Colombo to Kandy Car Hire and the Hill Country Drive
Only 115 km, but plan on about three hours. The gap between distance and time is the whole story of this drive.
Same as pickup
While you plan the climb, here is what is on offer today
The three cheapest self drive cars for pickup in Colombo right now, priced in euros.
€/day
Suzuki Wagon R
5 doors · 5 seats · Automatic
€20/day
Suzuki Alto
5 doors · 4 seats · Automatic
€22/day
Toyota Vitz
5 doors · 5 seats · Automatic
€25/day
What actually decides how your Kandy drive goes
The distance from Colombo to Kandy is short on a map and slow on the ground. Five things decide which version of that drive you get.
Leave early
This is the single most useful sentence on this page. A six o'clock start clears the towns on the A1 before they wake up and puts you into the climb while the road is still quiet. A nine o'clock start meets the same towns at their busiest and turns three hours into something longer.
Whether it is raining
The southwest coast, including Colombo, is dry roughly December to April. Outside that window rain tends to arrive as a heavy but short burst rather than an all day drizzle, though it still slows the climb for an hour at a time.
How patient you are behind a bus
The A1 runs through town after town before it climbs, and buses and lorries set the pace on the narrower stretches. Overtaking sight lines are short, so a calm driver makes better time than an impatient one.
Whether you have booked an automatic
Ninety nine of the hundred cheapest cars in the live search are automatic. On a road that is mostly low speed gear work rather than open motoring, that is not a small thing.
Whether you stop on the way
Pinnawala and the spice gardens around Kegalle sit roughly on the route and turn a straight drive into a half day out. Build the stop into your timing rather than treating it as a quick diversion.
Kandy, depending on what you are actually doing
The right plan for Kandy changes depending on whether it is the whole trip, one stop on a longer loop, or the gateway to somewhere higher.
It can be done, but be honest with yourself first. Three hours each way plus any real time in Kandy makes for six or more hours of driving in a single day. It is a long day rather than a comfortable one, and most visitors get more out of an overnight, especially with Pinnawala or the spice gardens folded into the outward leg.
This is where Kandy earns its keep. Sitting roughly in the middle of the island, it works naturally as a stop between Colombo and the south, or as the hinge point of a longer loop through the cultural triangle. Break the climb up rather than trying to add it onto an already long day.
Kandy is also where the road keeps climbing if you let it. Continue past the town and the hill country opens up into tea estates and cooler air. The driving gets no faster, but an automatic and a patient pace that already got you here will carry you on just as well.
The Colombo to Kandy drive in four numbers
Distance rarely predicts time on this route, which is exactly why it is worth seeing the figures side by side before you plan around them.
115 km
Distance from Colombo to Kandy on the A1
About 3 h
Honest driving time outside the morning peak
0
Expressway kilometres on this particular route
64 cars
Listed for pickup in Kandy itself today
Car counts move day to day. Treat the 64 figure as roughly what to expect rather than a guarantee.
Self drive, a hired driver, or the train to Kandy
All three genuinely work. The honest question is not which is best but which suits what you are actually doing that day.
Self drive
- Schedule
- Whenever you like, with stops wherever you want
- Rough cost
- Roughly 20 to 44 EUR a day for the car itself
- Where it wins
- Best if you want to stop at Pinnawala, carry luggage for a family, or continue past Kandy into the hills
Hired with a driver
- Schedule
- Set with your driver, still flexible on stops
- Rough cost
- Often barely more than self drive once you add up a day rate
- Where it wins
- Best for long multi city touring, hill country roads, or simply not wanting to handle the climb yourself
The train
- Schedule
- Fixed to the timetable
- Rough cost
- Cheap, and famously scenic once past Kadugannawa
- Where it wins
- Best if the journey itself is the point and you do not need a car once you arrive
Hiring with a driver is genuinely common in Sri Lanka and often barely dearer than self drive, particularly for hill country tours. See hiring with a driver if that fits your trip better.
What the hill country actually asks of a driver
Once the A1 leaves the last town behind, the road narrows and starts to wind properly. Bends are frequent and overtaking sight lines are short, so passing a slow lorry often means waiting rather than forcing it. None of this is dangerous if you drive to what you can actually see rather than to what the map promises. Treat a bus ahead of you as the pace of the road, not an obstacle to beat.
Mist is the other thing worth knowing about. It tends to build on the higher stretches in the afternoon and can cut visibility quickly for stretches of the climb. Slowing down and using headlights is the whole response. It usually clears within an hour and it is a normal feature of hill country driving here, not a sign anything has gone wrong.
An automatic earns its keep on this particular road more than almost anywhere else on the island, since the climb is constant low speed gear work rather than open cruising. If you have not already, book one from the results below or read more on the automatic cars page.
Two reminders carry over from Colombo and matter just as much on this road. Sri Lanka drives on the left, so the car is right hand drive and the gear selector sits on your left, which is one more reason a gentle pace suits the climb. And your home driving licence alone is not enough here: bring the temporary local driving permit that suppliers usually arrange, and confirm it at booking rather than assuming it. Read the full detail on the driving permit page.
The Kandy road in three moments
Before you leave, on the road itself, and once you arrive. Get these three right and the rest of the drive looks after itself.
Before you set off
- Leave by six if you can. A six o'clock start is a genuinely different road from a nine o'clock one.
- Fuel up in or near Colombo. Choice thins out once the road starts climbing.
- Check you actually booked an automatic if the gearbox matters to you.
On the A1 itself
- Expect towns, not open road, for most of the distance before the climb begins.
- Give buses and lorries room rather than forcing a pass on a blind bend.
- Afternoon mist is common on the higher stretches. Slow down rather than push through it.
Once you are in Kandy
- Streets around the lake and the temple are narrow and busy. Park once and walk rather than moving the car repeatedly.
- Around 64 cars are listed for pickup in Kandy itself if you want to start or end your hire there instead.
- Confirm your temporary Sri Lankan driving permit is in hand before you tackle the climb, not after.
Rental desk
Colombo live inventory
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- €
- €
Book the car for the climb
Live self drive prices from Colombo suppliers, quoted in euros, almost all automatic.
Check availabilityQuestions about driving from Colombo to Kandy
About three hours outside the Colombo morning peak. That figure holds up reasonably well through the day, but leaving early still buys you a calmer run through the towns before the climb.
Because there is no expressway for most of it. The A1 runs through town after town at a walking city pace before it climbs, winding, into the hills. Distance and time simply do not track each other on this route the way they do on the coast.
No. Unlike the airport run or the southern coast, the road to Kandy stays on the A1 the whole way, which is why the three hour figure is the honest one rather than the optimistic one.
It is a genuinely lovely and popular way to make the trip, scenic and cheap, and worth doing at least once. A car wins once you want to stop where you like, carry luggage for a family, or continue past Kandy into the tea country, since the train is fixed to its timetable and its stations.
You can, but be honest with yourself about it first. Six hours of driving plus whatever time you spend in Kandy makes for a long day. Most visitors find an overnight more comfortable, especially if Pinnawala or the spice gardens are on the way.
No. The climb is about patience and gear changes at low speed, not ground clearance, and the roads themselves are sealed. An automatic hatchback or compact hybrid handles it fine. If you would still rather have the extra size, see the SUV rental page.