Although the public transport is pretty good in Sri Lanka, with the rail network connecting the majority of tourist hot spots together with useful bus services and tuk tuks (or Bajaj’s as they are called in Sri Lanka) filling in the gaps, we would recommend a private driver, particularly if you are short on time, for the following reasons:

• Sri Lanka is a relatively small island, so each of the main places to visit are rarely more than a couple of hours’ drive from each other. Having a private driver allowed us to move around regularly without taking up large amounts of the day organising and sitting on public transport.
• Connecting noisy tuk tuk rides and crammed bus journeys to get from town to town can take it out of you if you’re moving around regularly. Reclining in the back of an air conditioned sedan offers some time to relax and replenish your appetite for the next part of the trip.
• Yes, public transport will be cheaper, but a private driver won’t bankrupt you either. We managed to hire a driver for a week of our trip for about £40 a day and it was definitely worth it.
• If you get a good driver like we did, he/she almost doubles up as a tour guide. Ours stopped off at many different sites & attractions en-route to our main destinations, which we would never have known to visit otherwise. He had an excellent knowledge of the sites, restaurants and hotels and we often just followed his lead, trying restaurants we wouldn’t normally have braved and staying in hotels we would never have found.