Sri Lanka - boring notes. Negombo, Sri Lanka - description of the beach, how to get there, what to see Attractions in Negombo, what to see

Not all travel lovers have the opportunity to come to the same country several times, and therefore the role of thoughtfulness of upcoming routes and types of recreation increases. This is true for Sri Lanka or more familiar to the Russian ear - Ceylon. It is clear that the most attractive is the city closest to the airport, which also has the status of a seaside resort - Negombo.

The very name of the city involuntarily resembles something from adventure literature such as the novel "Children of Captain Grant". And a trip here can really become an adventure, especially if you go "savage". And this, I must say, is a fairly common type of tourism, since tours can be combined - throughout the country, or even transit, for example, from neighboring India. Everyone chooses what is called, on their own, but still it is worth being psychologically prepared for the fact that an organized excursion and hotel tour is different from an independent one. This concerns, perhaps, first of all, the issue of cleanliness. Firstly, life is known in comparison, and if you compare it with just left India, then Negombo will seem very neat and orderly, but if you are still “one foot” in a Moscow (or some European) airport, the impression will be somewhat different. Secondly, take into account the difficult history of the country - recent history, because hostilities here ended just a few years ago, and swept across the entire island-state ... read more

Helpful answer?

What to buy?

Negombo is a fairly large tourist city, and shopping is not bad there. Although there are not many shops, in a good sense of the word, in Negombo. It's easier to say that everything in the city can be bought at the market. Many, for example, come there for "branded" polo shirts and others that are expensive, but do not smell of anything, and for at least a couple of years will not lose shape and color and wear well.

Well, in general, the center of Negombo is, in fact, one large shop, where you can find everything you need and want, from clothespins to real sapphires. As for clothes, before trying on clothes, you should take into account such a nuance as matching sizes, so at first just look around to understand how much smaller and thinner the locals are than you, and translate this value into clothing size. For example, an XXL blouse can suit a medium-sized lady and nothing else. "Luv S.L. Negombo", which is opposite the Center Point Grill & Bar and the Jetwing Blue Hotel - this is probably the only decent clothing store in town. Interior and service - just like in Europe. There is also air conditioning, which is very nice on a hot day.
Well, a good assortment of factory-made quality clothes - T-shirts, dresses. Of course, the collections are not so rich, but you can choose something. The prices there are fixed, but they are sometimes much lower than in small shops with things of dubious quality. After all the little annoying...

Negombo beach located at the mouth of the lagoon of the same name and is the main beach of the west coast. Its advantages usually include an ideal location (seven kilometers from Bandaranaike International Airport), width and safe seas.

The city of Negombo has a small port and its economy is mainly based on tourism and traditional fishing. It is not surprising, therefore, that Negombo is famous among gourmets for its seafood . It also produces spices, ceramics and copper products.

Most of the population of Negombo Catholics (they are followed by Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims). In connection with this and the rich Roman Catholic heritage of the era of dominion, the city of Negombo was even given the name "Little".

wide sandy Negombo beach tourists usually leave for the last days of their stay on, since it is most convenient to get to the airport from here. There are many hotels of different classes on Negombo beach, ranging from the most luxurious to modest guesthouses, as well as restaurants for every taste. Some quiet stretches of the beach are even maintained by the hotels themselves. Water sports and diving are extremely popular among beach goers, as there are several well-preserved coral reefs near the coast and a 50-year-old shipwreck that serves as an artificial habitat for many species of fish. Handicrafts are sold near the beach.

Location: Gampaha, West Coast
Coordinates forGPS: 7.237024°, 79.840048° / 7.233905°, 79.839919°
From Colombo: 37 km
From Bandaranaike Airport: 7 km
nearestand/dstation: Negombo railway station
Nearest city: Negombo
Best time to visit: November to April

Attractions / Negombo Beach:

Negombo Lagoon

The Negombo Lagoon covers an area of 3164 hectares and is located 40 km north of. It is part of the large Muthurawajawel coastal wetland. Apart from a narrow point facing the sea in the north, the water depth in the lagoon is less than 2 m.

Drying freshly caught fish on Negombo beach.

Another tourist attraction is the fish laid out to dry on huge sheets right on the beach.

Spice making in Negombo.

Spice lovers can visit the yards where they are made and watch the process.

Dutch fort in Negombo.

One of the most prominent sights in Negombo is undoubtedly the Old Dutch Fort. This building takes us back to colonial times, when the people were ruled by Portugal, and then.

Church of the Virgin Mary in Negombo

The dominant religion in Negombo is Christianity, so the Church of the Virgin Mary is of great importance here. This is a luxurious and monumental church, towering over all other buildings in the city. The church consists of three main levels, which are easy to distinguish from a short distance from the front.

The attention of tourists in Negombo also deserves St. Sebastian Church and Anglican Church.

Hotels near Negombo beach:

Browns Beach Hotel (on the beach)
Camelot Beach Hotel (100 m to the beach)
Catamaran Beach Hotel
Club Hotel Dolphin (near the lagoon)
Dickman Resort Negombo
Golden Star Beach Hotel (100 m to the beach)
Goldi Sands Hotel (on the beach)
Jetwing Beach Hotel
Jetwing Sea Hotel (10 m to the beach)
Jetwing Ayurveda Pavilions hotel (200 m to the beach)
Kumudu Valley Resort
Little Taprobane
Oasis Beach Resort
Ocean View Tourist Guesthouse (100 m to the beach)
Paradise Beach Hotel (70 m to the beach)
Paradise Holiday Village (100 m to the beach)
The Pearl (50 m to the beach)
Sea Garden Hotel (on the beach)
Silver Sands Hotel (100 m to the beach)
St. Lachlan Hotel & Suites
Sunset Beach Hotel (50 m to the beach)
Villa Araliya

All of the following is purely personal impressions and thoughts and may not at all coincide with the opinions of other travelers.

Why Sri Lanka? I feel the need to explore different places, countries, continents and people inhabiting them. I regularly return to places I like. I collect countries - this is the 54th.

As a matter of principle, I don’t take tours if I understand that I can organize everything myself and most likely cheaper and better.

So, I originally planned Thailand (I was there a hundred times, but I really wanted the sea - I got tired after a couple of stressful months at work) - however, when I saw the cost of tickets, I thought, maybe something new. Goa, Bali - there were, Madagascar - well, I don’t know ... but I liked Sri Lanka.

2 0

I got tickets for Emirates. The transfer was in Dubai - at night, from 00 to 2.30 .. but arrival at 8.00 and not at 4 in the morning like fly Dubai .. and departure back at 9 in the morning and not at three in the morning .. Well, it’s 4 rubles more expensive - this is not essential . The ticket cost 45 rubles with all the redeemed legrooms .. probably if you take it for six months it will be cheaper. I took for a month. I'll tell you a good one at the Emirates Business Lounge in Dubai, although Sharik has better service and food.

There is no schedule. The program is conditional. Negombo and Unawatuna are the main places where I will hang out, and I booked hotels here. Booked tedious and long. I read reviews and was in shock - with an increase in stardom, enthusiasm decreased and negativity increased, while prices from stardom grew straight to the sky.

Therefore, even in the presence of financial opportunities, I ruled out the 5s ... immediately. And I felt more free!

Sri Lanka is very similar to India .. Local, more trained by the British, of which, by the way, there are a huge number. Later I read that all the Indians were brought in at one time by the same British, because the locals were distinguished by enviable laziness and did not like to work in principle, although the Indians are not very agile either.

Upon arrival, I thought - what a fine fellow I am that I made an electronic visa (1500 rubles - 3 hours), the queue at the airport for a visa is huge.

At the exit, I famously bargained with a local tour office and took a car from them to the hotel for a symbolic $15. I used the same car with a driver for the next two days.

By the way, oddly enough, but the best exchange rate is at the airport, but I realized this already in the city.

Negombo.

Reviews about the country in bulk - therefore, it’s not a hunt to ship superfluous. I got up All Sutes Hotel 4 *. Eighteen thousand rubles for 3 nights. Booking on Hotels.com - seemed cheaper, I had two free nights, which I used (and paid 6,000 r - beauty).

1 0

The hotel is very decent, clean, closer even to 5 *. Kettle, bathrobes, slippers, refrigerator - everything, a beautiful view of the ocean. Friendly staff, good breakfast, good wifi. Nice clean pool. Of the minuses - they cook to order so-so, but there is even a hookah for $ 10 - nothing at all. .

0 0

But the beach looks depressing, dirty - plastic, glass, no sunbeds or umbrellas for you, there are few people. The ocean, if there is no wave, is not bad, but after 17.00 I was afraid to enter - it seemed that the wave was hefty powerful.

Walking along the street in the evening, I saw restaurants full of Europeans - they keep prices for them there - decent (by local standards), but they cook lousy in my opinion. Souvenirs - like in Goa, elephants and Buddhas ... well, some other terrible leather bags.

Yes, it's cleaner here than in Goa, that's a fact. But people sometimes rest right on the pavement.

0 0

Negombo is most often used as a place to adapt after a flight and as a base for trips to Kandy, Sigiriya, Dante's Peak. Much closer from here. This does not apply to group tours - these usually take a bus and take six hours to Unawatuna Beach, or seven to Melissa. And then they are taken to the same Sigiriya on an excursion, but with an overnight stay - well, it's just tin. And I gathered in the morning in Kandy.

Kandy.

This town is very popular, there is a temple of the Tooth of Buddha there and you should see it - well, definitely!

We drove there for three hours - it's a hundred kilometers. The landscape is of the same type - palm trees, palm trees, mountains - palm trees. The car together with the driver cost $ 100 and at 9 am we left.

After two hours of driving along narrow roads and heavy traffic, we stopped at Pinnewala, a town where elephants are led through the streets to the local river and then they are bathed!

0 0

Two hours of show .. from 10 to 12. Then even in the Nursery it's not particularly interesting. But, surprising is the fact that without a ticket for swimming (and this is a simple street with access to the river) you can’t get through.

0 0

The ticket costs 2500 rupees (920 r). But the spectacle is very, very exciting, Although I'm in Bali - on elephants and rode and swam. I note that there are several nurseries there, there is also a place where crippled animals are kept - it’s not a fact that it’s a fascinating sight to watch crippled elephants.

On the way we stopped at a fruit market, but there was no mango. The locals will not ripen until April, well, papaya, pineapple, breadfruit and everything else is available.

1 0

I understand the prices are special - tourist prices, because there were no local buyers, but minibuses with tourists were constantly slowing down.

Well, my driver, of course, brought me to some kind of spice plantation .... razvodilovo of course. But I bought something for $ 50, I'll experiment. (I bought an ointment for hair removal (I'm bald, I was wondering) with which I got an allergic reaction later, and they advertised so beautifully)

I did not like Kandy itself - hectic, dirty, noisy. In fact, after the elephant nursery, you can safely turn around. Unless you're a Buddhist of course.

0 0

Another religious plane did not seem attractive to me, but if I arrived, I naturally went to the Temple of the Tooth Relic, but was not imbued.

0 0

And I missed the lake next to the temple - well, a lake and a lake, nothing special. I have already looked at so much - in Goa I didn’t advance beyond the night market .... and now I feel in Goa - I’ll be back 100%, but here it’s not a fact yet

0 0

After visiting the local Christian temple nearby, you can fall out of the city for lunch and my carrier-bred brought me to the "super ^ buffet with some kind of cosmic prices, and it feels like I paid for myself, the carrier and another guy (probably the carrier's brother.) By the way, the driver was fed for free.

On his part, there were two more attempts to tease - but I didn’t fall for one at all ... a factory for the production of masks and elephants, and I stopped by for a tea tasting, but why not drink tea. ^Golden^ tea - 500 gr cost truly magically - $ 33 - I was surprised, do they really take it. In Unawatuna, by the way, this tea was sold for the same $35 but for 100g. So, they gave me tea to drink, so that is simpler - so I went, and the consultant was upset. Well, there are a lot of scammers here ... at every step they are literally trying to process a tourist and sell something, but who else to take money from. The price for locals and foreigners is unimaginably different ... in an elephant sanctuary, for example, even cash desks in different places - so that tourists do not go nuts. We also note that the price tag for our own and foreigners is different.

We returned dark.

I am surprised at weirdos - that I rent cars here and talk about it as a feat. Here I read one, for 3 weeks he paid $ 2,100 (I paid many times less in the States) and he also steered. Yes, for 1500 a local driver would take a minibus and pray for you, or maybe cheaper. The traffic is very complex - it's not even Moscow, there are many nuances - in the form of exits to the oncoming lane, etc. Notels.com offered me a Honda for $330 for 9 days, but I never matured.

Unawatunna.

From Negombo, you can get to Unawatuna Beach by a paid highway for two and a half hours or by a regular road for 5-6 hours. Naturally, we went on a paid one, even if it was more expensive. The car cost me $90 that day. My same breeder, who received instructions to follow the route clearly - looked pleased, no wonder - I found out that it was possible to fly for $ 70 .. So the first toll road cost 300 local rubles, then there was a long connection with the second road through the city, because the highway not connect, and the second cost 1100 dirhams.

The hotel, located four kilometers from the main village, upon arrival caused some bewilderment, although I seemed to read reviews, but at that moment time was running out for me and prices were growing by leaps and bounds.

0 0

These bookings know that if you come in once, it makes no sense to make it cheaper, but it will always be more expensive. By the way - you can easily accommodate in place, there is a choice.

No, in general, if you look at it, I lived in India and in much extreme conditions ... I didn’t really like it here - aged furniture and a lack of sockets. In Negombo, I really lived in a 4-ke .. and moved a bitch to a three-ruble note. Nearby there was a good hotel, but there were no places. Anyway.

Amanda Beach Hotel - 31,000 for 6 nights with breakfast. At first I thought; I probably should have gone to a more populated hotel - only 7 people lived here, of which I saw 3, including two Russians from Yaroslavl. The Internet is not so hot (but the same in Goa), the tablet is barely connected.

I think I got shorter .. no pool, no shops nearby, no restaurants. Good place for lovers. But the breakfasts are not bad - the condo works, there is hot water and there are no mosquitoes. And then I appreciated this place, quiet, calm, they cook to order perfectly.

So - the first thing I saw when I entered the sea ... no, I tried to enter, this is a wave twice as high as me (and it seems to be small from the shore) - and threw me ashore and scratched my knees and immediately understood, thanks for that - alive!.

0 0

Well, don't back down... The second and third attempts were more successful - I dived, missed the wave - well, we got to know each other - Unawatunna.

The village itself is four kilometers away, a tuk-tuk took for 200 rupees ($ 1.5), the hotel manager really sold it for 500, but I'm sure that the locals pay about 100.

In the Tartuga restaurant on Unawatuna beach, it seemed generally good. I can’t say that the prices in restaurants are straining anymore ... the locals are also sitting, I don’t think that they have a special price list.

But the service is slow, they smile but really do everything slowly - they can carry the menu for 30 minutes, so I always took the menu myself. The food is of average quality, although they can easily spoil the fish.

Irritated by some moments: well, for example - I ordered tea in one cafe - they brought half a mug, I ask the water ran out? No, it's worth that much. I say pour water ... .. no, pay extra for water - however. Well, I got up and left, let him drink, he pays. .

The behavior of foreigners is interesting - a couple with two children (Danes) sits next to each other and both smoke cigarettes and extinguish the bulls in the sand under the table. I called the waiter - bring them an ashtray, and they asked the waiter to move me away with the hookah - like children. I had to send... Russians, in order to smoke - get up and go to smoke aside .... here's the culture of education for you.

Unawatunna.

Today in the morning it finally turned out that it was impossible to swim near the hotel - in the morning a wave with a house and reefs stick out. It takes about 10 minutes to walk to a normal beach.

1 0

But the beach is great. The lagoon is 100 meters by 20 meters, closed by reefs and there are no waves at all, the deepest depth is 150 cm. For children - a paradise, and for adults it's super - you swim like in a pool of sea water.

0 0

Even with a mask it’s good - there are more fish than on Jang Beach (a very popular beach). And yet, swimming or approaching the edge of the reef ridge (and the depth is chest-deep), you watch a blue wave on the horizon that menacingly rises from the ocean - and then it breaks on the reefs and billions of bubbles forming a bubbling foam rush towards you and create the illusion of a jacuzzi. Fantastic.

1 0

And if you want extreme sports, jump in a wave - please go a little to the right, where the wave rises under 2.5 meters and is ready to demolish you. It’s good that there is a double sandy rift and you can also jump quite safely.

0 0

Turtles again - they swim there, almost daily - but you can watch them just on the rifts .. There are not very many people in the lagoon, sunbeds are rented for 500r, there is no music - just the sound of the waves. There are 3-4 restaurants, average weighted prices. Lyapota. The beach is called Dalawella Beach. Hotels near Sri Gemunu Beach / Sayra Beach.

But to the main beach of Unawatuna - you can’t walk along the coast in principle, and why.

Galle - Fort .

Visited Galle Fort today.

0 0

Yesterday's tuk-tuk driver took me to the fort, showed me the main places (I didn't have to go at all). I don’t particularly like fortifications - well, this one is so-so. Of course, it would be necessary to restore it a little, but why? In general, it's kind of weak. There are no shops here, restaurants too, a market with local goods and a couple of museums.

0 0

On the way back - we dropped into a fruit shop - it turned out that the prices in the city were lower.

The tuk tuk driver offered dozens of entertainment options along the way - I stopped at several marine ... fishing, whales in Merissa, turtles in Hikkaduwa, and possibly Yala (reserve and jeep safaris). There were strong doubts about Yala, because it takes 4 hours to go one way, well, I don’t know. I read the reviews in the afternoon, listened to the boring and bleak story of the Yaroslavl people (they went to a similar reserve - closer, got tired, didn’t really see anything besides two elephants and a buffalo) and came to the conclusion that I’ll go to Tanzania there and see the wild world of animals, and buffaloes and I saw an elephant in the zoo.

Unawatuna. Fishing.

Tuk-tuker - organized fishing at my request. I invited neighbors from Yaroslavl and at 6 am we went to the boat. This process is unchanged in any country of the world - boat..sea..rod..wave. There is only one question, will it bite there, where they will bring it.

0 0

Local sail from the coast for 2-3 km. Well, something was pecking, they caught about 20 pieces, different ones. One Yaroslavl got sick - and for him it was a real test, and he will probably not forget him. The trip cost $80.

I was surprised by the behavior of the neighbors when paying (although I had encountered this before) two men paid $ 40 for fishing, with the words - is it normal? Well, 80 for three is by no means 40, and at least 25 for a person. Well, I said nothing, okay, I think, sort of called. A couple of days later, history repeated itself. The three of us go by tuk tuk to Jang Beach. How much do you usually pay? I ask. - There are three of us, probably it will be more expensive?

Four hundred answer, but they give 200 when calculating.

You guys are smart, I say, you can immediately see that you are friends with mathematics, engineers probably; - another 100 from you (I cooked 150 myself) - but they gave only fifty dollars. I didn't go anywhere else with them.

Unawatuna.

Today on our beach, I swam with two huge turtles, well, under a meter of shell .... big. Moreover, in principle, the depth was a meter and a half. Cool. I even stroked one, and it seemed to explode into the depths - well, not manual, however.

It turns out off the coast of Sri Lanka there are five species of sea turtles out of seven. Surprisingly, the turtle matures for fertilization after 30 years, and then it returns to where it hatched. They write to the beach of Hikkaduwa that they are tame and you can feed them, but judging by the pictures - they are fed by such a crowd - that it’s not a desire to go already, much less sawing there for 45 minutes ..

0 0

There is also a place for Sigiriya and Dante Peak, but, as I wrote, they are closer to Colombo and in the depths of the island - the road will take 5-6 hours to the Peak - plus a rise of 3-4 hours, plus a descent and back - two days minimum. Neighbors from Yaroslavl went to Sigiriya one day in a car with a driver and a guide - heroes. We left at 4 am and the tour company charged them 360 bucks for this tour (60 for the guide, incl.).

And I specifically found out that a private driver, for example, will charge $ 150 for this. The road is 5 hours, I don’t know what kind of pleasure it is - there are not particularly autobahns here.

I turned down Melissa and whale watching. And again I read the reviews, out of 20, two saw the tails of whales on the horizon, but everyone vomited, for a long time and painfully. And many write they didn’t see nichrome, but they liked it !!! What did people like - puke???

I understand that this is not an oceanarium, that wild animals, you can’t organize them specially for display, well, I don’t know, I need more guarantees ... By the way, a walk costs $ 50-70.

Unawatuna. Jung beach.

There is such a place in these places, in the area of the Japanese pagoda (although this is an ordinary Buddhist stupa). You go uphill for a while... and then a winding path from above leads you through the jungle - straight to the shallows.. I did not observe snakes, monkeys or other living creatures. So - below the lagoon, no waves, sand, some homemade and free sunbeds under the palm trees.

0 0

I went to a local massage - a tuk man lured me. Well, this is pure profanity. Do not fall for this provocation - for $ 25 they just rubbed it with oil.

Tuk tuk workers, as you understand, here replace both guides and travel agencies. They will agree, book, change the bucks, take them to the alcohol market, and so on. Indispensable. They are sociable, cooing in local English (mostly understandable), carrying some letters of recommendation from tourists and they are very friendly, but they pretend to be naive simpletons. My evening takes me to the hotel, and everyone complains about how difficult it is to raise two children, that they earn little, etc. (average salary on the coast $150-$200). I somehow deaf. So - he brought it and pointing to the rear wheels, he says something about the repair - then he dumps it - give them a thousand bucks - I really need it. Lovely people - no fuss, as they say.

I went to the spice shop. Not where the guides drag you, but where the locals buy. Well, I’ll say this - prices are cheaper than in Russia in online stores. The choice is decent. With tea, I think it’s more difficult - you won’t understand what they mix in bags there. I bought a couple of kilos for 50 bucks, I hope the tuk man did not let me down.

I went to the alcohol market, looked, asked. Wine mainly New Zealand, Australia, Africa, India. Local wines are not produced. Price up to 2500 rupees ($16). Rum from 1800 (don't know which one).

Negombo.

Before the morning flight, I decided to get up for the night in Negombo - for the flight was at 10 am (Yaroslavl residents had a flight at 3 am, so the bus took them from the hotel at seven in the evening - this is how the agencies work).

Taking a local carrier guy in love with cars, I flew to Negombo in 2 hours and $ 65. The same kiwitaxi asked for 90. The boy - Samir (+94724217441) works hard, dangles to the airport 2 times a day. Two years and two months without days off. The car is ^Toyota Plus^ on lease and you have to pay 2300 bucks a month. Their cars are terribly expensive ... This Toyota costs $ 40,000, my Merc cost so much.

0 0

In Negombo, I stayed at the Hotel Pledge 3 *, for 6,400 rubles / night. The place is not luxury - you have to walk 10 minutes to the hiking trails, but the hotel is not bad, I lived in a room of 60 meters - large and stupid (with some kind of trouble with the lighting, I didn’t figure out where it turns on), the pool at the hotel. The restaurant could be called good, but they confuse orders - for example, they brought something completely different from what I ordered. And breakfast, after sitting for 25 minutes, did not wait, they only managed to bring coffee - but they paid $ 13, very disproportionate. I liked the first hotel much more - there is still a view and access to the sea and around more fun, and generally better by an order of magnitude.

As a result of a 10 day stay - I liked everything, except for the service, because they act as they see fit, you as a guest absolutely do not care, an hour, an hour and a half - you wait and do not spoil their karma, as they say ... confused the order - do not care .. undercooked, overcooked, oversalted - don't care, ..forgot, didn't bring it, shortchanged - don't care. No one will ever apologize - just a stupid happy smile counting on indulgence. Food prices are sliding towards European ones, hotels are decent - they are expensive for the most part, in guesthouses I think a complete hello (in the bad sense of the word, but ours stay there), the ocean is good - if you know the location of beaches, waves and currents, about restaurants already wrote. (choose those checked for quality and service - in TripAdvisor). Well, in general, probably no worse than Goa - fruits are only catastrophically small - probably depends on the season. The main difference is that the ocean is much more serious - there are many reefs and a high wave, but there is an opportunity to wander around various sights - if you can’t sit still and if you need them. As a result, for some reason, it turns out that they are not particularly needed, these sights are very nondescript. Well, it's still a long way to go, that's a fact. But while writing, I thought, I’ll definitely be back, I liked something.

0 0

Another moment - they all - KNOW PUTIN - And they are just bastard from him and in different places they told me that he - the president is their favorite, can he steer a couple of terms there?

There is still a peculiarity with the weather - in winter (May-October) - in the described places it rains and it is very stormy, but on the other hand, in the northeast there is peace and quiet - the wave is very small, warm, there is no rain .... surprisingly, however, the service there is weak developed.

Caution and attention should be paid to reviews about hotels, beaches - they write a lot, often beautifully and enthusiastically, but people with little experience write that they were mostly only in Egypt.

Good luck with your travels, stay safe

Negombo Beach in Sri Lanka is only 10 km from the airport. From the city of Negombo it is convenient to start a trip to Sri Lanka. Negombo also sells some of the cheapest tours to Sri Lanka. You can buy a ticket for only $450-500. We wanted to find out what the Negombo Beach resort is like.

Negombo beach

The beach in Negombo is huge. The wide sandy shore stretches for 6 km. The sand is yellow. Basically, everyone relaxes in the northern part of Negombo, which is filled with hotels and guesthouses.

Negombo is really a budget resort, you should not expect from it all the delights that Sri Lanka has to offer. In general, at first we thought that Negombo was not the right place to stay, after reading numerous reviews of tourists that swimming here was not an option.

In fact, everything turned out to be a little different, but there is undoubtedly some truth in this. Beach holidays in Negombo cannot trump with clean and well-groomed beaches with blue water and bamboo sun loungers. There are no sun loungers at all, unless at hotels on the first line. But you can swim in Negombo, we saw tourists who come to swim in the sea.

Sun shade is very hard to find. Palm trees are planted only at expensive hotels and the entire 50-meter coastline is completely given over to the sun.

Where can I order a transfer from the airport?

We use the service - KiwiTaxi
Ordered a taxi online, paid by card. We were greeted at the airport with a sign with our name on it. We were taken to the hotel in a comfortable car. You have already talked about your experience In this article.

Ocean in Negombo

Sea and waves. In the morning, the ocean is at its calmest and clearest. After 9 am, the waves get stronger and the current brings debris.

Animals on the beach

Crows and dogs. These 2 dogs walked with us along the beach for an hour. We played with them, threw a stick, and later brought them food. Crows are circling in the sky instead of gulls and parrots. Relaxing on the beach or in the pool to the sound of croaking, which, again, is reminiscent of India.

Negombo video

Watch a short video from the beach:

Situation in Negombo during the day

There are practically no people on Negombo Beach during the day. Basically, rare tourists and fishermen live on the beach, who prepare boats for going out into the ocean, straighten the sails, and lay out the nets.

Sunsets in Negombo and evening life

During the day, as you understand, there are very few people on the beach. But in the evening the picture completely changes. It feels like the whole city of Negombo overlooks the beach. Someone plays ball, someone walks with dogs, someone has a picnic and eats.

The ocean can take out the trash

Not only the presence of a huge number of people changes the situation on the beach. It happens that the currents bring tons of garbage. Logs, sticks, coconuts, plastic, bottles, other household waste and even some pipes. And the entire coastline in the evening can be littered with this mostly natural debris. We have seen this before. This is what beauty can await those who want to swim at sunset.

District in northern Negombo

Tourist street along the sea with cafes, shops, hotels and guest houses. Many cafes are closed in the morning. There is a sidewalk.

City of Negombo

The center of Negombo is an ordinary Sri Lankan city, where there is bustle, crampedness and noise.
Lots of Catholic churches and fish markets. There are no other attractions.
You can withdraw money without commission at the HSBC ATM, which is opposite Dominos pizza. On the map .

Transport

Buses are cheap. Tuk tuks ask for an average of 300-400 rupees for travel within the city. Uber and Pick me apps work. But in Peak Me, tuk tuk drivers always cancel orders, because they don’t want to deliver for such a price.

Where to eat in Negombo, prices in restaurants

Cafe prices are very reasonable.
For two, we had about 1,500 - 2,000 rupees ($ 9-11) for lunch with soft drinks.
We ate most often in a restaurant in our own, which has good reviews and is in demand among tourists. It is tasty, inexpensive, portions are large and most importantly - they cook quickly! Waiting time 20-25 minutes. Prices in the menu in the photo. Course 1$=170Rs. A point on the map .

We once went to the Sunnys restaurant, which also has a lot of positive reviews. Overall, it's okay, but the prices are a little more expensive, the taste is average. The check is signed 10% service charge. Our bill for lunch is 2800 rupees. Waiting for an empty hall 30 minutes. I liked Petit Cafe better. On the map .

Negombo reviews

What we personally liked about Negombo was a developed area with good inexpensive guesthouses and hotels. Moreover, it doesn’t matter which part of Negombo to settle in, if it is the first line from the beach, then in any case there will be cafes, restaurants and small souvenir shops nearby.

I molested in Negombo at least when compared with the southern resorts. They will unobtrusively offer 3 pareos, 5 times some catamaran and a couple of times fishing or something like that. Well, tuk-tuks will offer their services at least 10 times a day. Compared with and, we can say that the little things.

Conclusion: if your priority is to save a lot, but still, you can consider Negombo. But in this case, it would still be better to at least take 3-4 excursions and diversify your days, if you suddenly cannot swim on the local beach.

We can also recommend Negombo for 1-2 days to those who are going to actively travel around Sri Lanka, as the first city on the route to relax after the flight before traveling long distances. Or for an overnight stay before a flight. Since the city is close to the airport, it takes 20-30 minutes to get there, a taxi is inexpensive.

Negombo on the map and how to get there

How to get to Negombo from the airport, read at. Order a transfer you can here.