Chilaw

Chilaw is a town in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka. The western side of Chilaw are covered with sandpits, facing the Indian Ocean.

Understand
Chilaw is a large town in Puttalam District, 80 km north of Colombo. The majority of Chilaw residents are Tamil, with large minorities of Buddhist and Muslim Sri Lankans.

By train
You have to get onto the train at the The journey from Colombo takes around 2-3 hours. 2nd class Rs 400, 3rd class Rs 180.

By bus and taxi
You can go to the Chilaw from the  Colombo Bastian Mawatha Bus Terminal by bus which use the Colombo - Katunayaka expressway. If you are travelling with a group, it is best to hire a private bus for the journey. It costs about Rs. 250 to travel from Colombo to Chilaw, and takes about 1 hour (June 2020).

By car
It takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to travel the 81 km.

By taxi
Going to Chilaw directly by taxi is also an option, but it cost extra compared to the other two options. Hiring a small nano cab is the best option when travelling alone. When travelling with family and friends, a taxi isn't the best option, a van would be the way to go. It will cost Rs. 4100-4900.

See
Compared to its history, Chilaw has quite a few tourist sites that relate with ancient architecture, but Chilaw also has a nice coastline that is popular with tourists.



Do

 * Birdwatching- Bird watching is ideal in the sandy beaches. Searching for waders would be really interesting in these parts. If you are interested in bird watching, you should bring along a binocular and a camera a lens measuring up to 200 mm at minimum. Bringing along a small notebook to sketch would work instead of the camera, but wouldn't help you with the specification of the bird.
 * Sightseeing- Sightseeing in places like the munneswaram temple which has been here since the 18th century is really interesting. You can get to know how the town was maintained during the Civil War and its history related to all the religious groups.
 * Photography- Chilaw beaches are filled with scenic places, so take your camera with you.


 * Souvenir shops or little snack shops can be found along the streets in Chilaw. For buying groceries and cosmetics, you should visit the Super markets. Although many supermarkets exist in Sri Lanka, the trusted markets are limited down to 3, the can be simply identified as cargills, keels and laugh supermarkets, other than that, corperative markets such as co-op city are ideal places to purchase grains.

Eat

 * Many food shops can be found along the road as well but check the cleanliness of the establishment before ordering.

Drink

 * Water or 'Kurumba' (King Coconut) are the best types of drinks in these types of areas. Soft drinks can also be obtained from small roadside restaurants.You can drink tea from small rest stops. The local soft drink brand is renowned as elephant house, even though coca cola, sprite and fanta are in stores as well, elephant house drinks are more common and cheap. Judging by the climate, a cold drink would be a perfect refreshment when traveling from place to place. Hot drinks are only recommended in the evening.

Sleep
An overnight stay is not really necessary if visiting from Colombo.

Cope
List of hospitals Pharmacies in the area

=Go next=
 * Puttalam: A city next to Chilaw.