Monday Nov 18, 2024
Monday Nov 18, 2024
Wednesday, 26 February 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The re-launched Colombo City Tour will also be combined with a luxury sightseeing service that will be utilising air-conditioned low deck sightseeing coaches in the near future presenting travellers two unique options to experience the city with a typical ‘hop on’ and ‘hop off’ service. Tours will be operated daily portraying Sri Lanka’s premier city and commercial capital, Colombo, highlighting the interesting religious and cultural tapestry of this unique city of ‘old and new’.
With Colombo being transformed into a garden city with many public spaces created around wonderfully restored architectural monuments, there’s much to enjoy and experience both during day and night. Three types of sightseeing tours will be in operation to reveal Colombo’s charm and many attractions not only to foreign guests but to Sri Lankans as well.
‘Heritage of Colombo’ tours on weekends will also sightsee Sri 
Jayawardanapura Kotte, the Administrative capital of Sri Lanka. These tours extend as far as ‘Ape Gama’ cultural village, Battaramulla, which is a splendid recreation of a typical Sri Lankan village that was in existence about 500 years ago.
‘Colombo at Night’ will showcase the city in illumination with also an enchanting ride along the newly laid out areas around the Diyawanna Lake. The daily evening tours ‘Glimpse of Colombo’ sightsee the interesting monuments and locations within the city limits. Each tour will have a live commentary by a professional guide in English with snacks served on board. The tours are scheduled to commence from Mount Lavinia and the Old Dutch Hospital in Fort.
Other interesting stops will be the Race Course, originally a Second World War airfield now a beautifully restored piece of history converted to a shopping precinct with restaurants and public gathering places, the Independence Square, the monument that celebrates the freedom from British rule and also a replica of a unique edifice from the last Kingdom of Kandy, the Gangarama Seema Malakaya a unique religious building by the famous Sri Lankan Architect Geoffrey Bawa, picturesquely nestled in the heart of Colombo and Diyatha Uyana, Battaramulla among many others.
The first open deck double decker coach which commenced operations last week was custom built at the state-of-the–art Lanka Ashok Leyland factory in Panagoda with a total seating capacity for 70 guests. The low deck luxury coaches will carry nearly 50 travellers also equipped with special features to accommodate the differently abled. The coaches are innovatively branded with colourful impressions of many landmarks of the city of Colombo and will undoubtedly give those onboard unique and panoramic views to experience Colombo like never before.
“The Colombo City Tour has arrived at this significant milestone overcoming many challenges and obstacles,” said Ebert Silva Holidays Chairperson Rajini de Silva Mendis. “The company committed to this project at a decisive juncture, just as Sri Lanka was emerging from the three decade war into permanent peace. The project was undertaken by us not as a mere travel agent but in a much broader sense as a recognised and responsible stakeholder of the industry. We aspired to make a lasting contribution to Sri Lanka’s tourism industry at a time when Sri Lanka was positioning itself to attain greater prosperity with the industry playing a pivotal role in its journey. Therefore it gives us immense pleasure to re-launch the Colombo City Tour city sightseeing service with a brand new fleet of coaches which will offer the company’s hallmark superior standards of service and offer visitors arriving at our shores an enhanced touristic experience found in almost all leading cities around the world,” added Mendis.
