Colombo travel guide

Top 10 sights in Colombo

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

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   National Museum of Colombo

   Sri Lanka's national museum, founded in 1877 by a British governor whose statue stands in front of it. Its greatest object is the throne of the last king of Kandy, taken to England in 1815 and returned in 1934.

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   2© Mohamed Rilwan1210 · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Lotus Tower

   A tower of 351.5 metres opened in 2019, the tallest in South Asia, built with a Chinese loan and lit at night in the shape of the lotus it is named for. The observation deck is at about two hundred metres and the whole coastal city reads from it.

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   3© Mayakaru at English Wikipedia · CC BY 3.0

   Galle Face Green

   Five hectares of open ground along the sea in the middle of Colombo, laid out in 1859 by a governor who wanted a promenade for riding. It is now for kite flying, cricket and prawn fritters bought from carts at sunset.

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   4

   Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque

   The red-and-white striped mosque on Second Cross Street in Pettah, built in 1909 for the Muslim traders of the bazaar and known to everyone as the Red Mosque. Its candy-striped brickwork and onion domes long served as a landmark for sailors making the harbour.

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   5© AKS.9955 · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Gangaramaya Temple

   A nineteenth-century temple that collects everything — Buddha images by the thousand, jade, ivory, a vintage Rolls-Royce, and a library of palm-leaf manuscripts, all crammed together. The Navam Perahera leaves from here in February with something like a hundred elephants.

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   6© AntanO · CC BY-SA 4.0

   St. Anthony's Shrine, Kochchikade

   A shrine in Kochchikade venerated by Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims as well as Catholics, keeping a relic said to be a fragment of St Anthony's tongue. Raised to the rank of minor basilica, it was one of the churches bombed on Easter Sunday, 21 April 2019.

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   7

   Viharamahadevi Park

   Eighteen hectares of park in Cinnamon Gardens, laid out as Victoria Park and renamed after a queen of ancient Sri Lanka. It is the largest green space in central Colombo, with a lake and old flowering trees.

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   8

   St. Lucia's Cathedral

   The cathedral of the Archdiocese of Colombo, in Kotahena on the north-east side of the city. Its grounds cover 18,240 square metres.

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   Wolvendaal Church

   One of the most important Dutch colonial buildings in Sri Lanka, raised on a hill above Pettah between 1749 and 1757 on the plan of a Greek cross. It is among the oldest Protestant churches still in use in the country, with Dutch governors' tombstones set into the floor.

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    10

    Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara

    A Buddhist temple at Kelaniya in Sri Lanka, eleven kilometres northeast of Colombo. The Buddha is said to have preached here on his third visit to the island.

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Popular tickets & tours in Colombo

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   1© Annesley Rozairo · CC BY-SA 1.0

   National Zoological Gardens of Sri Lanka

   Founded in 1936 at Dehiwala out of a German animal dealer's holding stock, and one of the oldest zoos in Asia. It is laid out on terraced ground with an aquarium and a walk-through aviary; the evening elephant show is the fixture people remember.

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   2© AntanO · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Colombo Port Maritime Museum

   A museum on Chaithya Road beside the port of Colombo in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority runs it, in the Dutch-period prison building of 1676, the only one left in the harbour area.

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   3© Michael Shehan Obeysekera from Moratuwa, Sri Lanka · CC BY 2.0

   Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka

   A pilgrimage church at Tewatte north of Colombo, built in thanksgiving for a wartime vow that the city be spared bombing. It holds the venerated statue of Our Lady of Lanka and was raised to the rank of basilica in 1973.

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   4© AKS.9955 · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Seema Malaka

   A Buddhist temple built out over Beira Lake in Colombo in Sri Lanka. It was first put up in the late nineteenth century and is used for meditation and rest rather than for services.

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   Pettah

   The bazaar district east of the Fort, behind the harbour, where whole streets sell one thing — hardware, gold, textiles, dried fish. It is the busiest commercial ground in the country and holds the red-and-white striped Jami Ul-Alfar mosque.

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   6© Dinil Samarasinha · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Cinnamon Gardens

   An affluent district three kilometres southeast of the centre, named for the plantations that grew here — nearly three hundred acres of cinnamon in 1789. Colonial bungalows, embassies and the national museum now occupy the ground.

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   7© Anufdo · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Sri Lanka Planetarium

   Sri Lanka's only planetarium, opened in 1965 for an industrial exhibition and shaped like a lotus. It is run by the science ministry and still uses much of its original projection equipment.

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   8© Rehman Abubakr · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Havelock City

   A mixed-use development of eight residential towers around a seven-acre garden, with a 46-storey office block and shopping mall alongside. The first four towers, of 22 floors each, were occupied by early 2017; the later phases rise to 28 floors.

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   9© AntanO · CC BY-SA 4.0

   National Museum of Natural History

   A museum beside the National Museum in Colombo in Sri Lanka. It opened on 23 September 1986 and is the only museum in the country dealing with its natural heritage.

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    10© Rehman · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Havelock Town

    A district about six kilometres south of Colombo Fort in Sri Lanka. Havelock City, the mixed-use development there, is set to be the largest property project in the country.

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