Western Province (Sri Lanka)

Western Sri Lanka is a province in Sri Lanka. Being the province where the capital and the main international airport are, nearly all travellers to Sri Lanka will start their holiday here. Before heading further afield, it is well worth visiting the many attractions this province has to offer.

• 🌍 Beruwela — beach resort
• 🌍 Colombo — the business capital and largest city in Sri Lanka
• 🌍 Panadura — a southern suburb of Colombo which has a large bus interchange (Panadura bus stand) and railway station
• 🌍 Gampaha
• 🌍 Negombo — more than just the town where the airport is!
• 🌍 Kalutara
• 🌍 Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte — legally the national capital, but not of great touristic importance. It is well served by restaurants and shops
• 🌍 Wadduwa — beachside southern suburb of Colombo

Bandaranaike International Airport is in Negombo, 33km north of Colombo. Almost every traveller entering Sri Lanka will enter here. It is not a world-class airport, but it does the job well enough. The airport is connected to Colombo by taxi and express bus, but the nearest railway station to the airport is Katunayake South, 1 km away, and is hard to access from the airport.

You may be able to tease some information from the Western Province Road Passenger Transport Authority website which has some bus timetable information in Sinhala only.

In Colombo:

• The National Museum of Colombo
• The Gangaramaya and Seema Malaka Buddhist temples
• Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque
• Viharamahadevi Park

Relaxing on the beach at Negombo or Wadduwa.

White-water rafting on the Kelani River at Kitulgala. This is also the place where The Bridge Over The River Kwai was filmed.

Colombo is the hub of the country's cheap and efficient rail network. Take the train from here to Ella in the hill country, to Jaffna in the far north, to historical Galle and the beaches of the south-west and south coasts, or even to the main towns of the east coast: Batticaloa and Trincomalee.