Pettah market lanes
Pettah · 60 min
Each street sells one thing: Main Street for fabric, Sea Street for gold, the cross streets for spices and plastic buckets. Go before ten while the porters are still unloading, and keep the bag in front.
Colombo · Sri Lanka · 4 days
4 days in Colombo and Galle
Two days in Colombo, from the Pettah lanes to the lake temples and a sunset on Galle Face Green, then the coastal train south to Galle for the fort walls at dusk and a last morning on the beaches. Tuk-tuks by app, trains for the distance.
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Checked October 10, 2026. That’s the day we last confirmed the hours, prices and closed days.
- 4 days
- 28 stops
- 6 with a ticket
- from Rs 8,000 a day
When to go
December to March is the season for Colombo and the south coast: dry, hot, 86°F (30°C), the sea calm enough to swim and the whales off Mirissa. The southwest monsoon soaks this coast from May to September, when the east coast around Trincomalee and Arugam Bay is the dry side; October and November are showery everywhere. April is hot and humid but workable. Check the Poya (full moon) date for your days: no alcohol is sold and some sights are busy with pilgrims.
Where to base yourself
Colombo Fort or Colombo 3 (Kollupitiya) for the sea, the Dutch Hospital and the train station; Colombo 7 (Cinnamon Gardens) for leafy streets, the museum and the cafés. In Galle, sleep inside the fort: the lanes are quiet by nine and the ramparts are outside your door at dawn.
Getting around
Book tuk-tuks through PickMe (Uber works too): the fare is fixed in the app and a cross-town ride in Colombo is a few hundred rupees. Hailed tuk-tuks should run a meter, roughly Rs 100 a kilometer after the first; if there is no meter, agree the price before you sit. Trains do the coast: Colombo Fort to Galle is about 2 hours 40 minutes for Rs 500 in second class. Walk inside Galle Fort; everything is within ten minutes.
Day 1
Colombo: Pettah, the Fort and the lake temples
- FromYour hotel in Colombo Fort and Pettah
- 1
- 5 min · walk
- 2
Jami Ul-Alfar, the Red Mosque
Pettah · 30 min
The red and white candy-striped mosque of 1909 on Second Cross Street. Visitors are welcome outside prayer times, so late morning is right; shoulders and knees covered, shoes off, women are handed a robe and scarf at the door.
- 17 min · walk
- 3
Colombo Fort and the Old Dutch Hospital
Colombo Fort · 75 min
Walk south past the Khan Clock Tower into the colonial quarter: the old Cargills department store, the Lighthouse Clock Tower on Chatham Street, the restored 17th-century Dutch Hospital with its two courtyards of shops and bars. Coffee under the arches.
- 3.3 km · transit or taxi
- 4
Upali's by Nawaloka
Colombo 2 · 60 min
A ten-minute tuk-tuk to Colombo 2 for a proper rice and curry: the lunch plate comes with four or five curries, a mallung of greens, pol sambol and a papadum. Ask for a kottu if you want the Colombo street dish done cleanly.
- 17 min · walk
- 5
Gangaramaya Temple
Slave Island · 75 min
Colombo's busiest temple, part shrine and part museum. Around Rs 500 for foreign visitors, children free; shoulders and knees covered, shoes and hats off at the door.
Rs 500
- 4 min · walk
- 6
Seema Malaka on Beira Lake
Slave Island · 30 min
Gangaramaya's meditation hall on three platforms over the lake, five minutes' walk away. Keep your temple ticket, which is usually accepted at the gate, otherwise the fee is a few hundred rupees; twenty minutes is enough.
- 21 min · walk
- 7
Galle Face Green at sunset
Galle Face · 75 min
The seafront lawn where the city comes out at dusk: kites, cricket, couples under umbrellas. Eat isso vadai (prawn-topped lentil fritters) from the carts along the promenade, Rs 100 or so apiece, and watch the sun drop into the Indian Ocean around 6:15 p.m.
- 18 min · walk
- 8
Ministry of Crab
Colombo Fort · 120 min
Back in the Old Dutch Hospital: lagoon crab by weight (500 g to the 2 kg Crabzilla), priced in US dollars, service and tax included. Open noon to 10:30 p.m. daily, closed on Poya days; book by WhatsApp or email a few days ahead.
Day 2
Colombo 7: the museum, Independence Square and the Galle Road
- FromYour hotel in Colombo Fort and Pettah
- 1
Colombo National Museum
Colombo 7 · 120 min
The throne and regalia of the Kandyan kings, Anuradhapura bronzes and the Galle trilingual stone. The foreign adult ticket is US$5 (about Rs 1,500; US$8 adds the Natural History Museum); open roughly 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed on public holidays and Poya days.
Rs 1,500
- 15 min · walk
- 2
Independence Square and the Arcade
Colombo 7 · 60 min
Ten minutes' walk: the 1948 memorial hall in a Kandyan audience-hall style on its lawns, joggers in the shade, then the Arcade across the road, the old lunatic asylum turned into a courtyard of shops and cafés. Free.
- 9 min · walk
- 3
Café Kumbuk, Horton Place
Colombo 7 · 75 min
A garden café in Colombo 7 with a seasonal menu: a Sri Lankan grain bowl, a jackfruit curry, good coffee and cold-pressed juices. The Commons on Flower Road for a hopper or a club sandwich if you want the old Colombo café.
- 1.8 km · transit or taxi
- 4
Barefoot, 704 Galle Road
Colombo 3 · 75 min
Barbara Sansoni's handloom shop since the 1960s: cotton in colors you will not see elsewhere, sarongs and cushions, with a garden café at the back. Open Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., until 6 p.m. on Sundays and Poya days.
- 9.4 km · transit or taxi
- 5
Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara or Mount Lavinia beach
Kelaniya or Mount Lavinia · 150 min
Kelaniya, 30 to 40 minutes north by tuk-tuk, has Solias Mendis's 1930s murals and a tall white dagoba; free, dress as at Gangaramaya. Or take the train from Kollupitiya 20 minutes south to Mount Lavinia for a swim and a sunset beer.
- 8.5 km · transit or taxi
- 6
Nuga Gama at the Cinnamon Grand
Colombo 3 · 120 min
A village recreated under a banyan tree in the hotel garden in Colombo 3: clay-pot curries, hoppers made to order, kiribath. Buffet, around Rs 8,000 a head; Hotel de Pilawoos on Galle Road is the cheaper, later option for cheese kottu.
Day 3
The coastal train to Galle
- FromYour hotel in Colombo Fort and Pettah
- 1
Train 8050 from Colombo Fort
Colombo Fort · 160 min
The 6:50 a.m. express reaches Galle at 9:29 a.m.; the 8:35 a.m. (train 8040) is in at 10:48 a.m. Second class unreserved is Rs 500 and third Rs 240, bought at the counter that morning, and sitting on the left gives the sea.
Rs 500
- 109 km · transit or taxi
- 2
Dutch Reformed Church
Galle Fort · 30 min
A ten-minute tuk-tuk from the station to the fort, bags to the hotel, then the 1755 church on Church Street: a floor of carved Dutch gravestones, a pipe organ, a pulpit of calamander wood. Free, donation box, closed to visitors during Sunday service.
- Next door
- 3
Maritime Archaeology Museum
Galle Fort · 60 min
In the 1671 Dutch warehouse above the Old Gate: shipwreck finds, the Galle stone, a Dutch Fort model. The foreign ticket is US$5 (about Rs 1,500); most accounts have it closed on Sunday, Monday and public holidays, so go on a weekday.
Rs 1,500
- 4 min · walk
- 4
Poonie's Kitchen, Pedlar Street
Galle Fort · 75 min
A courtyard café for a vegetable rice and curry plate or a lunch thali with jackfruit, beetroot and a coconut sambol. Pedlar's Inn Café a few doors along for a Sri Lankan breakfast at any hour and a gelato after.
- 5 min · walk
- 5
The lanes: Pedlar, Leyn Baan and Church Street
Galle Fort · 90 min
The hot hours are for the shade of the lanes: Barefoot at 41 Pedlar Street, the Historical Mansion Museum, the Dutch Hospital arcade, a king coconut from a cart. Rest at the hotel from three; the walls are for dusk.
- 4 min · walk
- 6
The lighthouse and Flag Rock
Galle Fort · 45 min
The 1939 lighthouse on the southeast corner, the Meeran Mosque beside it, then along the wall to Flag Rock where boys dive off the bastion for tips. Free; the ramparts are open ground.
- 4 min · walk
- 7
The ramparts at dusk
Galle Fort · 75 min
Walk the full circuit of the Dutch walls from Flag Rock round to the Star, Moon and Sun bastions: 45 minutes, the whole town and the sea. The sun sets around 6:10 p.m. all year and the walls fill with families.
- 7 min · walk
- 8
The Tuna & The Crab or Fortaleza
Galle Fort · 120 min
The Tuna & The Crab in the Galle Dutch Hospital serves crab, tuna sashimi and prawns, priced in dollars; book the same day. Fortaleza on Church Cross Street has a courtyard, a seafood curry and a cocktail.
Day 4
The south coast, then back to Colombo
- FromYour hotel in Colombo Fort and Pettah
- 1
Jungle Beach or Unawatuna
Unawatuna · 120 min
Fifteen minutes by tuk-tuk to Jungle Beach, a small cove under the Japanese Peace Pagoda, calm before nine; Unawatuna next door is the long, sheltered bay with sunbeds. The sea is rough from May to October, so ask before you go in.
- 11 km · transit or taxi
- 2
The stilt fishermen at Koggala
Koggala · 30 min
Twenty minutes east on the coast road, the men perched on poles are mostly posing and will ask Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 a photo; the real fishing is at dawn and dusk. Agree the price first, pay it, and move on.
- 4.9 km · transit or taxi
- 3
Handunugoda Tea Estate or Koggala Lake
Ahangama · 90 min
Handunugoda, ten minutes inland: a plantation walk, a factory and a tea tasting, open daily 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for Rs 1,000 a head (children under 14 free). Or a Koggala Lake boat to the cinnamon island, about Rs 5,000 for an hour.
Rs 1,000
- 16 km · transit or taxi
- 4
Lunch inside Galle Fort
Galle Fort · 90 min
Back to the fort by tuk-tuk: the Heritage Café on Church Street for a crab or fish curry under the fans, or Lucky Fort Restaurant on Parawa Street for the ten-curry home-cooked lunch that needs an hour and a half. Collect bags after.
- 109 km · transit or taxi
- 5
Train 8051 to Colombo Fort, or a taxi
Galle · 155 min
Afternoon expresses leave Galle at 2:50 p.m. and 3:35 p.m.; sit on the right for the sea. For a late flight take a taxi, about two and a half hours to the airport for Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 through your hotel or PickMe.
Rs 500
- Getting there
A last Colombo dinner, or Negombo
Colombo 2 or Negombo · 90 min
Sleeping in Colombo: Kaema Sutra at the Shangri-La in Colombo 2 for modern hoppers and black pork curry, ten minutes from the station. Flying tonight: Lords on Porutota Road in Negombo for a seafood platter, then a ten-minute ride to departures.
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Pins are approximate. Tap one for the stop; the directions links open Google Maps.
The practical bits
From the airport
From Bandaranaike International (CMB), the 187 expressway bus runs to the Colombo Fort bus stand beside the station in about an hour for around Rs 350, from the stop outside arrivals. A PickMe or Uber, or the taxi counter in the hall, is 45 to 60 minutes on the expressway for roughly Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000 including the Rs 400 toll; agree whether the toll is included. There is a slow suburban train from Katunayake that is not worth the walk.
What a day costs
About Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000 a day per person for meals, tickets and tuk-tuks: a rice and curry lunch is Rs 800 to Rs 1,500, foreign museum tickets about Rs 1,500 each, the Galle train Rs 500. A crab dinner at Ministry of Crab or The Tuna & The Crab adds US$60 to US$100 a head.
Where to stay
Got a day to spare?
Worth knowing
- Apply for the ETA at eta.gov.lk before you fly, even if it is free: since May 25, 2026 nationals of 40 countries (UK, US, Canada, Australia, most of the EU, India, China and Japan among them) get the 30-day double-entry tourist ETA at no charge. Everyone else pays US$50 online or US$60 on arrival, SAARC nationals US$20; use the official site only.
- ATMs give rupees only, and foreign cards work at Commercial Bank, Sampath and HNB machines for a fee of a few hundred rupees; bring clean dollars or euros to change at the airport bank counters. Cards work in hotels and bigger restaurants, but tuk-tuks, markets and small eateries are cash, and bills add 10 percent service, with Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 a day for a driver.
- Do not drink the tap water; bottled and filtered water are everywhere. Poya, the monthly full-moon holiday, closes bars and liquor shops and some restaurants, Ministry of Crab included, so check the date against your four days and swap the big dinner if it lands on one.
- Temples want shoulders and knees covered and shoes and hats off, and no photos posed with your back to a Buddha. White or pale clothes are the convention, a sarong in your bag solves most of it, and never touch a monk.
- The two monsoons swap coasts: the southwest monsoon (May to September) soaks Colombo and Galle while Trincomalee and Arugam Bay are dry, and the northeast monsoon (October to January) does the reverse. December to March is the right window for this itinerary; in July point the same four days at the east coast.
Things you can ask once it’s in the app
Plans change. Ask Chat and it proposes a reshuffled day you can apply, or just answers the question.
Day 2 falls on a Poya day, what closes and where do we eat?Book us a first-class seat on the Galle train instead of second classAdd a whale-watching morning at Mirissa to day 4Which Colombo lunch works for a vegetarian?How do we get from Galle to the airport for a 11 p.m. flight?
Questions
Is two days enough for Colombo?
Yes. Colombo is a working capital with a handful of sights, not a sightseeing city. Day 1 covers the old town and the lake temples, day 2 the museum quarter; most people are glad to be on the train by the third morning.
Which day works in the rain?
Day 2: the National Museum, the Arcade and Barefoot are all under roofs, and Nuga Gama is covered. Monsoon rain comes in bursts, usually in the afternoon, so keep the beach and the ramparts for the mornings. A rain plan in Waystop keeps this day and adds a wet-weather version beside it.
Do I need to book the train?
Not for second or third class, which are unreserved: buy at the counter that morning and board early for a seat. Only the 2:40 p.m. train has a reserved first-class car, and the Kandy trains need a reservation weeks ahead in season.
Should I stay in Galle an extra night?
If you can. A third south-coast night gets you a Mirissa whale-watching morning (November to April) or a day at Hiriketiya or Tangalle, and the fort is at its best at dawn with nobody on the walls.
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Add your dates, your hotel and who’s coming, then ask Chat to change anything: it proposes the edit and you tap Apply. Want a long lunch instead of a museum? Just ask. Every place is checked against Google Maps before it lands on your day, and Chat can tell you when to leave for the next stop. Going on to another city? Build a multi-city trip.