Negombo

Negombo is a major city, located just 10 kilometres away from the airport on the west coast of the island. It is known for its huge and old fishing industry with busy fish markets and nice sandy beaches. One of the most liberal city in Sri Lanka with a rather modern life style and it's nightlife in luxury hotels, guest houses, the finest of restaurants and pubs are unmatched.
The Arabs traders arrived in Ceylon during the seventh and eighth centuries and settled in the coastal areas. They had a monopoly over the flourishing cinnamon trade till the Portuguese takeover in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. The Portuguese ousted the Arabs and constructed a fort in Negombo and took over the trade of cinnamon to the West. It was during the Portuguese occupation that the traditional fishing clan of Negombo embraced Catholicism. So successfully were they converted that today Negombo is sometimes known as 'Little Rome' and nearly two thirds of its population professes Catholic faith.

The Dutch captured Negombo from the Portuguese in the 17th century and negotiated an armistice with Portugal for ten years. The legacy of the Dutch colonial era can be seen even today in the Dutch Fort, a number of other buildings and the extensive canal system that runs 120 km from Colombo in the South, through Negombo to Puttalam in the north. Following the British takeover of the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815, Negombo lost its strategic value as an outpost of Colombo. In 1907 Negombo was connected to the massive railway project that was linking the island together under British control and encouraging the growth of plantations in coconuts, tea and coffee.
Negombo is an ideal and liberal place for those who want quick access to and from the country's international airport. There are daily fish auctions, which give tourists a chance to meet the area's fishermen and even organise fishing trips into the lagoon and the ocean beyond. Other nearby attractions includes the Muthurajawela marshland and the protected mangroves of the Negombo lagoon, is home to over 190 species of wildlife.

Negombo has some of the better beaches on the western coast of Sri Lanka and attracts tourists who stop over for a day on their way to or from the airport. It is also popular for water-sports and diving with a few well-preserved coral reefs and a 50-year-old shipwreck that serves as an artificial reef for many varieties of fish. There are also many local handicrafts, batiks and jewelry boutiques on the beaches and shops in the city.