Hiring a driver in Sri Lanka
 

Hi - I've been advised by everyone on this forum and others that its a good idea to book a car and driver in advance of arriving in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Well, I have written to both Red Dot and to Boutique Sri Lanka regarding hiring a driver, but strangely both of them havent responded yet, and its been over 5 days. Considering that the person we will be interacting most with will, indeed, be the driver, it would be great if that person is reliable and not a cheat. I was wondering if anyone could make a specific recommendation (with name and contact details such as email ID or telephone number)? Many thanks!

Garima

It can take a little while for them to get back to you, depending on whether it's a holiday there. You could also try Quickshaws.

I booked my driver through Boutique Sri Lanka, but you can book him directly: J. R. A Ganiori (at (0)71 49 50 890). Click on my name for my Sri Lanka TR for more info on him.

We used Rammuni for our trip in February this year.
First class in every way.
Link to contact below.
http://www.leightravelclub.com/rammunitours.htm

Thank you, both, so much. I will reach out to them.

Thursdayd - you were right. I finally got a reply from both of them. They have quoted upwards of USD600 for 7 days of travel (thats Airport - Damulla - Kandy - Horton Plains - Colombo - Airport). Roughly 100Km/day. Is it just me, or is that too high? maybe the fact that my currency is INR is at problem here, ha!

Your lack of response is par for the course in Sri Lanka I am afraid. I emailed both Reddot and Boutique SL repeatedly and telephoned several times before eliciting a response. Boutique, clearly had not read my brief and relied quoting a standard tour. I responded, outlining exactly what i was looking for but never heard another word from them. Reddot responded well and I got several calls from them to discuss itinerary and all was eventually sorted out. As to the actual tour, click on my screenname and have a look at my trip report.

The first driver we had was nice enough but pretty hopeless really. When is car broke down we were sent a second driver, Namunu ( [email protected] )who was like a breath of fresh air, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and great company. He also works for Jetwing tours the upmarket operator in SL.

We met a number of other couples en route in SL who were travelling with Reddot and I guess that they were split 50/50 on their opinions of their drivers, some very happy, others not.
We met one couple who had researched their driver on the Reddot website (apparently there is a section with driver bios). IMHO the driver can make or break your trip so you are right to be choosing carefully.

As for the price quoted of $600 this seems reasonable but you could get it cheaper by dealing direct with a driver such as Thursdaysd and Leigh have suggested. As a comparison we paid approx £1200 ($1750 for 16 days inc. travel entrance fees and hotels for two people