Sigiriya Ticket Price for Locals and Free Entry Checker

The Central Cultural Fund revised its policy on complimentary and concessionary entry tickets with effect from 2026-07-01, and published the circular on 2026-10-06. It is a single signed instrument with four parts: section A lists the categories that enter free, section B the categories that get a half rated concessionary ticket, section C who may buy the local ticket, and section D who is excluded from all three. This page applies those four sections in order, then prices the result from the gazetted per-site fee table.

Order matters more than anything else here, because the circular is written to be read in order and the gate reads it that way. The checker resolves a traveller like this:

1. Section D first. A foreign national working in Sri Lanka is excluded from every concession, even on a valid resident visa, so the full foreign adult rate applies. Selecting clergy or an academic visit does not survive section D. The same exclusion covers anyone who claims to be Sri Lankan but cannot produce a valid NIC or passport, and a non-citizen spouse or child of a Sri Lankan citizen.
2. Section A, complimentary entry.Clergy on a religious identity card, ICOMOS, ICOM and ICCROM members on a card active for the current year, university students and academic staff on the Dean's written request, diplomatic and UN staff on the mission's request, professionals invited by the line ministry, tour operator promotional visitors inside the 5-at-a-time and 500-a-year caps, every local visitor under 18, and every international visitor under 6.
3. Section B, the half rated ticket. SAARC passport holders pay the gazetted SAARC column. International visitors aged 6 to 12 pay the gazetted child column. ISIC holders and foreign students under 18 at local international schools have no column of their own, so they pay 50 percent of the gazetted foreign adult rate.
4. Section C, the local ticket. A Sri Lankan citizen or dual citizen aged 18 and over pays the rupee-denominated local adult rate.
5. Otherwise the gazetted foreign adult rate.

The half rate is not always half. Section B calls the concession a half rated ticket, but the gazetted SAARC column is USD 15 against a USD 30 foreign adult rate at Sigiriya, which is half, and USD 10 against USD 15 at Dambulla, which is not. A gazetted column always wins, and the flat 50 percent is used only for the two categories the fee table has no column for. Those results are tagged as a derived half rate rather than presented as gazetted. One consequence worth knowing: at Dambulla an ISIC holder pays USD 7.50 while a SAARC national pays USD 10.

Currency and VAT.Foreign and SAARC tickets are gazetted in US dollars and collected in rupees at the day's rate, so the rupee figure moves with the rate you enter. The default is a snapshot of Rs 305 to the dollar and is editable, with no live API call behind it. Local tickets are gazetted in rupees and never converted. The CCF states that posted prices already include VAT at 18 percent, so this page never adds VAT on top of a gazetted figure. All US dollar amounts are held in integer cents internally and the party total is rounded once, at the end.

Where the numbers come from. The per-site fee table is the same module that powers the Cultural Triangle entry fee calculator, so there is one copy of the prices rather than two that drift apart. That page answers a different question: whether the five-site Round Ticket beats paying per site for your itinerary. For wildlife parks, which sit with the Department of Wildlife Conservation and a separate fee regime, use the national park entry fee calculator.

Two checks on the arithmetic. The ticket class is resolved twice by independent code: once by explicit branching and once by walking an ordered rule table, and the party total is aggregated in a different order on each path. The verified badge on the calculator appears only while both paths agree on every row and on the rupee. If they ever disagree the page says so instead of showing a number.

What this page does not do. It does not sell or reserve a ticket, the CCF eTicketing service does that behind a login. Where the policy requires a written request it reports the requirement and names who has to sign it, but it cannot predict whether the Director General will approve it. Zoos, botanical gardens, the Temple of the Tooth and national parks each have their own fee authority and are outside this circular.

• Central Cultural Fund: Revision of the Policy on Issuing Complementary & Concessionary Entry Tickets to Heritage Sites (published 6 October 2026, effective 1 July 2026)
• Central Cultural Fund: ticket issuance, site fee schedule, and the VAT-inclusive pricing note
• Department of Archaeology, Sri Lanka: fees for the monuments it administers rather than the CCF
• Central Cultural Fund eTicketing (login required, not used by this page)

Eligibility rules were transcribed from the CCF circular and the per-site fee table was re-read on 2026-10-16. The circular is a CCF instrument, so it governs CCF sites; Department of Archaeology monuments are labelled separately in the tool. The ticket counter on the day of your visit is the legal source, and the CCF can revise any fee by gazette.