Best Things to Do in Colombo

Colombo's highlights trace a path from the dense spice and textile streets of the old port down along the Indian Ocean esplanade to the tranquil lakeside temples and shaded museum avenues of the southern quarters.

1. Join the sunset promenade along Galle Face Green. Walk the half-kilometre oceanfront lawn between the Indian Ocean surf and historic Galle Face Hotel as families fly kites and crimson street carts fry lentil-and-prawn cakes (isso vade).
2. Explore Pettah Bazaar and the Jami Ul-Alfar (Red) Mosque. Dive into the trade-specific streets of Colombo 11 to admire the 1908 Indo-Saracenic mosque built in striking red-and-white pomegranate-patterned brickwork on Second Cross Street.
3. Cross the floating boardwalks of Seema Malaka and Gangaramaya Temple. Pair Colombo's most eclectic Buddhist temple complex with its serene meditation assembly hall designed in the 1970s by Geoffrey Bawa on three platforms over Beira Lake.
4. Tour Geoffrey Bawa's townhouse at Number 11. Book a timed walkthrough of the pioneering Sri Lankan architect's former residence down 33rd Lane in Bagatalle, converted from four modest bungalows into a labyrinth of lightwells and courtyards.
5. Visit the Colombo National Museum in Cinnamon Gardens. Housed in an 1877 white Italianate palace surrounded by banyan trees, the museum holds the 17th-century gilded throne and crown jewels of the last Kings of Kandy alongside ancient bronze Bodhisattvas.
6. Dine in the courtyards of the Old Dutch Hospital in Fort. Built in the 1600s with thick coral-stone walls and deep teak-pillared verandahs to care for Dutch East India Company sailors, the restored precinct now hosts seafood restaurants and cafes.
7. Walk Viharamahadevi Park and Independence Memorial Hall. Stroll through Colombo's largest central park when golden shower and tabebuia trees bloom, continuing to the stone-pillared Independence Memorial pavilion modelled on the royal audience hall of Kandy.
8. Step inside Wolvendaal Church and the Dutch Period Museum. Perched on a rise above Pettah, 1749 Wolvendaal Church is the oldest surviving Protestant church in Sri Lanka, floored with carved granite Dutch tombstones.
9. Ascend the Lotus Tower (Colombo Lotus Tower). Rising above Beira Lake in the shape of a budding lotus flower, the observation deck delivers a 360-degree view from Colombo Harbour down the palm-lined coast.
10. Ride the coastal railway south to Mount Lavinia Beach. Hop on a suburban train from Colombo Fort where the tracks hug the sea rocks right to the sand at Mount Lavinia.