Colombo - Our Guide to Sri Lanka’s Capital
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Colombo is often overlooked as a travel destination at the best of times, let alone just after a near revolution. Lots of guides we read, would skip the capital altogether, or use it as only a transfer point from the airport to a train/bus elsewhere. We spent a total of 5 days in the Sri Lankan capital and against our expectations, we really loved it. Read on to see what we got up to during our time in Colombo.
Arrival and getting a Sri Lankan Visa
We landed at Colombo airport, still half disbelieving that we were in Sri Lanka. The second we stepped off the plane, we knew we were back in Asia, the humidity and heat wrapping around us like a slightly sweaty duvet. In normal times, you can apply for a visa online and just go through customs, however the website had been down each time we had tried to do this, so we got a visa on arrival. This was a quick and painless process, and from what we understand was not more expensive than the online version. We paid $40 USD each (as UK citizens) for a 30 day visa. Please note they accept cash only but there are ATMs available for you to withdraw money.
Sim Cards in Sri Lanka
Once outside customs, we picked up two very cheap Sri Lankan Airtel SIM cards giving us unlimited calls, texts and 1GB of data each day. These came to the heavy price of 1200 LKR each (£2.75 each). Once installed and Sri Lankan rupees withdrawn, we called our contact in Colombo.
If you wanted to have your sim card in advance check out an eSIM, these app based sims allow you to prearrange your mobile and internet coverage so you are never without. Check our Airalo for a quick solution:
Staying in Colombo - Our Hostel.
Indika from our hostel (Lost and Found more on this later) came to the airport to pick us up. This airport pickup was a huge weight off our shoulders as due to the fuel shortages, the airport taxis had skyrocketed in price and the airport bus to the city was shaky in its reliability.
Indika was a star. Giving us a brief rundown on the current situation, reassuring us that the city was safe to walk around, even at night and pointing out recommendations and points of interest on the drive to the hostel. The drive to our hostel was quicker than it would have been in normal times, the roads although not deserted, were far too quiet for a main approach road to a capital city. The fuel crisis again was apparent everywhere, with long queues of vehicles around every fuel station we passed. Our journey took us around half an hour.
Pulling into a sleepy side street in a quiet neighbourhood we arrived at our accommodation, the Lost and Found hostel. It described itself as a hostel and we’re not experts on hostels, but we were surprised to find a four poster bed in a massive room awaiting us. We booked a private room, but we didn’t expect this!
Lost and Found was a cute and cosy hostel, with its own restaurant serving food from 8am until 10pm. The restaurant area also doubled up as the communal space and was covered from the elements with fans to help with the heat. We heartily recommend Lost and Found for all the above reasons as well as the fact that the location is great (within walking distance of everything within Colombo and close enough to public transport to get you further). The staff are fantastic and very welcoming. Indika really went above and beyond helping us out, right up until the day we left where he even held a spirited negotiation with a local tuk tuk driver to take us and our bags to Colombo’s Fort railway station.
We spent a couple of days in Colombo doing what we do best, aimlessly wandering around. We meandered through Viharamahadevi Park, populated by an army of chipmunks as well as local Sri Lankans out on dates or simply enjoying the cool green space. We even stumbled upon a wedding photo shoot. The park also houses the Colombo National Library and is next to the Colombo National Museum (we did try to visit the museum but it was closed on both occasions we went, possibly due to the unrest).
Biera Lake
Further along our walk, we found ourselves at a lake neighbouring the Gangaramaya Temple. The lake actually wraps around a large part of the city with two lakes connected by a large canal / river. We arrived at sunset, and were greeted by murders of increasingly cheeky crows (John’s always wanted to use the collective noun)! The crows were everywhere, and seemingly totally unfazed by humans, but constantly eyeing us up for food opportunities. The lake itself is a twitchers paradise (especially during sunset) with white storks, bright blue and black kingfishers, herons and other elegant flappy things (could you guess we’re not natural bird watchers). Flowers and lilies dot the surface of the water, and a small temple juts out into the lake (more on this later). There is also a small island that was sadly closed when we were there but would have given great 360 degree views of the lake and surrounding city.
Gangaramaya Temple.
One of Colombo’s cultural gems is the Gangaramaya Temple. The temple is split across two sites, with the main temple being on a road just off the lake, and another smaller set of temples/shrines on the lake itself. Gangaramaya Temple is an active place of worship for Buddhists so you will need to dress appropriately (knees and shoulders covered) and you will need to leave your shoes at the entrance. Entry for the temple cost us 500 LKR each (£1.14 or $1.39). Tickets are purchased at the main temple site and not the one on the water. The main temple is a beautiful mix of different styles of Buddhist architecture and paintings. There is a large reclining Buddha, ornate carvings and countless statues. The suggested path through the temple, weaves you through museums, past artefacts and around a gorgeously enshrined Bodhi tree. The Gangaramaya Temple is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Colombo and in addition to being a place of worship, the temple is also a centre for learning. After passing by relic chambers, a stepped temple filled with seated Buddhas and a taxidermy elephant, we collected our jaws from the floor and made our way to the temple on the lake.
The Lake Temple
We scampered barefoot across the tiles to the temple on the lake. The soles of our feet burning from the sun baked stone. The replacement for the previous temple (that had previously sank) the Gangaramaya Lake Temple is unusual in many respects. It was financed from a generous donor from a Muslim merchant, the statues that line the temple are all donated from Thailand, and the riot of colour that was on display in the land temple, is missing. The lake temple is calm and tranquil with the statues' reflections in the rippling lake making it a suitable place for meditation. A trip to Colombo should not be without a visit to both parts of the Gangaramaya Temple. It was fascinating to see and left us with a deeper appreciation of Colombo’s spirituality.
Pettah and Manning Markets
On another one of our random perambulations (can you tell when John insists on a word), we headed north to Colombo’s sprawling markets. In total contrast to our sleepy and calm neighbourhoods, the market district was a total attack on the senses. Tuk tuk horns blaring, throngs of people, and every variety of goods imaginable, spilled out into the packed streets. We spent a whole morning wandering around the different areas of the market. Nearer the train station are more of the defined “shops” of Pettah market, selling homewares, electronics, toys etc. Further east, we found the fresh fruit and vegetable markets of Manning market. Strolling through the cramped aisles, we passed by every colour and variety of fruit. Our sense of smell was assaulted when we turned down an alley where each seller seemed to specialise in selling a different type of dried fish. The markets were exactly what we had hoped to find, a complete and definitive reminder that we were far from home.
The Dutch Hospital
To the west of the markets you start to see more and more reminders of Colombo’s colonial past. Old buildings bearing the names of shipping companies, and streets named after Western dignitaries. One particularly impressive set of Colonial buildings, the Dutch Hospital has been converted into a swanky shopping/dining complex. It is here you will find the original world famous Ministry of Crab restaurant. Sometimes we are posh packers, but after looking at the prices on the menu, we decided that Ministry of Crab was definitely not going to be our lunch stop that day. One day… one day!
Galle Face
If you follow or have been following the recent news in Sri Lanka, our next destination would be an image you would be familiar with. Galle Face was the focal point and home of the protests. We were not going to be involved with any kind of politics, but Galle Face was on our way back to the hostel and there were no protests happening on that day. We passed the Old Parliament Building, its railings torn down and the front bedecked in protest banners. From here, we made our way down Galle Face Drive, past the remnants of the protest camp. The camp itself was very impressive. It was almost more of a village than the collection of tents we had seen on the news. We passed media tents, water distribution points, and highly organised recycling/sorting areas. A vast sign made of plastic bottles forced into a wire fence carried the protesters slogan “Go Home Gota”. Galle Face is a waterfront area, with a large green park. In more normal times the area would be buzzing with locals and street food vendors, however as we were there in the early afternoon and with the current situation, it was very quiet. We walked past a giant metal flip flop, we can’t find any information about this online (if you know what it was, please let us know) which was very impressive to see, then passed a huge flag pole surrounded by cannons, past a pier jetting off into the sea and continued our way back to our hostel.
Food in Colombo
No guide to a city would be complete without mentioning some of our favourite places to eat food. Colombo offers many choices from every type of cuisine, but we predominantly ate the local Sri Lankan food. A few back alleys away from Lost and Found, was an excellent rice and curry joint. Named Praneetha Foods, this local haunt served a large variety of curries. Just walk up to the counter, point to four or five of whatever looks good (there are vegetable, meat and fish options) and be delivered a massive plate of rice and your chosen curries. Both times we were there we had a specially good beetroot curry. We’ve never seen or had this before, and after trying it we don’t understand why this isn’t everywhere as it was delicious! For two plates of rice and curry and two bottles of water we paid 1590 LKR (£3.61 or $4.42).
One of our many rice and curries!
Other than rice and curry we also enjoyed a very strange but tasty meal. Wandering a back alley after enjoying a couple of pints of Lion lager at a sports bar, we stumbled upon a friendly man who shanghaied us from the street and sat us down on his eatery's sole metal table. Over the blaring sounds of the television (showing some kind of bloody action film) we asked what he made, and in broken English he said he had one thing on offer which was some kind of stir fry. We ordered a big plate to share, and was promptly delivered what can only be described as stir fried macaroni pasta. This really shouldn’t have been good, but it was spicy, with crunchy fresh vegetables and smoky stir fried pasta. The mountain of a plate was swiftly demolished by us. We think this place was called Ruchira Hotel but it was dark and it may well have been 19 Hotel as there were signs for both. Moral of the story, just go for it. There’s no way we would have sought this place out or chosen what we ate from a menu but allowing ourselves to go with the flow, we enjoyed a yummy unique meal and gave ourselves an awesome memory. We paid 750 LKR (£1.70 or $2.08) for the enormous plate of food and two drinks.
Liberty Plaza Shopping Centre
Another random meal we enjoyed was a surprisingly excellent fried rice. Seeking our air conditioning and a new tripod, we ducked into Liberty Plaza shopping centre. 98% of the shops here appeared to be phone/or electronic shops. With at least 6 of them claiming to be genuine Apple stores… In a dark and dingy basement was a food court. Our hostel had mentioned it was really good, and the whole food court was busy with Sri Lankan’s munching down. We opted for a very simple chicken fried rice. When it arrived, we tucked in and found to our surprise (looking back this really should not have been surprising) that it was a sort of curried fried rice and not the standard Chinese style one we expected. Super addictive, and unbelievably morish the plate did not last long. Unfortunately we didn’t write down how much this cost, but it was extremely cheap.
Final Thoughts on Colombo
The time we spent in Colombo was surprising in all the best ways. The people of Colombo had been universally wonderful to us. Little old ladies kept stopping Ellie in the street for a chat, and even the armed police took pity on us and helped us cross an especially busy road. The food had been great, the accommodation brilliant and our days had been filled with interesting adventures. Colombo deserves a visit, and if you hurried you could probably have condensed your stay to be shorter than ours. On the other side when we left there were still lots of things we hadn’t managed to see (the national museum, the wetlands park and multiple archaeological sites to mention a few). There’s also a great day out to be had at Mount Lavinia beach, a short train ride away from the city.
If you are looking for some tours in Colombo or other curated experiences check out Get Your Guide below, they provide a range of itineraries across Sri Lanka.
Colombo is much more than just a capital and convenient transport hub and definitely deserves a visit.
Thanks for reading.
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
*Prices correct at time of writing (July 2022)
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