Colombo: 36 hours in Sri Lanka

We had been to Sri Lanka on our honeymoon 6 years ago and decided that it would be a good place for a stopover en-route to Africa to break up the journey, eat some good food and relive a few memories.

On our first trip, Colombo had been our first stop and our first meal had been at the very grand “Galle Face Hotel” so we decided to stay there this time for 2 nights.

We found some very cheap fares from Sydney on Air Asia via Kuala Lumpur. This was good for our budget although you get what you pay for. Despite booking hot seats, they were very narrow. I also managed to get confused by their booking system and accidentally ordered 3 meals each instead of 1 so be wary of that. At least we didn’t go hungry. The other downside to flying with Air Asia was that our connection was out of the budget terminal at KLIA which was very limited. All of this said – at AU$299pp (without extras), this was a very thrifty option.
We arranged an electronic visa for Sri Lanka, which worked out well and clearing immigration was easy. Highly recommend this over arranging a visa on arrival, if you have the option.
We organised an airport transfer with the Galle Face hotel, which at US$50 was very expensive compared to taking a taxi but based on our previous experience at Colombo airport, we decided to avoid the hassle of arranging transport on arrival.
Expect to tip for everything in Sri Lanka – taxis, meals, help with bags and hotels. Factor this into your budget as it can add quite a bit.

The Galle Face Hotel is a lovely old gem of a building and has been very sympathetically maintained oozing vintage style and grandeur. The rooms could do with some TLC, but the common areas are beautiful and the swimming pool overlooking the ocean, with waves crashing, is stunning.
The bed was very comfortable, and they provide a free minibar with water, snacks and soft drinks. EGB (Elephant Ginger Beer) is our favourite Sri Lankan drink – make sure you try some if you like ginger.
We tried the buffet breakfast on the first day and it was amazing. It isn’t cheap, but it is worthwhile. Go straight for the freshly made egg hoppers with every accompaniment you could want. You can sit and watch the chipmunks play on the terrace, overlooking the ocean and get into the mood for your next adventure.We also made time for a cocktail at the traveller’s bar, which is worth a visit for sundowners – even if you are not staying at this hotel.

No visit to Colombo is complete without a walk along Galle Face Green, where you will find street vendors selling their colourful short eats (Sri Lankan street food). Mainly you will see crab cakes and seafood-based snacks, which I’m ashamed to say we weren’t brave enough to taste but I’m sure are delicious. Children play on the large green, flying kites and playing cricket and we even saw a snake charmer with a cobra in a basket and a monkey on his shoulder (ethically questionable but entertaining nonetheless).

Another foodie fix can be found at the Old Dutch Hospital complex where you will find the Ministry of Crab. Very popular with locals, you should book ahead. You can choose anything from a small crab up to “Crabzilla” and have it cooked to order in several different ways. DELICIOUS and highly recommended (around US$40pp for crab).

Make sure you also make time to have “rice and curry” for one of your meals – which usually consists of rice + several vegetable and meat-based curries + sambals and condiments.

Lessons Learned and Anecdotes…

We decided it would be a good idea to make photocopies of our passports in the business centre of the hotel, and then proceeded to forget our actual passports in the copy machine and almost left for the airport without them.

– Don’t use UBER in Sri Lanka. It exists but it is terrible. We tried to book a car to the airport from our hotel and the first driver who accepted started to drive in the opposite direction. 20 minutes later when he was still driving away from us, we tried to cancel and reorder a new one. The second driver who accepted drove around the corner from our hotel and then stopped. Almost an hour after we had started to try to order an UBER and whilst panic that we would miss our flight was starting to set in, we asked our hotel to contact the driver. We were told that he was “on his way” but that if we wanted we could pay 65 USD to take a hotel transfer instead. In desperation we accepted this offer, even though the UBER cost was a fraction of this.

– Colombo has changed A LOT since we were last there and much of this is due to Chinese investment in construction and infrastructure. You may be surprised at the number of skyscrapers that are being built with cranes and building sites galore. There is even a giant port town being built on reclaimed land. It will be interesting to see how this charming old city with its mix of colonial and traditional style buildings will look with its new contrasting modern developments.

– If you do come to Sri Lanka be sure to explore the rest of the country. It is one of our favourite destinations and we will write about our previous tour around the island in another post.