Colombo Travel Forum

Hi Guys

We are visitng Colombo from 14th of June till 16th of June. We will be 4 Adults and 2 kids. I request all my friends to give us suggestions how to explore Colombo to the fullest and what are the best places to visit.

cheers

Without much info, difficult to say; but I see you are from northern India, and also have another Forum question about Bangkok.
So, since you also have 2 children, but not knowing their ages, but with knowledge of Colombo, I would say that a BEACH accommodation, either Negombo which is nearest the airport area, or a nicer beach area of Mt. Lavinia, might be quite enjoyable. Also, Mt. Lavinia is in reasonable proximity to the ZOO, which the children might also enjoy. Travelling to Mt. Lavinia would also give you the opportunity to see a lot of Colombo on the way, being south of Colombo proper. Might depend upon whether you have already booked accommodation.

If you have time and inclination, then you could always book a half day tour at your hotel, to some of the sights of Colombo, but for such a short stay, it may not be so interesting, being a similar culture to yours.

Conversely, in Bangkok, you will have myriads of things to see and places to go that are much more different from India.

Colombo City is not worth visiting unless you intend to go on a shopping spree.
Colombo is just another dirty, traffic jammed and polluted 3rd world city without any really interesting sights. Dehiwala Zoo is charging exorbitant entrance fees for foreigners.

I would suggest that you stay in Negombo (20 minutes from the airport). The beach is not so nice and in June will anyway be too rough for swimming (like most beaches on the west coast of Sri Lanka are in June).

On your full day (15 June) in Sri Lanka you could hire a van with driver for a day trip to Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage and maybe Kandy - the hill capital of Sri Lanka.

Hans - I am tiring of reading your stock, totally negative answer to anyone who is passing thru Colombo. For this poster, who is coming from India, and is only a couple days there, it is almost an insult in the way you state your opinion.

Pinnewela may be interesting to the children, but you should also advise that it can take a long time to get there and back, on the over-crowded road. And in my opinion, it is a Tourist Trap.

Thanks Viajesdemunde

Hi

I feel has in the person of anti Colombo . always give negative answer when some body asking about Colombo. There are so many beautiful places around Colombo like
Gangaramaya temple
State council )former parliament
Galleface court
Bandaranayaka international memorial conference hall (BMICH)
Hindu temple at wellawatta
Victoria park
Independence square
Shopping complex (odel ,house of fashion ,barefoot ).

I think hans has visited only dirty places in colombo .


Even you get lot of Indian restaurant there .

Best regard,

Micy

wannna support Hans for Colombo. i also did not find it as an interesting place exept some ancient buildings in the down town, parliament building, twin tower and gas POLLUTION, TRAFFIC, MUCH people, some very DIRTY places, hot and MOSQUITOS! abt yes! local price for LOCAL is 100 rupees but foreigner is 2000 RuPeeSSS! :)
try to arrange ur trip to the Center of Sri Lanka like Kandy (Temple of the Tooth, many Botanical Gardens, Orchid Park), Nuwara Eliya with tea plantations, waterfalls, greenery. this is the BEST way while u with ur children!

yes, if this trip only fr 2 days, than of course, u need adventure trip deeper into the country, just take rent a car or guide (both u can find in the airport, like me did be4... for example my Kandy trip was sub total 200$ for 2 days in a/c car with a guide icluding hotel prices), and start from colombo to Kandy via Elephant Farm, Spicy Island (like tiny botanical garden). In Kandy u can see the Temple of the Tooth (one of the Budda's tooth is lying there), the Royal Botanical Garden, then can proceed to Nuwara Eliya to see tea plantations, fantastic view of the only mountain area in SL, waterfalls.. then on return way to Colombo u can stop either in Mt.Laviniya or in Negombo (abt 14km out of Int airport, u can find budget clean guest houses for 10$/day or 15/20 with a/c). recommend u the 2nd one because of good location n reasonable prices, airport is only 14km away.
gud journey!
P.S. prepare for hard attack of mosquitos:) everywhere in Sri Lanka! to get some creams n sprays is recommended!

Trish, if you get tired from reading my posts, don't - nobody forces you. You say that the Elephant Orphanage is a tourist trap, and then you recommend Dehiwala Zoo with is also a tourist trap (Tourists are paying 15-20 times more for entrance than locals do).

"Pinnewela may be interesting to the children, but you should also advise that it can take a long time to get there and back, on the over-crowded road".

I always feels fascinated by watching elephants, whether at Pinnawala or one of the national park, but I felt sad for the elephants at Dehiwala Zoo.

From Negombo the drive to Pinnawala is about 2 hours, and you can easily spend the same amount of time going to Dehiwala on more than "over-crowded roads".

Trish and Micy (who btw is not living in US, but in Sri Lanka): You say I'm negative because I do not share your opinions (That is what is great about VT. We all express our PERSONAL opinions).

I just state facts. Traffic in Colombo is horrendous. You often travel with an average speed of 6-8 km/h. I could walk faster if it wasn't so hot. It's common knowledge that Colombo MC has had (and still have) huge problems with garbage removals, so garbage is dumped in the streets and lying there for days.

Hi

I have lived in 4 countries, and grew up in Colombo and lived for 3.5 years on a work assignment from 2004-2007
I believe that every place in the world has beauty and character,
I'm one of those people who enjoy the traffic in Bombay, chaotic markets in Morocco, the busy streets of Prague etc.....
Let’s not look at every city from a perceptive magnified glass, look at it from new eyes

OK an agenda

Colombo Museum
Independence square
Gangarama temple
Colombo Fort (Pettah market), has a bunch of markets busy narrow streets where you can see Old Dutch and colonial buildings and haggle with local traders
An evening stroll on the Gallface green, eating local street food
Tea or cocktails at the Mount Lavania hotel terrace, where you can chill on the beach as well
Also see if you can have dinner or dessert at Gallery cafe, Geoffrey Bawa( Great sri lanka architect's studio turned to a restaurant)
I'm not a believer in Zoo's but if you like it go for it
If you can do a day tour Kandy would be a great option with the elephant orphanage en route


ER

Hans - I of course realize that everyone has differing opinions, and in fact, mine don't differ from yours a whole lot in this instance. I've been going to Lanka for almost 40 yrs and am well aware of the conditions you point out; my point was that I don't see why we should be so negative to someone who says they are travelling thru somewhere/Colombo for a couple days.
As mentioned already, there are nice places to see---truce?

Sorry Trish, I don't see that stating facts equals being negative.

Sorry to answer a question with another question but are you only visiting Colombo or is your two days in the city part of a longer visit to the Island?

Assuming you are just visiting Colombo, it can be an interesting place but it’s a working city with lots of traffic and not somewhere tourists generally spend much time, particularly tourists with kids. However, you didn’t ask for opinions of the place, just how to make the most of it in two days.

Other posters, who no doubt know Colombo better than me have given you the points of interest in the city and if the kids like the seaside Mount Lavinia is indeed an option but it could well be raining in which case it might not be much fun.

You appear to have a full day on the 15th and leaving the city for a while might be a good idea, I’m not a big fan of Pinnewela plus (please forgive this huge presumption) kids from India might not find elephants such a novelty as kids from Europe do but there isn’t much else within easy reach of Colombo inland that wouldn’t involve you spending most of the day in a vehicle.

If you enjoy the coast, the Galle Road is in good condition these days and with a party of six I would be tempted to hire a van and head south from Colombo along the west coast, perhaps to Kalutara, which has a splendid Temple. If you have the full day you could carry on to visit the beach at Bentota (one of the best on this side of the island) and maybe even on to Galle for a stroll round the ramparts of the magnificent Fort. There are plenty of places worth a stop along the way to keep the kids amused and you will also witness just how well this side of Sri Lanka has ‘bounced back’ since the tsunami.

Alternatively, a trip by train along the west coast line is an inexpensive way to see this stretch of coastline. Trains can get crowded and admittedly not ideal unless you’re a train buff but if you head out mid-morning (after the morning rush) and head back mid-afternoon (before the evening one) Kalutara shouldn’t be too much of an ordeal – although Galle is around getting on for three hours each way.

agree wt Maxus n Hans!
i've been to SL 4 times n the last 4th time for a pretty long time (9 months), as Colombo is worth to be seen but when u're here for a time, but u said u wanna see interesting places only for 2 days n u're coming wt ur children then it does NOT worth to see because of traffic poluted (VERY) area wt MUCH of people n some few historical buildings!
the better is just jump into rural areas n enjoy the nature! ur children will enjoy it more then sitting in the town!
cheers,.... Alexander.

get the hotel guide

Why would you want to travel to Ratmalana Airport? Flying to Jaffna? If you are not flying you will not be permitted entry to the airport. A taxi would cost LKR 2,000-2,500. Deccan now their check in somewhere in the city.

I doubt Aero Lanka is in business anymore. You could visit the offices of Mihin Lanka and Deccan in Colombo and ask for Inflight Magazine, Timetable and aircraft postcard. Mihin Lanka timetables are available online

I think you are mixing up malaria and dengue fever. Malaria cases have not reported from Colombo for years.

Clearing immigration (inbound/outbound) rarely takes more than 10-15 minutes, even when there is more than one arrival/departure around the same time

To Chyan!
'Is it true that Colombo's malaria problem is worse than Kaula Lumpur and Singapore? If true, then i would not want to go to Colombo even though the fare is cheap. Please advise.' - About Malaria in SL I am not sure but dengue and mosquito bites - OH YA!! Take some sprays and oils, mosquitoes are everywhere and everytime! Even in the mornings and day time!

'Is it true that it takes at least one hour to clear the immigration in Colombo airport before departure to Kuala Lumpur?' - It takes about up to 30 min. I visited a month ago and I had to fill medical card because of swine flu so the immigration checks takes 15-20 min and filling the medical card more 10 min.
Good luck!

You only fill in the health form on arrival, not on departure.