Negombo – Life on the beach side

Negombo is the first destination I have been to after landing in the Bandaranaike International Airport. Negombo is only eight kilometers from the airport and is easily accessible by the road. Buses run from airport to the Negombo bus station, do not hire a car or a tuk tuk. There is a bus every 30 minutes.

Negombo is a small town located on the west coast of Sri Lanka. Your idle option would be to stay on the beach which offers lots of options from backpacker style guest houses to modern luxury living. During the non-tourist season the scene on the Negombo beach would be calm and isolated, it a great place to relax without having to deal with the other tourists or locals. The bad part of the beach is its not the most beautiful beaches in Sri Lanka, but the thing that goes its way is the tides are not very high so it makes swimming possible unlike the other high tide beaches on the south coast.

And the evening scene here – you see young people playing their favorite sport cricket or you could crush into some people who are singing local songs while playing drums or some families coming with there children. The notable point is I have not seen so many fishermen in any part of Sri Lanka as much I have seen here. The nightlife is not so happening like the western cities but there are a few pubs located in the town some of which play live music. The most amazing thing I experienced is the beautiful purple sunset along the beach.

 

Things to do in Negombo
Negombo does not take first place in the visitors itinerary but you can do a couple of things here.
1. Visit the fish market – There are two fish markets in Negombo, the main one is open until only ten in the morning, where wholesale trading is carried on.  The other fish market is used for selling fish in smaller quantities but there is not much happening here.
2. Dutch Fort – Just steps away from the smaller fish market is the Dutch Fort, which acts a prison these days, you cannot go into the fort as it is heaving guarded, but a visit from outside is worth a site.
3. Muthurajawela Marsh – Far away from the town is Muturajawela marsh where you would find some wildlife. In this trip you would be taken over the lagoon on a motor boat. I did not find this interesting as I could see only few species of birds which were uninteresting and lots of huge water lizards that were really boring.

Why not to go Negombo?
I personally felt the beach area was a kind of rowdy place. The tuk tuk drivers are very notorious and can make a fool of you. They have no respect to customers and they overprice the fares very highly. Even the guest houses in that area, charge different rates to different customers.