Kollupitiya (Colombo 3)

Kollupitiya is where most of Colombo's international restaurants and cafes are concentrated. It's safer and more walkable than most areas, with good English and a cosmopolitan feel. You'll pay more for everything here.

Kollupitiya (Colombo 3) has most of the city's better restaurants packed into a small area. R.A. De Mel Mawatha stays busy from morning through late evening - locals meeting at cafes, expats getting drinks after work, couples heading to dinner. You'll see people eating alone or working from laptops at places like The Gallery Café and Barefoot Garden Café. Nobody cares if you're there for hours. The area borders Galle Face Green, which fills with families and kite flyers until around 9pm. Street lighting is decent and you'll see police around. Restaurant staff speak English since they get tourists regularly. It feels cosmopolitan more than traditionally Sri Lankan. After 10pm the streets empty out - use PickMe or Uber rather than walking long distances at that point.