Is Colombo Safe?

Colombo is Sri Lanka's bustling commercial capital — a humid coastal city where colonial-era arcades, Buddhist temples, mosques and gleaming new high-rises sit side by side along the Indian Ocean. Long treated as just a transit stop, it rewards a day or two with great food, sea breezes and an easygoing pace. The restored Dutch Hospital precinct and the Pettah market district show the city's layered past, while the seaside Galle Face Green fills each evening with kite-flyers, families and street-food carts serving isso wade (prawn fritters) and kottu roti. Don't miss a rice-and-curry feast — Sri Lankan food is fierier and more distinctive than its Indian cousin. Colombo is the natural arrival point and base for exploring the island: the southern beaches, the Hill Country tea estates and the cultural triangle are all reachable by train or car. Heat and humidity are year-round; the southwest monsoon brings heavy rain from May to September.