Tour prices 2026
Nilaveli & Trincomalee

On the 8:30 AM shared boat it is €48 per adult, €28 per child aged 6–11 and €5 per infant under 5. The 1:00 PM afternoon boat is €50 per adult with the same child and infant rates. A private boat costs €85 to €340 depending on group size. Every price already includes the national park entrance ticket, boat transfer, snorkeling equipment, life jacket, bottled water and all park fees and taxes.

The afternoon departure carries fewer guests and reaches a quieter reef, so it runs at €50 per adult instead of €48. Children aged 6–11 pay €28 and infants under 5 pay €5, exactly as on the morning boat, and everything included is identical.

Yes. Unlike many operators who quote the boat only and collect the park ticket separately at the jetty, our prices include the national park entrance ticket, all park permits and taxes. The price you see is the price you pay.

Angel Rock snorkeling at €15 per adult, or whale and dolphin watching at €20 per adult on a shared boat. The Angel Rock trip lasts 1.5 hours; the whale trip lasts 2 hours.

Angel Rock 1.5 hours, whale and dolphin watching 2 hours, Pigeon Island shared 3 hours, private whale watching 4 hours, the whale plus Pigeon Island combo 6 hours, and the full-day whale safari 8 hours. A private Pigeon Island boat runs 3 to 6 hours because you decide when to come back.

No. Reserve with a message and pay cash on the day in EUR, USD or LKR, or by bank transfer beforehand. Paying online by card adds a 3.5% convenience fee. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before departure.

Our team answers in English, Sinhala and Tamil, and this website translates itself into your device language automatically. Write to us on WhatsApp in your own language — we translate every message, so German, French, Russian, Dutch, Polish, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and anything else is fine.

The east coast season runs March to October, with May to September the most reliable for calm seas and clear water. The national park closes from November to February for the northeast monsoon. Blue and sperm whales pass Trincomalee roughly May to October.

Yes. Life jackets are free, mandatory and available in every size, and the reef at Pigeon Island is shallow and calm. For anyone who cannot swim we require a snorkeling guide at LKR 1,000 per person, who stays in the water beside you for the whole snorkel and holds the float ring.

Yes. Children snorkel at Pigeon Island every day, wear life jackets at all times on the boat and in the water, and are watched by the crew. Angel Rock is the one exception — we do not recommend it for children under 5 because of open-water conditions.

No. Swimming, diving or entering the water with whales and dolphins is prohibited on our tours and regulated by Sri Lanka's Department of Wildlife Conservation. You watch from the boat with engines idled, then swim safely at the reef.

Seven is the maximum on Pigeon Island, Angel Rock and combo boats, and that seven counts everybody on board — adults, children and infants alike. Private whale watching takes up to six and the full-day safari up to four. Larger groups are split across two boats at the same rates, departing together.

The prices on this page are foreign visitor rates, so they do not apply to Sri Lankan citizens and residents or to SAARC passport holders from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives and Afghanistan. We price those bookings by hand. Select Sri Lankan or SAARC in the booking form, fill in your dates, group and contact details, and we reply with your price on WhatsApp, WeChat or email. The one exception is the shared Pigeon Island boat: it is sold with the foreign visitor park ticket and we cannot put you on it, so book the private Pigeon Island boat instead.

For the SAARC rate, every guest must bring a valid SAARC passport from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives or Afghanistan. That takes USD 5 per person off the national park entrance ticket. For the Sri Lankan rate, every guest aged 16 and over must bring a National Identity Card, Sri Lankan passport, SL driving licence, student ID card, dual citizenship certificate or resident visa. Bring the original document, because the park checks it at the gate and charges the full foreign ticket to anyone who cannot show one.

You pay for it. Mask, snorkel, fins and life jacket are lent to you at no charge with every snorkeling tour, and while they are in your care you are responsible for them. Anything lost or broken is charged at replacement cost, settled in cash on the day. Hand the full set back to the crew when you finish and there is nothing to pay.

We are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round. Messages sent overnight or from another time zone are answered the same way as any other — on WhatsApp, WeChat or by email. Our office is at 42/1B, 4th Cross Lane, Kannaki Amman Kovil Road, Gopalapuram, Nilaveli, and it is also where every tour starts.

Email info@pigeonislandtours.com, or add us on WeChat at pigeonislandtours — useful for guests travelling from China. The booking form has a button that sends the same request by email, and a copy button if you prefer to paste it somewhere else. We answer all three the same day.

LKR 1,000 per person, paid in cash on the day. One guide looks after one non-swimmer, stays in the water beside them for the whole snorkel and holds the float ring. Add the number of guides you need in the booking form and we bring them to the boat.

Yes, but it is never included in the listed price. The charge depends on how far your hotel is from the jetty, so tell us your hotel name and area in the booking form and we will confirm the exact amount before you travel. Pickup is available from Nilaveli, Uppuveli, Trincomalee town and Kuchchaveli.

Safety decides. If the harbour master or our captains judge conditions unsafe, you choose between a free reschedule to the next available slot or a 100% refund. We check conditions daily and message you the evening before.

Yes. We run jeep safaris in Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks from our Habarana base, alongside the boat tours from Nilaveli. A seat in a sharing jeep is €25 per person for a 3-hour morning or evening drive, €55 for a full day with two game drives, and €48 for the two-park combo. A private jeep for up to six guests starts at €60. Safaris are booked and paid on their own pages, with the permit issued on the spot.

No, and this is the one place where our pricing works differently from the boat tours. Minneriya and Kaudulla entrance tickets are set by the Department of Wildlife Conservation at roughly €30 per adult and €15 per child aged 6 to 12, including service charge and VAT. You can add them when you book online so there is nothing to pay at the gate, or buy them yourself at the entrance. Food and drinks are not included on any safari either.

It depends on the month. Minneriya holds the bigger numbers from June to September during The Gathering, when hundreds of elephants come onto the drying tank bed. Kaudulla takes over from about October to January, as the Minneriya tank refills and the herds walk north. Kaudulla is the quieter park all year, with fewer jeeps and more forest track. If you cannot decide, take the two-park combo and do both in one day. Either way we track the herd daily and take you to whichever park the elephants are actually in, at no extra cost.

Yes, and most guests do it over two days: Pigeon Island or whale watching from Nilaveli, then the drive inland to Habarana for a safari. Habarana is about 4 to 5 hours from Nilaveli by road, so a safari cannot be squeezed into the same day as a boat trip. Send us your dates on WhatsApp and we will lay the two out in an order that works.