Beach near Colombo, Sri Lanka & Penang Malaysia

[kenzie]

Hello,

Would anyone be able to recommend beaches within short taxi ride of the Ports. Looking for pretty, nice water, swimming, sunbeds,umbrellas, beach bars. We are in Port June 2017.

 

Thank You

[tring]

We have recently returned from Sri Lanka, with 5 hotel bases, including 4 nights in Colombo. Not a beach area - the nearest beaches like that are a good 2.5 hours south. You may be able to buy day access to The Mount Lavinia Hotel (can look at reviews, it is about 30 mins south of the port) there is a public beach near that hotel as well, but does not sound recommendable. The nearest "beach resort" is Negombo, which would still be at least a one hour drive and is more like North Goa then your description of requirements - quite missable IMO and most other peoples opinion, I would suggest.

 

We loved Colombo and suggest you can have a really good day in the city at very little cost. Highlights I would suggest include the peaceful South Biera Lake. You can walk around it and there is a Hindu temple in the lake and the impressive Gangaramaya Buddist temple is just a short way up a side road - you could get a tuk tuk from near the port to there. There is also a picturesque island protruding into the lake with lots of different species of ducks etc. Regards a hygienic location for a drink or snack, the Cinnamon Grand Hotel is by the north western corner of the lake and the Cinnamon Red Hotel (were we stayed) is not far away from where the temples are. The Cinnamon Red has a rooftop bar (26th Floor), with great views - you could do both hotels as they are on different sides of the lake. This is a link to a map of Colombo, but the "Biera Lake" marked is further north than "South Biera Lake", which I mentioned, but you can still see South Biera Lake, the Cinnamon Grand and Gangaramaya Temple on this map - so zoom in. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Gangaramaya+Temple/@6.9260896,79.8448295,15z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x3ae2591640b4e0b3:0x14fcac803e83edbd!2sBeira+Lake!3b1!8m2!3d6.9294345!4d79.8541822!3m4!1s0x0:0x3a35356ebd5eed36!8m2!3d6.9165963!4d79.8565212

The Cinnamon Red Hotel is not located on this map, so you would need to search further for that - it is a little distance away from the south eastern corner of the lake and just to the west of the park.

 

Alternative recommendations I would make is the National Museum which is very interesting and cool at the height of the day (tourist cafe in grounds, but not easy to find so need to look carefully - we used the local cafe, which is perhaps best avoided). The museum is by Viharamahadevi Park, where you will find the Old Town Hall. Galle Face Green is great to stroll along at sunset to see local life and is near the port (with Galle Face Hotel to the far side - historic and recently refurbed). You could easily pick up tuk tuks between these places - the most we payed was 500 ruppees from the far side of Pettah back to our hotel and half that for the shorter journeys - you will need to find an ATM for some local currency, (there is one in a shopping centre by the Cinnamon Grand and no doubt a number in Fort, where the port is and which is the business centre of the city). Try not to let them know you are from a ship, or I expect prices will rise as they do in many parts of the world, when from a cruise ship. Temples charge entrance. English is widely spoken, so no language problems.

 

If you really want to see local life, we strolled through Pettah - the market area as it was coming to life and as people were leaving the Fort Area (which is where the port is) at the end of their working day. Absolute bedlam and not recommended for the less travelled or faint hearted tourists, but from our perspective it was amazing - just keep away from those large wheelbarrows transporting goods as they cannot stop if you step in front of them!

 

Leave the beach to other ports and enjoy Colombo for what it is, but beware traffic builds up badly at peak times, so do not "miss the boat". You do need to do a bit of homework, regards where you want to go, I would not suggest just walking aimlessly out of the port as that area is somewhat run down and is just near the business area, which was not particularly of interest to us, though there are a number of colonial buildings to be seen there. There is a Hilton in the Fort area if you want a pit stop before returning to the ship.

 

Those who do not want to walk could get a tuk tuk to take them around to see "the sights", or could easily just pick up tuk tuks from place to place.

Edited March 19, 2017 by tring

[suekay]

We stayed at Mount Lavinia hotel for a week . The public beach isn't recommended, but the pool area is very nice

[kenzie]

We have recently returned from Sri Lanka, with 5 hotel bases, including 4 nights in Colombo. Not a beach area - the nearest beaches like that are a good 2.5 hours south. You may be able to buy day access to The Mount Lavinia Hotel (can look at reviews, it is about 30 mins south of the port) there is a public beach near that hotel as well, but does not sound recommendable. The nearest "beach resort" is Negombo, which would still be at least a one hour drive and is more like North Goa then your description of requirements - quite missable IMO and most other peoples opinion, I would suggest.

 

We loved Colombo and suggest you can have a really good day in the city at very little cost. Highlights I would suggest include the peaceful South Biera Lake. You can walk around it and there is a Hindu temple in the lake and the impressive Gangaramaya Buddist temple is just a short way up a side road - you could get a tuk tuk from near the port to there. There is also a picturesque island protruding into the lake with lots of different species of ducks etc. Regards a hygienic location for a drink or snack, the Cinnamon Grand Hotel is by the north western corner of the lake and the Cinnamon Red Hotel (were we stayed) is not far away from where the temples are. The Cinnamon Red has a rooftop bar (26th Floor), with great views - you could do both hotels as they are on different sides of the lake. This is a link to a map of Colombo, but the "Biera Lake" marked is further north than "South Biera Lake", which I mentioned, but you can still see South Biera Lake, the Cinnamon Grand and Gangaramaya Temple on this map - so zoom in. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Gangaramaya+Temple/@6.9260896,79.8448295,15z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x3ae2591640b4e0b3:0x14fcac803e83edbd!2sBeira+Lake!3b1!8m2!3d6.9294345!4d79.8541822!3m4!1s0x0:0x3a35356ebd5eed36!8m2!3d6.9165963!4d79.8565212

The Cinnamon Red Hotel is not located on this map, so you would need to search further for that - it is a little distance away from the south eastern corner of the lake and just to the west of the park.

 

Alternative recommendations I would make is the National Museum which is very interesting and cool at the height of the day (tourist cafe in grounds, but not easy to find so need to look carefully - we used the local cafe, which is perhaps best avoided). The museum is by Viharamahadevi Park, where you will find the Old Town Hall. Galle Face Green is great to stroll along at sunset to see local life and is near the port (with Galle Face Hotel to the far side - historic and recently refurbed). You could easily pick up tuk tuks between these places - the most we payed was 500 ruppees from the far side of Pettah back to our hotel and half that for the shorter journeys - you will need to find an ATM for some local currency, (there is one in a shopping centre by the Cinnamon Grand and no doubt a number in Fort, where the port is and which is the business centre of the city). Try not to let them know you are from a ship, or I expect prices will rise as they do in many parts of the world, when from a cruise ship. Temples charge entrance. English is widely spoken, so no language problems.

 

If you really want to see local life, we strolled through Pettah - the market area as it was coming to life and as people were leaving the Fort Area (which is where the port is) at the end of their working day. Absolute bedlam and not recommended for the less travelled or faint hearted tourists, but from our perspective it was amazing - just keep away from those large wheelbarrows transporting goods as they cannot stop if you step in front of them!

 

Leave the beach to other ports and enjoy Colombo for what it is, but beware traffic builds up badly at peak times, so do not "miss the boat". You do need to do a bit of homework, regards where you want to go, I would not suggest just walking aimlessly out of the port as that area is somewhat run down and is just near the business area, which was not particularly of interest to us, though there are a number of colonial buildings to be seen there. There is a Hilton in the Fort area if you want a pit stop before returning to the ship.

 

Those who do not want to walk could get a tuk tuk to take them around to see "the sights", or could easily just pick up tuk tuks from place to place.

 

Thanks - took your advice, we have now booked a Jeep tour

Many Thanks