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Colombo is the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. Travelers can have various options to come to this magnificent Weligama beach - Sri Lanka from Colombo city. This article shows the details for, how you visit this coastal town from Colombo city.

Staying in Colombo is more applicable if traveler arrive on airport midnight or dawn. This is Because taxi services to Weligama or buses for Colombo fort are less. In such a scenario stay in the Colombo area and start your journey early in the morning is more advisable if you are a backpacker. This can be done 'Airbnb', 'Colombo City Beds The Regent' and there are lots of places for hangout for one night in Colombo city area. Otherwise you can book taxi in prior from here or please see the taxi section below.

Traveler need to reach the central bus stand Colombo to take bus to Weligama, it is located in Bastian road. All most every normal buses that going towards Matara will stop in Weligama town. Traveler has two choices either go with normal bus or expressway luxury bus. Please read this article regarding the bus rides in Sri Lanka.

Normal bus from Colombo
Normal buses are basic buses with non A/C and their seats not comfortable but they are more cost effective which means cheap when it compares to expressway luxury buses and taxis. If you want normal bus, then take Colombo - Matara normal bus from main bus stand (Pettah bus stand, Bastian road) route number 02 (Ask information center in the bus stand for more details). Cost would be 2 - 3 USD. Please read this article regarding the bus rides in Sri Lanka. Colombo - Matara buses operate all the day and all time. But after 21:00, operate frequency of buses decrease. It is advisable avoid stay public places like bus stations after 21:00. It will take at least 4 - 5 hours to reach Weligama using normal buses in rush hours like 08:00 - 20:00.

Public bus in Sri Lanka

Central bus station - Colombo

Expressway luxury bus from Colombo
Expressway buses are A/C buses with seats somewhat comfortable than normal buses. But they are costly which compares to normal buses. If you want to take expressway luxury bus, then there are three ways to get expressway bus and reach Weligama, please see the below options.

Option 01: Take direct bus from Pettah bus station
Traveler need to get-in Colombo - Matara luxury bus from main bus stand (Pettah bus stand) located in-front of normal bus stand, route number E01. (ask information center in the bus stand for more details). You can book your expressway luxury bus online from busbooking.lk website: https://www.busbooking.lk. Bus fare would be 5 - 6 USD. The frequency of Colombo - Matara luxury buses from main bus stand Colombo is low which means 1 - 2 buses per hour. And sometimes it will takes hours specially like Friday / Saturday afternoon's. Please ask information center in the bus stand for more details about next availability of bus. It will take at-least 2 - 3 hours reach Matara/Weligama using expressway luxury bus from Colombo city (this is heavily depends on the traffic).

Central bus stand , Colombo - Sri Lanka

Expressway buses for Matara - Colombo

Option 02: Take Matara expressway bus from Makumbura Multi Model Center (MMC) station
So if you experience a delay in the buses, you have another option to catch expressway buses from different location. There is a bus terminal in Makumbura Multi Model Center for expressway buses. This has more expressway buses than Colombo expressway bus station. Bus operation conducts in roughly between 05:00 to 21:00 time period. For this, traveler need to reach Makumbura Multi Model Center bus station. You need to take buses like Pettah (Colombo) - Homagama (route number 138) bus to reach Makumbura. You can easily find those buses, they are stop in front of Colombo Fort railway station bus halt. It will take at-least 1 - 2 hours to reach Makumbura from Colombo city (this is heavily depends on the traffic). Ticket price is less than 0.5 USD. After you reach Makumbura Multi Model Center, you can easily find the expressway bus docking location which is located inside the bus station. Then take Makumbura - Matara bus route number E01-01. This is because you can not travel Weligama straightway via any expressway bus, thus you need to travel Matara (expressway bus journey's end) and then come back to Weligama via normal bus. Normally 2 - 3 buses starts per hour, sometimes it will takes hours: specially like Friday / Saturday afternoon's. Bus fare would be 3 - 4 USD for Makumbura to Matara. After you reach Matara, take a normal bus to Weligama, from Matara main bus stand. Please read this article for visit Weligama from Matara. (Previously all expressway buses were named as Maharagama - Matara, after 31/03/2019 bus station was changed)


Option 03: Take Galle expressway bus from Makumbura Multi Model Center (MMC) station
After you reach Makumbura Multi Model Center (MMC) station, you can easily find the expressway bus station which is located inside the bus station. If you can not find any buses towards you can take Makumbura - Galle bus route number E01. This is because you can not travel Weligama straightway via any expressway bus, thus you need to travel Galle (expressway bus journey's end) and then come back to Weligama via normal bus. Normally 2 - 3 buses starts per hour, sometimes it will takes hours specially like Friday afternoon's. Bus fare would be 3 - 4 USD for Makumbura to Galle. After you reach Galle, take a normal bus to Weligama, from Galle main bus stand. Please read this article for visit Weligama from Galle city. (Previously all expressway buses were named as Maharagama - Matara, after 31/03/2019 bus station was changed)

Makumbura Multi Model Center - Kottawa, Sri Lanka

Galle - Makumbura (Kottawa) expressway bus

After you reach Colombo fort, go to the Colombo fort train station. From Colombo fort train station take a straight train to Weligama. Easy to navigate station with many signs in English. A few trains departing close together so traveler need to be careful to get on the right train. And Colombo fort railway station is the main railway station in the country, very big and busy station. You can find train time table from this website: eservices.railway.gov.lk. Take tickets from outside (main entrance) counters, Note that different counters allocated for different destinations. Therefore choose the right counter to get the right ticket. All most all the trains that heading towards Matara will stop at Weligama railway station. It is advisable to buy a second class ticket because it has less crowd. Even though if you buy a second class ticket that does not guarantee that you will be able to grab a seat therefore if you really need a seat, it is better to get on the train at Maradana station which is located 1 KM distance in Fort railway. It can be easily done by taking a tuk tuk (three-wheeler) to go Maradana railway station.

Highly recommend the train as the touring method when you equipped with surf boards and heavy backpacks. Sometimes railway station issue additional charges on your surf board and it must be kept in train luggage in the same train you travel. But conditions on train are decent and less comfortable especially lavatory etc... And trains will get crowded in office hours 07:00 - 08.30 morning, 15:30 - 17:30 afternoon specially Friday's and Monday's. Nevertheless trains will also get more crowded in festive and vacation months like April, August, December. Cost would be 1 - 2 USD. Minimum it will take 2 - 3 hours to reach Weligama. Do not forget to departure from Weligama station otherwise traveler would be heading towards Matara. Please read this article regarding the train rides.

Seven (7) trains available for Weligama from Colombo fort railway station

Colombo fort railway station - Sri Lanka

Inside Colombo fort railway station - Sri Lanka

Colombo to Weligama by Taxi