10 Cool Things To Do In Colombo

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               We arrived at Colombo International Airport in the middle of the nigh, after a three hour plane trip from Bangkok. We had booked a cheap hotel in Colombo 6 (Col 6) – Wellawatta, which turned out to be really bad! It was just beside the train tracks, and we could hear EVERYTHING – the trains, people, dogs and whatever else making noise outside and inside the hotel! Needless to say we did not get much sleep that first night. But since we only had one and half day to explore the Sri Lankan capital, we just had to get up in the morning, put on our sandals, hail a tuk-tuk on the street, and head into downtown Colombo!
 

The first day we just wandered around the streets of Colombo, with no particular purpose. The second day we did some tuk-tuk sightseeing around the city, and took the express train down to Galle in the afternoon. Here are 10 cool things to do in Colombo:

1. National Museum

The beautiful building that houses the National Museum, was built in 1876 and founded by the British governor of Sri Lanka at the time. It is the largest museum in Sri Lanka. Surrounding this amazing building is a lovely and peaceful courtyard.
 

Inside the museum are statues and exhibits telling the story of ancient Sri Lanka. The museum also displays items own by the former royal family of Sri Lanka, like the kings golden throne and crown.
 

2. Beautiful colonial buildings

All around downtown Colombo there are huge monumental buildings dating back to the Dutch and British era of Sri Lanka.
 

3. Independence Memorial Hall

Sri Lanka got its independence from Britain in 1948, and this huge stone building surrounded by a peaceful garden is a monument to that. In front of it is a statue of Sri Lankas first president, “The Father of the Nation”. This hall is used for religious events and the annual national day celebration. For us the place was a nice escape from the noise and crowds of Colombos streets, as there was hardly anyone there.
 

4. Gangaramaya Temple

The Buddhist temple Gangaramaya consists of several buildings, and is a bustling temple complex filled with an enormous amount of things. Some of which are frankly pretty strange and a little scary.  It includes for instance a library, a museum and a display hall of gifts received from devotees and well-wishers over the years. The temple has a LOT of buddhas, in stone, white plastic and gold. I don`t think I have ever seen so many buddhas in one place!

All the gifts from devotees are on display all around the temple, including a lot of things made of ivory!
 

In one corner there is even a sad-looking elephant, actually a stuffed real elephant! Not as nice as the real ones out in the wild! Very weird!

5. Beira Lake

Close to the Gangaramaya Temple, in the heart of Colombo, is a huge lake – Beira Lake. In the middle of the lake is a small island containing the Simamalaka Shrine, which was build from donations made of a Muslim sponsor. The lake connects with other lakes through narrow canals, and ends up in the Indian sea. In the colonial era the lake and its canals were used for transporting goods within the city, and it still has its Portugese name Beira. A really nice and peaceful place to sit and have a sightseeing break, with a crazy green colored water! We were temped to go with one of the duck paddle boats that were for rent, but we backed out :).
 

6. Old Dutch Hospital

After all this sightseeing and wandering the busy and crowded streets of Colombo, it was nice to have lunch at the Old Dutch Hospital. This is considered one of the oldest buildings in the Colombo Fort area, dating back to the Dutch colonial era (ca. 1681). Today it houses nice restaurants and cafes, and cool shops. We had the lunch special – chicken biryani with watalappan for dessert, delicious!
 

7. Wandering the streets of Pettah
 
It is a real adventure full of sound, smells and people watching just to walk around the streets of Colombo. We went to the old quarter Pettah, and plunged into the madness of shops, stalls and markets! Fun and exciting! It can eventually become a bit overwhelming, so my advise is to plan for breaks in between to get your head straight from all the chaos.
 

8. Street ice cream

When the heat is about to knock you out, it is refreshing with a cold ice cream from one of the ice cream vans cycling all over Colombo. Yummi!!

9. Tuk-tuk ride

It is pretty tiring walking around Colombo in the heat, and the tuk-tuks are EVERYWHERE and real easy to find! They are the main transportation for both locals and tourists, and they are also a lot of fun. Wherever you walk in Colombo, tuk-tuks will stop by you and the driver will ask you if you want a lift, not one time but like ALL the time! And if you don`t answer (yeah, it is possible to get a bit fed up with this), they will ask you again just louder.

We ended up taking tuk-tuk most places we went in Colombo. Riding a tuk-tuk is great fun, especially after dark!

10. Galle Face Green

Galle Face Green is a long stretch of green lawn next to the narrow beach and sea promenade in Colombo. Originally it was cleared by the Dutch to give the canons clear sight, but today it is a nice and peaceful place perfect for walking, running, playing football, kite flying and cricket. The promenade is packed with couples and families taking a stroll in the afternoons, especially Sundays. It is a great place to watch the sunset.

Along the promenade there are also a lot of food vendors, selling great street food at a cheap price! Some of the places even have tables on the pavement. We had indian food at one of those places, really delicious!
 

We had a nice one and a half day in Colombo, but the city  just never really won us over. If you want to see it, I think one or two days is probably enough time.


Would you like to go Colombo Tour? Please mail your comment in the my mail box below,  ( basuratravels@gmail.com ) I can help you it. Thank you! If you like this blog post, or find it useful, please share it on social media!

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