About this experience
This is a guided bicycle ride of about 17 kilometres through central Colombo, setting off from Independence Square in the early evening and rolling on well after dark. On two wheels you cover ground a walking tour never reaches, yet you can still stop where something is worth looking at, and you hear each place explained by your host rather than reading it off a plaque.
You begin at Independence Square, with the Independence Memorial Hall and its gardens. From there you pass the former Jawatta Lunatic Asylum, now the Independence Arcade shopping complex, then the Race Course, once a temporary airfield and today a rugby ground with shops attached. Next come Viharamahadevi Park, formerly Victoria Park, and the Municipal Building opposite it, known as the Town Hall of Colombo, before Gangaramaya Temple, part of which stands on Beira Lake, its architecture a mix of Sri Lankan, Indian, Thai and Chinese influences.
The second half runs through Slave Island, a suburb around Beira Lake that held African slaves under Dutch rule and is now largely offices and shopping. You ride on to the Old Colombo Dutch Hospital, built for Dutch seafarers and now a shopping and dining precinct, the Grand Oriental Hotel in Colombo Fort, the Old Colombo Lighthouse that serves today as a clock tower, and the prison cell of Sri Vickrama Rajasinghe, the last king of Ceylon, opposite the Bank of Ceylon Headquarters. Galle Face Green and the Galle Face Hotel follow, then you cycle back to Independence Square.
Meet at Independence Square at 5.30 pm for bike familiarisation and a safety briefing, with helmets, safety glasses and reflector jackets issued before you set off; you finish around 10.30 pm, though timings shift with road traffic. A back-up vehicle and spare bicycles accompany bookings of two guests and above, and your host guides in English. Minimum age is 10. There is no hotel pickup, so make your own way to the start, and wear comfortable walking or cycling shoes. The price covers your ride, host and safety kit, and cancellation is free up to 24 hours before the start.
