Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NORTH OF COLOMBO
Leaving Colombo most eyes look south, but for those with time on their hands and a sense
of curiosity, or for those on the slow road towards Anuradhapura, then the northbound A3
heads out of Colombo, skirts some charming old Dutch canals, slides past some sandy
beaches and gets utterly lost among a matted tangle of coconut groves and wildlife-filled
woodlands. It all adds up to a wonderful sense of discovery. For the moment, aside from
workaday Negombo, which sits close to Bandaranaike International Airport, much of this
area remains fairly unexplored by tourists, but things are on the cusp of change. The gov-
ernment, inspired by the kind of high-end, exclusive beach tourism of the neighbouring
Maldives, has embarked on an ambitious tourism project around the town of Kalpitiya at
the end of the long peninsula that separates Dutch Bay from the ocean.
