Must see places in Colombo

Attractive 10 places to visit in Colombo.

Colombo is not the capital of Sri Lanka.It serves as commercial capital of the Island while Sri Jayewardenepura stays as capital city of Sri Lanka. When tourists visit to Sri Lanka by air then they have to take ground transport to reach Colombo as the City lies on 90 minutes drive away from the Katunayake International Airport. 

When we visit Colombo what actually we see? Is it easy to explore the city by our self without assistance? Of course, Colombo is an easy going city with so many transportation options available like public busess, tuk tuks, cars, trains, mini buses etc...

However, there are 10 attractive things worth visiting when you are in Colombo.  

01, Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara

       This is one of the most popular and sacred temples in Colombo. History of this temple goes far back to 6^th century B.C. According history, The Buddha has visited to Kalaniya and has preached dharma here on his 3^rd visit to Sri Lanka.  So Buddhist people believe in this very much and worship here.

It has got the main features which Buddhist temple must have (Image House, Bodhi tree , Monastry complex ) 

 2^nd important thing about this temple is attractive and valuable Paintings. There are two sections here as old painting and new paintings. Old paintings were done by King Keerthi sri Rajasinghe who ruled the country during the Kandyan period (in 1769 AD). New paintings were done by great artist solias mendis (1897-1975). 

Apart from that, we can see lots Buddhist related features at the temple. Always we can see Buddhist devotees are doing various nice things at the temple .

02, National Museum

National Museum is   one of the main attractions in Colombo. This huge museum building was established in 1877 by Governor Sir William Henry Gregory with considering the proposal made by Royal Asiatic Society and design was done by James G Smither.

There are number  of galleries under various names and periods.

Evolution of Buddha Image,crafts,coins, ceramic wares, vaddha culture, ancient lams, paintings belong to Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa periods, Andrew Nicholl' s water colour paintings, furniture, traditional musical instrument and objects of indigenous medicine., Puppetry and heritage of Sri Lanka .

Worth visiting this museum and will be able to get idea about Sri Lanka history and historical monuments.

   

03, Hindu kovils ,(Hindu Temples)

Kathiseran Kovil on Galle Street and Sri Bala Selva Vinayagar Moorthy Kovil near Captain’s Gardens are the good witnesses about multi religious culture and the peace and harmony in Colombo.

04, The Gangaramaya Temple

    Gangaramaya Temple is located in Colombo 02 near Beira Lake. This is a Buddhist temple which completes  with Image house, Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa) and the monastery complexes. This temple received much attention during Nawam  Perahera festival in February every year. .

05, the Fort

At present, there is no real fort that we can see. But of course the major Sri Lankan port, Banks, and hotels are the major things we can see here. Dutch Museum ,Grand Oriental Hotel, Hilton hotel, Galadari hotel, old parliament building, president house, intercontinental hotel, world trade center building, market, bus stands, main railway station etc…

 In early period, this area was the centre of the town, so there are historical buildings and architecture can be seen here. We can see things in details, if we walk through some of the streets instead of watching out from sitting in a vehicle. Going through vegetable and fruit market will be tough but worth visiting and watching .Because there will be something always to remember.

06, Viharamadevi Park

     Originally started as Victoria park by British then renamed as viharamahadevi  (name of a Sinhalese queen)  This is located in Colombo 07.This area known as cinnamon garden and was very popular for cinnamon during the colonial period. At present, this area has provided prim space for high class residents, prestigious schools and university of Colombo. There are more things and stories to remember.

07, Galle Face Green

   South of Colombo along with the lined coconut trees (cocus nucifera) of Galle road is the Gall face Green. During the colonial time, British used to do various recreational activities here like cricket and football.  This is ideal sea front location to sit, relax and feel evening breeze while watching the sun set. This is crowded place with locals on weekends. Colonial style Gall face Hotel is located end of the galle face green. At the beginning of Gallface green, you will see Galadari hotel and old parliament building. Cannons which were used during wartime are still available along the coastline of gall face green.

08, Dehiwala Zoo.

      Some people visit Colombo on day tours so they don’t have time to go to see Sri Lankan wild Elephants but Dehiwala Zoo is the solution for day tour visitors. They can see elephants in the day time and watch their show in evening at the zoo.  There are various kinds of Birds and animals. At present, authorities keep improving the zoo so hopefully near future   we can see much spaced area for caged animals.

09, Wolvendaal Church 

This was built in 1749, one of oldest Protestant churches still in use in Sri Lanka. This church is considered as one of the beautiful and historically valuable churches in South Asia. Wolvendaal is nicely located overlooking the Colombo.

10, Beach life.

Colombo has the beach life too. Mount Lavonia beach is the ideal and close location to Colombo. Whoever come on day tours then mount lavinia is the ideal location to feel sun, sand and sea.  The area is good for swimming and the facilities are up to international standard. There are restarents, pubs,clubs and shops available with easy access to cover the needs of any type of tourist.