Kandy eSIM
In Kandy you connect to Dialog or Mobitel, whichever is performing better where you are standing. The typical speed across the country is 27 Mbps. Your data starts working the moment you land, before you reach the immigration hall.
- Networks
- Dialog and Mobitel
- Typical speed in Sri Lanka
- 27 Mbps typical, 6 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- 4G only
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans that cover Kandy
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $6.89 | $6.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $4.30 | $12.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $3.38 | $16.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $2.49 | $24.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $2.14 | $42.89 |
How Sri Lanka compares across Asia
- Regional typical speed
- 42.95 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, Dialog, Mobitel
- 5G
- 4G only
- Next fastest nearby
- Bangladesh, 28 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Laos, 26 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 3: Colombo, Kandy, Galle
Getting into Kandy
- Sri Lanka Railways Main Line from Colombo. Runs through tunnels, where a signal drops
- A1 Kandy Road from Colombo
Worth knowing about Kandy
- Kandy has no operational airport of its own; the nearest major airport is Bandaranaike International at Katunayake, on the west coast near Colombo.
- The rail approach from Colombo climbs into the Central Highlands through a series of numbered tunnels, including the Meeyangalla tunnel, so signal drops in and out on the way up.
- Kandy is the gateway to the Central Highlands: the line continues past the city all the way to Badulla, and the Colombo-Kandy and Kandy-Nuwara Eliya roads are mountain routes.
- Sri Lanka's Subscriber SIM Cards Regulations No. 01 of 2019 let a signed photocopy of a valid passport stand in for a National Identity Card when registering a SIM, so a visitor's passport is explicitly accepted.
- The same regulations say that where a passport is accepted in place of a National Identity Card, the subscriber must also submit billing information proving their address.
- Sri Lankan operators must upload scanned registration documents within one month of activating a SIM and must disconnect the line if they do not, so an unregistered SIM stops working.
- Dialog says two Dialog Airport Stores sit right after the customs desk in the arrival lobby, and that you present your passport to a representative to activate a prepaid SIM.
- Kandy railway station is 120.737 km from Colombo Fort by rail, sits 512 m above sea level and has five platforms.
- Kandy station opened to passengers on 1 August 1867 and is served by both the Main Line and the Matale Line.
- Kandy lies about 500 m above sea level, hemmed in between the Knuckles Mountain Range and the Hanthana Mountain Range on the Kandy plateau.
- UNESCO declared Kandy a World Heritage Site in 1988, which is part of why the city is trying to move buses out of its centre.
- The Kandy Multimodal Transport Terminal is being built on the existing Good Shed Bus Station site to replace three scattered bus stands, Good Shed, Clock Tower and Torrington, plus a bus park at Bogambara.
- A World Bank study found nearly 389,000 commuters enter Kandy on a typical weekday, about half of them by public bus on roughly 5,000 bus trips, which is why the city centre jams at peak hours.
- The terminal project includes a 150 m skywalk from Old Peradeniya Road to William Gopallawa Road linking Kandy General Hospital, the railway station and the terminal.
- Sri Lanka's Department of Railways opened online seat reservation at seatreservation.railway.gov.lk in March 2022, taking Visa, Mastercard and Lanka QR, so Colombo to Kandy seats can be booked before arrival.