Colombo → Sigiriya → Kandy → Ella
Example · Sigiriya, Kandy and Ella — 7 Days with a Local Guide
7 days · 6 nightsEnglish, German
For your datesand your group
Check trip priceWhat to know before you go.
Researched by Sarisara, with sources.
Galle Face Green is a wide, open park running along the seafront in the middle of Colombo, between the busy Galle Road and the Indian Ocean. It stretches for about half a kilometre and covers around 5 hectares, making it the largest open public space in the city.
The British governor Sir Henry George Ward had the first promenade built here in 1859, and for much of its history it was used very differently from today — as a horse-racing track from the 1820s until 1893, and as a golf course and cricket and rugby ground in the late 1800s. Sri Lanka’s first official rugby match and the well-known Royal-Thomian cricket match both began here.
Today, Galle Face Green is simply Colombo’s favourite open-air gathering place. Locals come in the evening, especially on Saturdays and Sundays, to fly kites, eat street food such as cooked crabs, prawns, or mango with pepper and salt, and watch the sunset over the ocean. Street vendors, families, couples and children fill the grass as the day cools down. Sri Lanka’s National Day is marked here every year on 4 February.
There is no entrance fee, and the green is open to everyone, every day, at any hour — though it is at its liveliest, and prettiest, as the sun goes down over the water.
Free entry.
There is no entrance fee. Street food, drinks and kites bought from vendors here are paid for individually, in cash, and are not part of your Sarisara price.
Casual, comfortable clothing is fine. There is no dress rule here, but very revealing clothing may draw stares in this busy public space.
Not dressed right? Nobody checks clothing at Galle Face Green. It is an open public park, not a religious site, so there is nothing to get wrong here.
No source gives fixed hours, because this is an open public park with no gate.
Sri Lanka Port Management and Consultancy Services, a government-owned company under the Ministry of Ports and Shipping (operating the green since 2014; it was run by the Urban Development Authority before that)
Galle Road, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka
Trips, experiences and stays in and around Colombo.
Trips
Colombo → Sigiriya → Kandy → Ella
Experiences
It means “may you live long”. It is how we say hello in Sinhala, and how we greet you every time you come back.
One free account keeps your trips, your saved places and your messages with your guide in one place.
Fire dancers light the road before the elephants of the Esala Perahera.
