Negombo in Sri Lanka - and dinner with the driver

Negombo in Sri Lanka was our last destination on our tour of the country. tour of the country. Negombo is located just north of Colombo and is a common destination for the first or last nights in the country, precisely because of its proximity to the airport. Our driver, whom we had for almost the entire trip, also lives in the neighbourhood and nearby and invited us home for dinner on our last night in Sri Lanka.

Negombo in Sri Lanka

Negombo is located in western Sri Lanka, about 30 kilometres north of Colombo and only about 7 kilometres from the international airport. This city is therefore a good starting point when entering the country, or you can come back here for a last stop before travelling back home.

Tourists tend to stay in the part of Negombo closest to the beach. Here, along the coast, you will find a few long streets filled with hotels, restaurants, tuktuks and taxis offering transfers to and from the airport.

Sun and sea in Negombo

The beach in Negombo is miles long and filled with soft, fine-grained sand, but despite this, it is perhaps not Sri Lanka's most inviting beach. We met some beach vendors - and yes, we bought some bracelets from one of them - as well as some guys offering boat rides in traditional Sri Lankan boats. A few more exclusive hotels are located right down by the beach, but otherwise the beach felt a bit deserted, without sunbeds and beach bars. Unfortunately, parts of the otherwise nice beach were also quite rubbishy.

Restaurants in Negombo

Along the central streets of Negombo, and in the various hotels, there are lots of restaurants serving Sri Lankan food, Asian food, Western food or focusing on seafood. We had lunch at Tastees Banana at 39 B Poruthota Road, where we all got really good food. Both the prawn curry and nasi gorengen were the best of the trip, and the vongole spaghetti chin was also really good.

Hotels in Negombo

We went to a guesthouse called Blue Elephant Guesthouse and located at 204 B Lewis Place. This place was a perfect accommodation in many ways, with a great location, good price (about 250 SEK per double room), ok WiFi and fresh bathrooms.

That the Catholic church, which is right next door, has a loud mass one hour every morning and one hour every evening on weekends, was a little hard to figure out beforehand. Eventually we found ourselves humming "Hallelujah" and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Two weeks with a driver in Sri Lanka

Now that our trip in Sri Lanka was coming to an end, our two weeks with a driver were also coming to an end. We had originally planned to rent a car ourselves, but when this was not possible due to the fact that we were missing a stampwe had to rethink and get used to the idea of a driver. We hired a car with a driver at the airport, and started with another driver before Kumari arrived with his comfortable 9-seater van.

It has been a bit of an unusual situation for us to have a driver, but over time it has become easier and easier to communicate our wishes. We have found it convenient to plan our destinations and hotels ourselves, and then discuss the itinerary with the driver, who has been able to provide additional tips. It has of course been convenient to have a car and driver, and when several people share the cost, it is also affordable.

We thought it was ok to share four - we paid about 750 SEK per day for a large van, including driver, driver's overnight stays, insurance, fuel and free kilometres. In Kumari's van, on the other hand, you can travel up to nine people, which makes the price even better.

If you want, you can also book a driver directly, instead of through an intermediary as we did, and thus reduce the price further. If you want to travel with a large van, you can contact Kumari's company Shanika Tours directly at askshanitours at gmail.com.

Some readers have asked where the drivers stay at night, and according to the contract we signed at the airport, the driver's accommodation is included in the price, and was not something we had to worry about. We understand that some hotels offer overnight accommodation for drivers, at a lower price.

Dinner with the driver

Our driver, Kumari, was keen to take us home for dinner on the last night, and of course we agreed. After a 20-minute drive from the hotel in Negombo, we were hospitably welcomed by Kumari's wife and 17-year-old son, and served a really good dinner in their garden, surrounded by trees full of avocados, bananas, rambutan, jackfruit and other exotic fruits that the family didn't know the English names of.

For dinner we were served chicken and fantastic rice mixed with nuts and raisins, and for dessert we got to try different fruits. We tasted jackfruit for the first time - very sweet and delicious! We were a little surprised that we had to eat alone first, and that the family then ate what was left over in another room, but understood at Kumari that they do so out of courtesy.

In between we sat and talked with the family, who told us about their four children, about the time when Kumari worked in Kuwait to earn money to buy his own house, and about the nice bus he bought for his own small business. We ourselves talked about snow and skiing and houseboat accommodation and other exotic things... A very nice evening!

See more in Sri Lanka

If you want to travel around Sri Lanka, there is a lot to see and experience. Here you can read more about some other nice places, which are not too far from Negombo:

• Dambulla - with the golden cave temple
• Kandy - the holy city with the temple of the holy tooth
• The journey from Kandy to Ella – past Nuwara Eliya
• Madu Ganga River - experience the Sri Lankan river safari

Facts about Negombo in Sri Lanka

• Country: Sri Lanka
• Provins: Western Province
• Population: 137 000 (2012)
• Location: Negombo is located about 30 kilometres north of the capital Colombo, on the west coast of Sri Lanka facing the Indian Ocean.
• Sources of income: Fishing and tourism

History of Negombo

• Founding: Negombo was founded in 1505 by Portuguese colonisers.
• 19th century: Between 1802 and 1804, the Hamilton Canal, also known as the Dutch Canal, was built. The canal is a 14.5 kilometre long canal that runs through Negombo, connecting Puttalam with Colombo. The canal carries cinnamon, the second largest export after tea.

Travelling to Negombo

• Car from the airport: Driving from the international airport to Negombo takes just over 20 minutes. Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) is located in Katunayake, 35 kilometres north of Colombo.  
• Car from Colombo: It takes between 45 minutes and an hour to drive from Colombo to Negombo (37 kilometres).
• Car from Galle: From Galle in southern Sri Lanka, it takes about 2.5 hours to drive (157 kilometres).