Is it safe to travel through Sri Lanka alone as a woman?

"Traveling alone as a girl? Are you sure about that." It’s one thing many people asked me before I went traveling through Sri Lanka for one month on my own. I heard and read some pretty negative stories online but luckily also heard a lot of good and positive stories of women and girls traveling alone. Because a (female) friend of mine had also traveled alone in Sri Lanka for quite some time I already knew it was a special country and decided to go for it!

Is Sri Lanka safe?

Yes. In the 4 weeks i was there i haven't felt unsafe very often. Nothing really bad happened in the time I spent in Sri Lanka. There were a few times during my trip I did feel unsafe tho. I"ll tell you about it, but first, I want to tell you how I tried to stay as safe as possible during my trip. Sri Lankan people are really nice, so if you ever need help with something they are very willing to help you. But they also want to help you, even when they don't know the answer to your question. For example, I asked for the way and 4 people got around to help me out. In the end, nobody knew the place I was trying to get to and I spent 15 minutes talking and walking with these people to a place that was further off the place where I needed to be. Luckily I wasn't in a hurry at all, but it's something to keep in mind ;-).

To stay safe I tried to avoid going out alone when it was dark outside. Because in Sri Lanka it’s starting to get dark every day around the same time it was sometimes quite hard to follow my own rule. Sometimes I met people and had dinner with them, but then after dinner, I still had to get back to my hostel or guesthouse alone. Because there are a lot of tuk-tuks in Sri Lanka I always took a tuk-tuk back home because this felt safer. It’s definitely a way to feel safer most of the time.

Unfortunately, I had one bad experience. I stayed in a hostel that was pretty remote and took a tuk-tuk back there while it was already pretty dark. My tuk-tuk driver seemed like a nice old man at first, but after we got off the main road he started to ask me all kinds of personal sexual questions. I didn't really feel comfortable and also didn't want to answer his questions. When we where almost at the hostel he put his hand in the back and try to touch me. I already had my money in my hand, so I dropped the money and jumped out of the tuk-tuk. Unfortunately, this made me feel unsafe and made me not get in a tuk-tuk for a few days.

But, truth be told, this is not something that only happens in Sri Lanka, but could also be possible in my own country. Besides this situation, I actually felt pretty safe most of the time.

Be aware off:

I think you have a lot of influence on your own safety traveling as a girl on your own. A few tips:

• There are quite some ATM's around Sri Lanka, so having a lot of cash with you isn't necessary
• Sri Lankan guys show a lot of interests, having a talk with them is no problem but make your boundaries clear. before you know it you are meeting some guys' parents and you are approved as their new daughter-in-law.
  *Take good care of your health. It's easy to get sick in a strange country with maybe different food than you're used too. If something doesn't look quite fresh then go for some other meal.
  *Listen to your feelings. If your gut feeling is telling you that you are walking around in a neighborhood where you should not, trust it and make sure you get away.
• A tuk-tuk or taxi doesn't cost much and is a safer way to travel than going by foot. Especially at night. If you feel unsafe anyway, try to find a few people from the hostel/hotel that are going in the same direction.

Take these things into account, and you will feel safe as a woman alone on the road! And by the way, when are you really alone? Read these 5 things I learned by traveling alone. :-)