Negombo to Colombo City Tour – 6 Hours

Independence Arcade Square/ Shopping 
This is a huge shopping complex housed in a group of innovative buildings in Colombo

Green Path Art Works
Every weekend, Green Path becomes the hub of local students and painters as they put up an impromptu open-air art show. They hand their canvasses from the railings along the side of the road. If you are a budding artist or are interested in artwork, you must visit this spot. All the artwork on display at the Green Path is for sale – at very affordable rates.

Viharamahadevi Park (pass by)
Colombo’s biggest park was originally called Victoria Park but was renamed in the 1950s after the mother of King Dutugemunu. It’s notable for its superb flowering trees, which bloom in March, April, and early May. Elephants used for ceremonies sometimes spend the night in the park, chomping on palm branches. It has been given a major sprucing up and now boasts comfy benches (often occupied by caressing couples), walkways, landscaping, and playgrounds. You’ll even still see the odd snake charmer.

Colombo Old Parliament
The Old Parliament Building is the building that houses the Presidential Secretariat of Sri Lanka. Situated in the Colombo fort area facing the sea, it is near the President’s House, Colombo, and adjacent to the General Treasury Building. The building housed the island’s legislature for 53 years until the new parliamentary complex was opened at Sri Jayawardenepura in 1983.

Colombo Fort Area
Fort (Colombo) is the central business district of Colombo in Sri Lanka. It is the financial district of Colombo and the location of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the World Trade Centre of Colombo from which the CSE operates. It is also the location of the Bank of Ceylon headquarters. Along the foreshore of the Fort, the area is the Galle Face Green Promenade, built in 1859 under the governance of Sir Henry George Ward, the Governor of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during the British colonial era. Fort is also home to the General Post office, hotels, government departments, and offices.

Pettah Red Mosque                                                                              Hidden in the busy Pettah Market on the narrow 2nd cross street lies a colorful mosque generally called Rathu Paliya in Sinhalese or Red Mosque ( or Red Masjid) in English and Samman Kottu Palli (“Mosque for Muslims of Indian origin”).  The mosque was built in 1909 by the Pettah Muslim community to fulfill the religious needs of the Muslims. The designer and builder were H L Saibo Lebbe and the two-storeyed mosque, incorporating a clock tower, was commenced in 1908 and completed the following year. Lebbe was influenced by the Indo-Saracenic architectural style, which was devised by British architects in late 19^th Century India. Essentially it’s a hybrid style that draws elements from native Indo-Islamic and Indian architecture and combines it with the Gothic revival and Neo-Classical styles favored in Victorian Britain (witness the Houses of Parliament). The uniqueness of the Red Mosque is the design where every brick is colored in either black or white creating striped, checkered jagged, and spiral designs. This design along with the colors gives this building a unique flavor among the other non-descriptive commercial buildings

Pettah Market
Pettah is Sri Lanka’s biggest and most functional Bazar and it is where Sri Lanka’s multiculturalism is at its most pronounced. The area has long been inhabited by Muslims, but a strong population of Sinhalese and Tamils contributes to a mix of ethnicities in Colombo’s most colorful area.

Gangaramaya Temple & Seema Malaka
Explore a temple unlike any other in the city of Colombo when you partake in the Gangaramaya and Seema Malakaya Tour. Taru Villas Lake Lodge is located less than five minutes from the temple. The Gangaramaya Temple is a Buddhist place of worship that brings in an eclectic mix of East Asian architecture along with other artifacts donated by Asian countries. The Seema Malakaya, on the other hand, is a serene meditation site nestled on the Beira Lake and is a unique place to visit when you’re exploring Colombo.

Lotus Tower
The Colombo Lotus Tower – South Asia’s tallest self-supported structure and Sri Lanka’s tallest skyscraper – was established in 2012. Over the past ten years since its inception up to now, the city of Colombo has watched as the tower transformed the landscape of the city. The Lotus Tower grew from a mere stem to a monumental structure that resembles the country’s rapid development in technology and tourism.