“Ayubowan” said a pretty lady clad with a peacock printed sari while we made our way out of the Sri Lankan Airlines plane at the Bandaranaike International Airport. The alluring country of Sri Lanka which is famous for its Ceylon Tea offers lush greenery to golden sparkling beaches. To be honest, we cringed at the thought of wasting time sitting at Colombo International Airport. So we headed to the visa desk, and got a transit visa and were ready to explore the quaint town of Negombo, and making the best use of our layover. If you too are stuck in transit at Sri Lanka then we are here to your rescue to help you make the best use of your layover in the country. Soak in the culture and indulge in local cuisine even in the shortest span of time, six hours of layover in Sri Lanka need not be such a burden. In this post, we give you the places to Visit in Negombo Sri Lanka during your layover.
Places to Visit in Negombo Sri Lanka
Take a city Tour of “Little Rome”
Negombo is the fourth largest city in Sri Lanka. It is a beautiful city dubbed as Sri Lanka’s Little Rome. The scenic landscape is extremely exuberant. Negombo is dotted with churches, Buddhist temples, and Hindu temples (kovils). The best way to explore the city is to hire a bike and explore the winding roads of the quaint town tucked at the shores of the Indian Ocean.
Get into spiritual high visiting the famous Angurukaramulla Temple which is approximately 200 years old which has a 6m-long reclining Buddha is worth seeing or spend your time admiring the fading pink chamber of St Mary’s Church to stunning St. Sebastian’s Church.
Sample the Local Cuisine
Sample the local delicacies in one of the beach shacks of Negombo with the local Tiger Beer. Tantalize your taste buds with the delicious seafood. We ordered Sri Lankan special rice, chicken curry, prawns with local beer. We paid a measly 800 bucks (in Sri Lankan Rupee) for a sumptuous meal for two.
Sip in the famous homegrown Ceylon Tea
Sri Lanka is famous for both its tea estates and the produce. Try experimenting with the different flavors of tea ranging from Mango to Vanilla. Also, do not forget to pack some tea for home, it’s completely worth it 🙂
We remember being served Ceylon tea at the Landmark Hotel in London.
We grabbed a dozen varieties of tea for friends and families back home.
Relax at Negombo Beach
Sri Lanka is blessed with stunning beaches and Negombo is one of them. You can relax at one of the beach shack or go for a speed boat ride. The beach is also famous for Kite surfing though we did not have time for that. But after a hearty meal, we went for a long walk and met some friendly locals at the beach.
Don’t get surprised if you find Idli and Vada being sold on the beach.
Pick up artifacts and souvenirs
Souvenirs not only trigger sweet travel memories, but they also make great decorative accents. Make the best use of your time and bring back travel memories to cherish from this beautiful country. Wooden artifacts and small trinkets are sold at various shops especially wooden figurines, wooden devil masks, silverware, wooden wall hangings, brass lamps, pottery, jewellery box, and the famous handlooms and batik items are quite popular.
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How to get Transit VISA for Sri Lanka
The surreal country has so much more to offer which will leave you craving for more …
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That is how you utilize the layover time. 🙂 Good post.
Great… 🙂
This is a cool advice. I was thinking of the same some time ago. Thank you for this post 🙂
Beautiful! Hope to visit the country sometime soon. How expensive is the country in terms of local transportation, eating out etc?
It is not an expensive country and INR also works in Sri Lanka as they get good exchange rates
I am totally smitten by the culture, cuisine and traditions of Sri Lanka. Also, I love it for it’s scenic beauty. The Negombo beach is splendid.
You guys get to visit some really unique places on your stopovers. The Angurukaramulla Temple is very beautiful and with 200 years of history and those Buddhas is well worth the stopover by itself. The food looks delicious too, with a few cups of tea and a view of the beach, what a transit stop.