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Colombo
About Colombo
Colombo is the commercial capital of Sri Lanka, a noisy place and certainly less interesting than many of the other destinations on the island. The city is home to a vibrant culture and nightlife and is often referred to as the "Las Vegas of South Asia". Colombo is also the home of numerous historic churches, mosques, and Buddhist and Hindu temples.
Local highlights
Explore the city
- In the north is the Fort district, the country's business centre with the World Trade Centre 40 story twin towers
- Galle Face Green, the seafront promenade south of the Front district.
- Cinammon Gardens is Colombo's most elegant neighborhood, with beautiful mansions, tree-lined streets and largest park flowering from March to May
- Pettah bazaar district with narrow cobbled streets where anything can be bought from vegetable to jewelry
- Slave Island-once the slaves night quarters
Explore its museums and historical sights, such as
- The Fort-a fort from the Portuguese and Dutch periods, now a commercial center with colonial buildings like the Presidential Secretariat, the Grand Oriental Hotel, the Lighthouse Clock Tower, the Delft Gateway and the Fort Police once a Dutch Hospital.
- The Colombo National Museum with valuable treasures like archaic palm leaf manuscripts, rock sculptures, royal weapons of Sri Lankan kings and antique demon masks
- The Natural History Museum with sections on applied botany, geology and fossils
- The Dutch Period Museum housed in an old Dutch House with ceramics, coins, arms of the Dutch colonial period
- The National Art Gallery with a collection of Sri Lankan
- The Gangarama Temple-a Buddhist temple dating back to over 2000 years with the Kelaniya Raja Mahavihara
- Other important Buddhist centers are the Vajiramaya temple, the Raja Maha Viharaya, the Gotami Viharaya, the Dipaduttaramaya and the Paramananda Purana Viharaya.
- Hindu temples, called Kovils in Colombo, like the Kathiseran Temples dedicated to the war god Skanda, the Sri Ponnambalam-Vaneswaram temple and the Sri Bala Selva Vinayagar Moorthy temple is devoted to Shiva and Ganesh.
- St. Peter’s Church (the former Dutch Governer’s banquet Hall), the St. Andrew’s Scots Kirk, Wolvendaal Church (Colombo’s oldest 18th century Dutch church) and Church of St. Anthony are some of the Christian churches in Colombo.
- Two famous mosques in Colombo are the red and white candy striped Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque and the gray Memm Harnafi M mosque
- The Bandaranaike Memorial International Convention Hall
- Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte-now the seat of the Sri Lankan parliament
Highlights in the vicinity
- Mount Lavinia with its lovely beach only 13 km outside of Colombo.
- Kelaniya raja maha viharaya- the temple with a 2,500 year old history where the Buddha preached for peace. On the full moon of January hundreds of elephants and thousands of dancers parade the streets during the Duruthu Perehera festival.
Good to know
- No. of inhabitants: 737 Thousand
- Timezone: UTC +9
- Weather: tropical with highest temperatures in March through June. Two monsoon seasons: the Yala season (May to August) and the Maha season (October to January).
Local transport
- Taxis and auto-rickshaws
- Train
- Buses are cheap but always overcrowded
- Car-it is common to rent a car with a driver
Inbound transport
- Nearest airport: Bandaranaika International Airport
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