Places to visit in Western Province, Sri Lanka
17 places to visit in Western Province, Sri Lanka, each with LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own: Lotus Tower, Beira Lake, Colombo National Museum and more. Stand at any of them with the app open and the stamp is yours, confirmed on site, in your Western Province volume.
1 Famous place to visit · 16 Hidden gems
Famous places to visit in Western Province (1)
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Lotus Tower
A 351.5 metre communications tower shaped like a lotus bud, the tallest self-supported structure in South Asia. Beyond its broadcasting work it holds an observation deck and leisure spaces, with views over Beira Lake, the port and the whole city.
Hidden gems in Western Province (16)
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Beira Lake
A man made lake in the centre of Colombo, ringed by offices and hotels, which still carries its Portuguese name. Once more than twice its present size, it was linked to canals that carried goods across the city in colonial times.
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Colombo National Museum
Founded in 1877, this is the largest museum in Sri Lanka, set in a white colonial building in Cinnamon Gardens. Its collection covers the island's cultural and natural heritage, and its prize is the regalia of the Kandyan kings, including their throne and crown.
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Dehiwala Zoo
Sri Lanka's national zoo, founded in 1936 in the southern Colombo suburb of Dehiwala. Its gardens hold birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and amphibians from the island and from across Asia and the rest of the world.
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Galle Face Green
A five hectare strip of lawn running 500 metres along the sea in the heart of Colombo. Governor Sir Henry Ward laid out the promenade in 1859, and it once hosted horse races, golf and cricket; today families come at sunset for kites, sea air and street food.
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Gangaramaya Temple
One of Colombo's most important Buddhist temples, finished in the late 19th century beside Beira Lake. It mixes old temple architecture with modern buildings, and its halls are crowded with statues, relics and gifts left by devotees over the years.
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Independence Memorial Hall
A national monument in Independence Square, Cinnamon Gardens, built to mark the end of British rule on 4 February 1948. Its open, pillared hall is modelled on the royal audience halls of old Kandy, and beneath it sits the Independence Memorial Museum.
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Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque
One of the oldest mosques in Colombo, on Second Cross Street in the middle of Pettah's bazaar. Its walls of red and white striped brickwork, topped with domes and minarets, make it look like a candy cane building and earn it the name Red Mosque.
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Kalutara Bodhiya
A sacred fig tree beside the Kalu River on the Galle road, believed to be one of the 32 saplings of the Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura. Next to it stand the Kalutara temple and a large modern stupa, and travellers along the coast road often stop to make offerings.
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Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara
A Buddhist temple 11 km north east of Colombo, near the Kelani River. Tradition holds that the Buddha himself visited this spot, and the temple's January perahera draws large crowds of pilgrims and dancers each year.
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Negombo Lagoon
A large estuarine lagoon on the edge of Negombo, a short way north of Colombo. Fishermen work its shallow waters from small boats, and its mangrove fringes and channels are a calm contrast to the beach town beside it.
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Old Parliament Building
A colonnaded colonial building in Colombo Fort, facing the sea across Galle Face. It housed the island's legislature for 53 years until the new parliament opened at Sri Jayawardenepura in 1983, and is now the Presidential Secretariat.
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Pettah
The busy trading quarter behind Colombo's port, just east of Fort. Its narrow streets are packed with wholesale shops and the open air stalls of its famous market, each lane given over to its own trade, from spices and cloth to electronics.
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Seema Malaka
A small temple standing on platforms in Beira Lake, a few hundred metres from Gangaramaya, to which it belongs. It is used for meditation and rest rather than worship, and its present form, with rows of seated Buddhas around open pavilions, was designed by the architect Geoffrey Bawa.
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St. Anthony's Shrine
A Catholic church at Kochchikade in Kotahena, dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua and named a national shrine and minor basilica. A tiny relic of the saint's tongue is kept at the entrance in a glass case beside his statue, and people of every faith come here to pray.
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Viharamahadevi Park
Colombo's oldest and largest park, 45 acres of lawns and shade trees facing the colonial Town Hall. Laid out by the British as Victoria Park, it was renamed in 1958 after Queen Viharamahadevi, mother of King Dutugamunu, whose statue stands inside.
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Wolvendaal Church
A thick walled Dutch church on a rise in Pettah, one of the most important buildings left from Dutch rule in Sri Lanka. It is among the oldest Protestant churches still in use on the island, and its floor is set with the tombstones of Dutch governors and their families.
Collecting in Western Province
What are the best places to visit in Western Province?
LOQAH lists 17 places in Western Province. The best known include Lotus Tower, Beira Lake, Colombo National Museum, Dehiwala Zoo and Galle Face Green. Each has a stamp of its own to collect when you are there.
How many LOQAH stamps are there in Western Province?
17, and more are added over time. Each place has LOQAH's carefully crafted stamp of its own.
How do I collect a stamp in Western Province?
Open LOQAH at the place and get its stamp. LOQAH checks where you are once, at that moment; at the place itself the stamp is confirmed on site, with a gold badge.
I have been to places in Western Province before. Can I add them?
Yes. In Earlier trips, choose Western Province and swipe through its stamps, or import your Google Timeline. Each one goes into your volume with the date, if you know it.
More in Sri Lanka
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