How to travel from Colombo to Negombo?

Grab a luxury highway bus departing from the Colombo Bastian Mawatha bus station, or hire a private PickMe taxi for the swifter route using the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway. The trip usually takes 45 minutes to an hour, depending on peak commuting periods.

Regular coastal trains do run from Colombo Fort all the way to Negombo, but they can be painfully slow, and they often become jammed with daily commuters. In the end, the expressway bus is the best value and also feels far more comfortable for tourists with luggage.