Shore Excursions · COLOMBO SHORE EXCURSIONS
The 15 best colombo shore excursions you can book yourself, with what each costs a head, how long it runs and how much slack it leaves before all-aboard. Number one is first for a reason.
Review of Colombo’s private shore tour, with temples, museums, markets, port pickup, pricing, itinerary advice, and practical tips.
“pleasant guide and accommodating to our needs and interests. Nice tour of city and included visit to gem and teas store without any forcing to purchase”
Review of Colombo’s private port tour to Kelaniya Temple, Pettah, temples, landmarks, shopping, and safe ship return for $45.
“I booked the tour for my family of 6. I was able to communicate with tour company via WhatsApp as early as October. I find that really helpful. As soon as we got if the gangway, we could see the tour company booth already. Tour guide was friendly but spoke minimal English. I felt he was more of a chaperone than a tour guide. Couldn't answer some of the questions about history of some places. Conversation got a bit dry after a while so we requested to be dropped off at a shopping mall (One Galle Face Mall) for last part of the tour, arranged a time for them to…”
Review of Colombo’s private shore excursion, covering temples, museums, markets, the Lotus Tower, transport, value, and practical tips.
“Our purpose for visiting Sri Lanka was to visit the Buddha temples and to pray. Our tour guide Mr. Kosala was an excellent and professional person. He constantly made efforts to explain Buddhism along the journey, and also diligently Read more”
Review of Colombo’s small-group cruise shore tour, covering Pettah, Seema Malakaya, Old Parliament, transport, value, and booking tips.
“The meet and greet part of this tour was awful. It was supposed that the pick up point would from inside the port as mentioned in the tour details, and I have paid additional money for that since there was another cheaper tour but pick up Read more”
Review of Colombo’s private port tour, with temple visits, city sights, shopping, pricing, transport, timing, and practical booking advice.
“Great guy - Zak - met us at the port in Colombo. We was quite early but Zak was prompt picking us up at the requested time of 08.30am. He took us to see the historic mosque - Jami Ul Alfar Mosque, followed by a brief stop to grab a couple Read more”
Review of Colombo’s $30 shore excursion, covering temples, markets, colonial sights, transport, timing, value, and practical cruise-port advice.
“I would not recommend this tour! We left 35 mins late yet we arrived 30 mins early so a big group of us waited out in boiling hot. The tour was very poor, unorganised having to stop for the host to by water for guests, the guide told us aboRead more”
Review of Colombo’s private shore trip to Ingiriya, with tea, rubber, rice plantations, port pickup, pricing, timing, and practical tips.
“To be clear, the driver was a careful driver, friendly, thoughtful and knowledgeable, however the tour was not as described. It took some time to get to the tea factory that we were expected to pay extra for (just arrived on a cruise in a Read more”
Review of Colombo airport pickup by LK Travels & Tours, with private transfers to Passikudah or Trincomalee, driver details, value, and tips.
“On time pickup at the airport when we visited Sri Lanka in June 2023. Nice driver with safe driving. We also utilized LK Travels & Tours for a trip to Kandy a few years back and had a great experience. Recommend them for airport pick up/drop off or other tours/trips.”
See Colombo by private tuk tuk, from Lotus Tower to Galle Face, with port pickup, local sights, and practical advice on fees and timing.
“Our guide gave us a great insight of the area & very accommodating. We were impressed of all the things we saw.”
Review of Colombo’s private 4 to 5-hour cruise excursion, including sights, transport, price, guides, practical tips, and who should book.
“Had a great day in Colombo with Zack and his fantastic driver Bastian. Zack provided us with a great list of potential sights and attractions and let us customize the tour in order to meet our needs. We chose a variety of historical, religious Read more”
Explore Colombo’s temples, colonial landmarks, markets, coast, and modern skyline on a flexible four-hour shore excursion with local guide.
Review of Colombo’s private four-hour shore tour, covering temples, markets, landmarks, shopping, transport, price, and practical cruise-port advice.
“Driver was waiting for us as we disembarked the ship. We were a group of four, one member of the group with reduced mobility. Udaya the tour operator went out of his way to accommodate his needs, providing a larger (albeit tired!) vehicle, and allowing my brother to sit up front with the driver. Our driver took us to all the main sights, explained what he could, took lots of photographs for us. Don’t hestitate to book, you won’t be disappointed.”
Review of Colombo’s private four-hour shore excursion, with Kelaniya Temple, Pettah, Colombo sights, practical tips, and honest value advice.
“A fascinating excursion by private car with a driver/guide. The main points of interest are visited by car with several stops and guided tours. It's possible to customize the itinerary according to your priorities. Pick-up is just a few meters from the cruise ship, which is very convenient. Since we didn't have any local currency when disembarking, it would be helpful to at least offer a few bottles of water in the car and include a tasting of Sri Lankan coconut water, which was offered for a fee at the end of the excursion but declined because we didn't have any local currency with us.”
Review of Colombo’s private port-to-city tour, covering key sights, pricing, transport, itinerary, practical tips, and who should book.
“We had a wonderful experience with our driver in a car with a/c which is a must!! Interesting city, beautiful sites. Our driver found ways for us to get out of the car to take pictures. Sarath was a great host and shared the beauty of his city with us, along with lots of history.”
Explore Colombo and Mount Lavinia Beach on a private port tour for up to six, with temples, landmarks, shopping, and port return.
“A lovely location to spend a few hours. The hotel is charming and the beach beautiful. The only slightly annoying thing is that access to the beach was not included, so we had to find someone in the hotel to pay for the ticket, which was ~£5 eRead more”
Pick a berth, a ruin or a boat.
