Galle Face Green, and why you should go at sunset

Galle Face Green is a long strip of grass between Galle Road and the Indian Ocean, running from the old Parliament building down towards Fort. In the colonial city it was a racecourse and a place for cricket, golf and rugby. Today it is where Colombo goes for its evening walk, and if you only have one free evening in the city, this is where to spend it.

When to go

Late afternoon, from about half past five. The heat has gone out of the day, the food carts are setting up along the promenade, and the light on the sea turns gold and then pink. The sun sets straight into the ocean, and on a clear evening the whole Green stops to watch it. Stay until the lights come on along the skyline.

What to eat

The carts are the point. Isso wade, a crisp lentil patty with prawns pressed into the top, is the Galle Face dish. Kadala, chickpeas tossed with chilli and coconut, comes in a paper cone. Boiled manioc with sambol, grilled corn, and slices of green mango with salt and chilli are all a few hundred rupees. Eat standing up, facing the sea.

What you are looking at

To the north, the pier and the harbour, with the Port City reclamation beyond it. Behind you, the colonial Galle Face Hotel and the towers that have grown around it. To the east, the Lotus Tower, the tallest structure in South Asia, which now has a viewing deck open to visitors. Kites fly above all of it; children sell them along the promenade, and it is worth buying one.

Getting there and back

The Green is about ten minutes from Colombo Court by tuk-tuk, or a pleasant half-hour walk along Galle Road if you go before the heat builds. Coming back, use a metered tuk-tuk or PickMe; the drivers along Galle Face know the hotel. If you have worked up an appetite that the carts did not settle, Cloud Café & Bar on our roof is open until half past eleven, and the rest of Colombo 3 on foot is here.