However, booking accommodation as tourists or foreigners with travel agents, always lead to higher prices. But you can avail yourself of the cheap cost of living by eating out at the various restaurants, buying food, drink and liqour in the grocery chains such as Cargills and Keels. Do not buy anything from the hotels you are staying in as all the prices will be marked up specially for tourists.
Also if you wish to buy jewelery and clothing, it is better to travel to the capital Colombo, where there are plenty of Clothing shops such as Odel and jewelry shops such as Vogue, Alankara etc, any big shopping centers. These shops/chains usually have prices marked on the items and this prevents tourists being charged extravagant amounts.
Imported luxury items tend to be costiler than other countries as Sri Lanka has a very high duty or tax rate on these items.
For comparison here are the cost of some basic items in US$. 1 US$ is approximately 100Rs. These prices are current and based on grocery chains and shopping centres.
| Cost of 1 litre of fuel | 130Rs | 1.3 USD | |
| 1 kilo of rice | 70Rs | 0.70 USD | |
| Loaf of fresh bread | 30Rs | 0.30 USD | |
| Bottle of mineral water | 60Rs | 0.60 USD | |
| Rice packet with 2 curries and meat | 100 Rs | 1.00 USD | |
| 1 Kilo of fresh fish | 500Rs | 5.0 USD | |
| 1 Kilo of fresh prawns | 450Rs | 4.5 USD | |
| Average cost of dining out( per head) | 1000Rs | 10 USD | |
| Hilton seafood buffet | 4000Rs | 40 USD |
