Negombo Day Tour

• Pick up from Colombo and transfer to Negombo
• Visit Angurukaramulla Temple/St Mary’s Church/Muthumariamman Kovil/Grand Mosque
• Dutch Fort Negombo
• Negombo Lagoon Boat safari
• Transfer to Colombo

Angurukaramulla Temple/St Mary’s Church/Muthumariamman Kovil/Grand Mosque

Get a glimpse of the multi-faith influences in this town with visits to the Angurukaramulla temple known for its amazing murals, sculptures and paintings of religious and historical significance, St Mary’s church is an example of the blending of European and Sri Lankan styles of art and architecture, St Stephen’s church completed in 1877 in the Gothic style, Sri Muthumariamman Kovil known for its Dravidian architecture and benefits to its devotees and the Grand Mosque in Negombo.

Dutch Fort Negombo

The Portuguese fort that stood where the current Negombo Fort is situated was mostly destroyed by cannon during the Dutch siege in 1644. The Dutch fort was built on its ruins, not on the usual square pattern, but on a pentagonal one, though it had only four bulwarks. The fifth one was never built. The fort was located on a narrow strip of land between a lagoon and an inlet of the sea. It was surrounded by moats, and the gate was accessed via a drawbridge. Facing it on the landside was a town with the familiar rectangular pattern of streets which was itself protected by earth walls. The area to the west was regularly flooded by the sea, changing the land on which the fort stood into a peninsula. Governor Rumpf described the fort as a ‘fine defensible structure’ when he visited it in 1720, but the painter Heydt, who painted it in 1744, was less enthusiastic and felt that it could have been built ‘somewhat more durably’. The Dutch fort is now part of the prison in Negombo.

Boat Safari in Negombo Lagoon

Negombo Lagoon consists of small rivers and a canal. It is linked to the sea by a narrow channel to the north, near Negombo city. It is surrounded by a densely populated region containing rice paddies, coconut plantations and grassland. The land is used for fishing and agriculture. The lagoon has extensive mangrove swamps and attracts a wide variety of water birds including cormorants, herons, egrets, gulls, terns and other shorebirds.

On completion of this tour, you will be driven back to your hotel or Katunayake International Airport for Departure.