Family Fun in Colombo on a Budget: Free and Cheap

Children tend to remember Colombo for small things: a kite tugging on the seafront, a swan-shaped boat, a monitor lizard under a boardwalk. Most of those cost little or nothing. The pricey attractions are few, and you can choose them deliberately rather than letting them eat the budget.

Free

  • Galle Face Green: the seafront lawn is free and open around the clock, and from late afternoon it fills with kite flyers and families. Keep children well back from the sea wall: below it are boulders, rough surf and a dangerous undertow, and nobody swims there.
  • Viharamahadevi Park: shady lawns and paths in Cinnamon Gardens, past the white colonial Town Hall, for a run-around before the heat builds.
  • Mount Lavinia beach: the nearest swimming beach, about 10 km south. Sandcastles are free; swimming is only for calm days between the flags. From May to September, rip currents are strong, so keep children to wading at the edge.

Under LKR 1,000

  • Coastal train to Mount Lavinia: LKR 100 to 500 unreserved from Colombo Fort, with the sea outside the window most of the way. Timetables are on Sri Lanka Railways .
  • Pedal boats on Beira Lake: about LKR 500 a boat for half an hour from the Navam Mawatha jetty, open 08:00 to 18:00.
  • National Museum: children’s tickets are about LKR 600 (foreign adults LKR 1,200). It is closed on Mondays, and the gold-encrusted throne of the last King of Kandy is the showpiece.

Worth paying for

  • Beddagana Wetland Park: raised boardwalks through marsh on the edge of Diyawanna Lake in Kotte, with langurs, water monitors and more than 50 bird species. Foreign adults pay roughly LKR 1,000 to 1,500; open 06:00 to 18:00. It is run by the Urban Development Authority .
  • Excel World: bowling at about LKR 900 a person, plus an arcade, laser tag and a toddler zone at LKR 500 to 2,000 per attraction. It opens 14:00 on weekdays and 11:00 at weekends and holidays, which makes it a good rainy-afternoon fallback. Prices are listed by Excel World .

The verdict: on a tight budget, skip the Lotus Tower. At about $20 for a foreign adult, a family visit can easily cost more than the rest of the day, while a Galle Face evening and a pedal boat give children just as good a story for a fraction of it.

Skip, whatever the price

Dehiwala Zoo’s elephant show uses trick-trained elephants and has been condemned by welfare groups for chaining and bullhooks. If your children want to see elephants, the Elephant Transit Home at Udawalawe reportedly charges about $3 for a child, with calves fed from a viewing platform and no contact, though it is several hours from Colombo.

Tips

  • Pack DEET-based repellent and use it in daylight; Colombo’s dengue mosquitoes bite during the day.
  • Bottled or boiled water only, including for brushing small children’s teeth.
  • Use PickMe for family rides; car fares are metered, and a car fits a family and its bags more easily than a tuk-tuk.
  • If you want a base by the sea, compare family rooms on Agoda ; for a guided half day, you can look up Colombo family tours .

Read more: animal activities in Colombo on a budget for ethical wildlife trips and what they cost.