Things to do in Colombo

Colombo is a port before it is anything else. It is where the flights land and the drivers wait, and most visitors give it a day. That day is better than the city's reputation.

Fort, Pettah and the sea

The old town is two districts side by side. Fort held the colonial administration. Pettah was the market and remains one.

• Old Dutch Hospital. The oldest building in Fort, standing since about 1681 and now full of restaurants.
• Pettah. Streets sorted by trade: one for hardware, one for cloth, one for fruit.
• Jami Ul-Alfar. The red-and-white striped mosque of 1909, wedged into the Pettah lanes.
• Wolvendaal Church. A Dutch cross-plan church of 1749, with governors' grave slabs in the floor.
• Galle Face Green. A strip of grass along the sea where the city eats in the evening.
• Beira Lake. Gangaramaya temple beside it, and a meditation pavilion on posts in the water.
• Lotus Tower. A broadcast tower of three hundred and fifty metres, open to visitors since 2022.

Where the day trips go

Colombo's real job is as a starting line. Roads are slow, so distance is counted in hours rather than kilometres.

• Galle. The Dutch fort on the south coast, two hours down the expressway. Often paired with the whale boats at Mirissa.
• Kandy. A hundred and fifteen kilometres inland, and three to four hours of them.
• Yala. Leopards in the dry south-east, five hours off. Worth a night rather than a return dash.
• Anuradhapura. The oldest of the ruined capitals, north through the coconut country.

How the day is sold

Almost everything here is a car and a driver. The price is per vehicle, not per seat. A tuk-tuk city safari is the cheap end.

Street-food walks run in the evening. They take in Galle Face and the Pettah stalls. Airport transfers are sold on their own.

Practical

• Airport. Katunayake is thirty-five kilometres north, about forty-five minutes on the expressway.
• Season. December to March suits this coast. It sits near thirty degrees all year, and the monsoon runs May to September.
• Poya. Every full moon is a public holiday and no alcohol is sold on it. Temples fill and the streets go quiet.
• Tuk-tuks. Ride apps price them by the kilometre and remove the argument. Flagged-down drivers quote a visitor rate.
• Temples. Shoes and hats off, shoulders and knees covered, and never turn your back on a Buddha for a photograph.
• Prices. A rice and curry lunch costs a couple of dollars. A car with a driver for the day costs less than a European taxi ride.