Farnas grasp of English was poor. This is contrary to the statement on SLPTD website, which says “English speaking driver”. Probably because of his poor English, we got very little commentary out of him and he only functioned as a driver and not as any sort of guide (again contrary to the SLPTD website description “your driver will also support you as a guide”. FALSE STATEMENTS. // Unfortunately, Farnas was sick and constantly coughing and spluttering. Which made us very nervous and uncomfortable when having to spend several hours in the car with him. I ended up getting a cold. He should never have been allocated to a ten day road trip. // The passenger seat belts in the car did not work. We pointed this out to Farnas, but he just shrugged it off and said he could not fix them. I later learned that passenger seat belts are compulsory in Sri Lanka, so not only had we been given an unfit driver, but we also had an unfit car. // To make us feel even more nervous, Farnas was a very reckless driver. He usually drove with only one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand would be holding his phone. I am not sure if he was trying to follow google maps, but his head was often buried in his phone and not watching the road. He was also in a hurry, and constantly trying to overtake other vehicles. We feared that he was an accident waiting to happen. It was no surprise when he was involved in a collsion with another car, resulting in minor damage to the car. // On Day 2, we were in Habarana, and wanted to see the ancient ruins at Polonnaruwa. Farnas followed google maps and took us to the ancient technology museum in Polonnaruwa. Which was closed, so he then suggested taking us somewhere else. I pointed out that this was not where we wanted to go, and there was only one place in Polonnaruwa that everyone wanted to see - the ancient ruins. Farnas seemed unfamiliar with the ruins, it was as if he had never been there before. Which reinforced our growing belief that he was a totally inexperienced driver who had never done the job before. I had to guide him to the site of the ruins myself. // Once we finally got to the Polonnaruwa ruins, we learned that there were a number of sites there and it was possible to be driven between the different sites by our driver. But when we asked Farnas to drive us between the sites, he said he could not do it and instead directed us to a tuk tuk driver: who we had to pay an inflated amount to. More evidence that Farnas had just been drafted into this role (to cover for his mate Shazeen) even though he had no previous experience and was totally unqualified to do the job. // On Day 3, we wanted to make a start at 630am so that we could get to Sigirya early. We were ready and waiting in the hotel reception, but no sign of Farnas. I had to call him to find out where he was - he advised that he had managed to get his car blocked in by lots of other cars, and it was going to take a while to get to us. He did not think to message me himself about the delay. And clearly it was a foolish decision to leave his car wherever he did, knowing that we had an early start. Yet more evidence of an untrained, inexperienced and clueless driver. He eventually turned up at 700am, and we decided that the delay meant Sigirya was not going to be possible for us and we did the Dambulla Caves instead. // Just to add to the long list of faults with Farnas: He never offered us any water bottles, and he did not have an umbrella in the car. We had to buy our own. // Having had enough of Farnas at the end of Day 3, we told SLPTD that we were not happy and did not feel safe with someone who was a walking disaster. They said no problem and that they would organise a new driver/car, once we got to Kandy. We were in Kandy for a couple of days and toured independently (using tuk tuks), so there seemed to be plenty of time for a new driver to be sorted. Unfortunately it ended up being a last minute scramble by SLPTD to find someone, with little communication with us. We went to bed, the day before we were supposed to be picked up from Kandy for our onward journey to Nuwara Eliya, still not knowing the new driver details. We had a real concern that we were being scammed by SLPTD, and that they were going to abandon us in Kandy. // Fortunately, after midnight, we finally got a message telling us who our new driver was going to be. Dilhan. He was much much better than Farnas (I don’t think anyone could be as bad as Farnas). Although language was still an issue, Dilhan did try to use technology (in the form of google translate) to communicate with us. Interestingly, Dilhan told us that we were his first ever tour, and it seems SLPTD had to outsource our trip to another company because they were unable to cover it themselves. // This review is already lengthy, so I will bring it to an end here. After the change to Dilhan, SLPTD did not check in with us to see how things were going, until we were at the airport waiting to go home. So there has been no client care, and no apology, and no offer of any refund or compensation despite knowing that things went badly wrong on this trip. They call themselves “Sri Lanka PERSONAL Tour Drivers”, but we got a very IMPERSONAL and totally unprofessional service. // There are many companies in Sri Lanka offering the same service as SLPTD. Just because SLPTD have mainly good reviews, doesn’t mean you should use them. I would definitely come back to Sri Lanka. BUT I WOULD NOT TOUCH SLPTD WITH A BARGE POLE.

Good experience

Julie_B, Feb 2026

Driver was very safe and careful, however seat belts didn’t work and van was older than we expected. No water etc supplied but he took us wherever we wanted to go.

So convenient when...

Lindsay_F, Jan 2026

So convenient when travelling around the country and the driver was great and flexible with our plans!

Professional driver with great local insight and excellent service

Shay_G, Jan 2026

Very good service from start to finish. The private vehicle was comfortable and well maintained, and the experience felt smooth and well organized throughout the trip. Dilantha was a very professional driver and easy to communicate with. He gave excellent ideas for activities, scenic stops, and local places to visit. His recommendations for where to eat were especially good. Highly recommended if you want a reliable personal driver in Sri Lanka who also adds real local insight.

Reliable, Honest Driver & Business

Shanez_S, Aug 2025

We are so grateful we found this company for our 8 day trip around Sri Lanka. We traveled from Colombo to Kandy to Dambulla, and all the way back to Colombo with 3 guests in an incredibly spacious van for a reasonable cost. Our driver, Ishara, was wonderful. He took us whenever we needed to go and waited for us during dinners, shopping, spa trips, etc. he was always happy to make pit stops along our route whenever we asked. We highly recommend this company and Ishara!

Amazing service, care and professionalism! Best transportation/tour company in Sri Lanka! 100% recommended!

Asad_J, Jun 2025

Fantastic 5 day road trip through Sri Lanka

Marijke_N, Aug 2024

We only had 5 days to discover this beautiful island, which is far too short. However, thanks to our driver Janaa we managed to get the maximum out of these days. He made us discover so many beautiful spots, local people, food and was always available for any request. We can honestly say that he added huge value to our trip!