Galle is the provincial capital and the largest city in Sri Lanka. It is situated on the western side of Colombo and approximately 120 kms away from the capital city. If you wish , you can also opt for reaching Galle by train from Colombo which would take around 2hrs. Basically we preferred staying at Ahangama and traveled on wheels for a day trip to Galle. It’s the 4th city which we visited in SriLanka during our stay.
To our surprise this city is really cheerful and peaceful with lots of vibrant color and texture all around. The Galle city comprises of 2 parts- (Old and New ).We only explored the old city and absolutely fell in love with. We would add , if you are planning for a day trip, it would just be fine ,and would recommend to avoid spending too much of time there. Actually in Galle there is nothing much to see and explore, so plan your time accordingly.
In the 18th century the Dutch build their headquarters in Galle Fort on the Sri Lankan coast which is surrounded by big city walls. Even today you would find some amazing and vintage structures dating back to the centuries. Those old beautiful buildings are now transformed into antique shops, cafes and restaurants. The best months to travel to Galle are between December to April, as there is little rain so it is relatively dry during these months. However May to September are monsoon months, but the charm & beauty would be definitely different.
What we enjoyed the most that is every corners of the city when gave us a European vibe & that was really strange. There are multiple narrow streets and lanes where the shops & houses are owned by mostly foreigners. It’s pretty easy to explore the streets on your own without much hassle and discover the best of everything one can wish for, right from window shopping to chilling out in some amazing cafes.
Once you enter the Galle fort from the main gate it would take appropriately 2-3 hrs to walk around the gaze the entire Fort. We we suggest if you can visit this place by late afternoon so that you don’t miss the beautiful sunset there. It was really worth visiting Galle Fort and we found out there were many families who have come to hang out with friends and families and also had planned mini picnics. It was really fun to see so many people spending the best of their time with their closed ones over-viewing the city on the sea. The buildings inside the Fort were quite interesting and rusty enough also which had museums , beautiful churches and mosques within the boundary.
Moving forward there is a huge Dutch tower definitely caught our sight, its iconic and no one can miss that out. Also there lies a giant light house in one corner, from where you can take a walk towards the sea side. From that corner the view is insanely beautiful and breezy. You would also find a clock tower which is the connecting edge of Galle city & Galle Fort. In the evening you can just enjoy the view of the perfect sunset and trust us watching the sun going down in the sea turning the sky pink to orange to grey is absolutely worth.
Sadly guys nightlife is not much active in Galle , but you would definitely find lots of exotic hotels and eatery joints at all corners. The restaurants usually shuts down by 10pm so please keep a track of time.We have really enjoyed our day trip and ended out time there enjoying some amazing Sri Lankan rice & curry. Basically we were extremely happy & satisfied coming here for once and made the most of our time, specially wandering by the seasides.
Hope our little information helps you all to get a brief idea on how to spend couple of hours here in & around here 🙂
Do check out our other blogs on Sri Lanka to plan a perfect visit by clicking here.
