Travelling soon - any advice if hostels accept cards in Sri Lanka or I have to give them cash
Travelling soon - any advice if hostels accept cards in Sri Lanka or I have to give them cash
I stayed in Negombo, Arugam Bay, and Haputale. At hostels near the beach they took cards via Tab Travel link or QR code while in Haputale I had to pay in cash. It seems Central Bank requires hotels and licensed guesthouses to accept foreign payment cards but many places still choose cash to avoid fees. So have both options ready just to be safe.
Just came back from a month in Sri Lanka. In cities like Colombo, Mirissa, and Bentota hostels were fine taking my Wise Mastercard or HDFC Visa even showed a small 2 percent surcharge. Outside main towns I needed cash. A friend paid with Amex at Hilton Colombo but that’s a special case. For hostels stick with Visa or Mastercard and back it up with local cash.
Booked a place in Kandy through Booking.com and they showed card accepted. When I reached they did swap my card terminal manually connected my HNB debit card via a machine, but warned it might take time if signal is weak. In a smaller town like Dambulla they only took cash. So definitely call ahead or bring cash if you’re staying off-grid.
Travelling soon - any advice if hostels accept cards in Sri Lanka or I have to give them cash
I stayed at a few hostels in Colombo and Negombo earlier this month. Big chains and guesthouses definitely accepted my Visa and Mastercard at check-in. But at smaller homestays in Galle and Ella they said credit card machines aren’t reliable and asked for cash. I always carried around 5000 to 8000 LKR just in case writes “cash preferred” in the listing.