The Luxury Hotel in Colombo
One 5-star hotel in Colombo, chosen by our travel experts: Shangri-La. Through suitespot you also get breakfast for two, a room upgrade subject to availability, hotel credit and VIP service – services worth more than €500.
Your guide to the best luxury hotel in Colombo
Shangri-La Colombo · KollupitiyaFor this guide we reviewed the best hotels in Colombo and picked one: a single luxury hotel on exactly that lawn, at a comparatively moderate price.At no extra cost: booking through suitespot costs the same as booking direct with the hotel – the benefits come on top, free of charge.
One luxury hotel in Colombo – and who it suits
Our choice for Colombo is the Shangri-La Colombo in Kollupitiya, right on Galle Face Green. It sits at 4.6 out of 5 in our ranking, and a night starts at 179 euros. The hotel takes part in the Shangri-La Golden Circle loyalty programme.
Why we recommend it: Because it is the hotel that takes Colombo seriously as a city: 500 rooms and suites plus 41 apartments, four restaurants, among them Kaema Sutra for Sri Lankan cooking and Shang Palace for Cantonese, a large outdoor pool and CHI, The Spa with seven treatment rooms. And it stands on Galle Face Green, the one place where Colombo goes to the sea. Our recommended category is the Horizon Club Ocean View.
Our travel advisors’ insider tip
Ten categories, one size – this hotel's ladder begins with a single rung.
The hotel offers 14 categories, all with an area. And ten of them measure exactly 42 square metres: Deluxe, Premier and Horizon, facing the ocean or the lake. Only then comes the jump – to 84 in the suites and apartments, to 126 in the largest apartment.
Which means: from Deluxe to Premier to Horizon you gain not one square metre. What you gain are two other things:
• The side. Ocean is the Indian Ocean beyond Galle Face Green. Lake is Beira Lake on the city side. Both are water; only one of them is the reason to want the sea in Colombo.
• The floor. Horizon means club floor – with its own lounge, and at 42 square metres the lounge is the space the room does not have.
Our advice: buy the side and the floor with the surcharge, not the name. Our recommended category, Horizon Club Ocean View, is exactly the one where both come together – and an upgrade on arrival is worth having here only if it brings the ocean side or the suite. Tell our travel advisors which of the two you want.
Where to stay in Colombo: on Galle Face Green, in Kollupitiya
The Shangri-La Colombo stands in Kollupitiya at the southern end of Galle Face Green – Galle Road on the land side, the ocean on the other, and nothing but the lawn between.
Our recommendation is therefore for anyone who does not take Colombo merely as an airport city: for the first and last night of a Sri Lanka tour, and for those who look at the city itself from here.
What is within reach: Galle Face Green outside the door, full of families, kites and food carts in the evening; the Fort with its colonial buildings and the Old Parliament, ten minutes north; and Pettah, the market where Colombo shops, just behind it. Inland lies Beira Lake with the Gangaramaya temple.
For orientation: Bandaranaike airport is a good hour north on the expressway. Galle is two hours away on the southern motorway, Kandy three – and Colombo Fort station, from which the trains leave for the hill country, a quarter of an hour by tuk-tuk.
14 categories: the best hotel in Colombo from the inside
The Shangri-La Colombo offers 14 categories, two suites and two apartments among them – and all 14 state a floor area.
The ladder has three rungs and a very wide first one: ten categories at 42 square metres, then three at 84, then one at 126. Anyone reading only the number has three choices; anyone reading the names has ten more – and those differ in side and floor, not in space.
On the outlook: five categories face the ocean, four the lake. The lake is the city side – we do not paint it as an alternative. If you want the sea, ask for one of the five ocean categories by name.
A note on the apartments: at 84 and 126 square metres they are the largest units. Anyone staying long asks here first.
What applies to every category alike: breakfast for two people, the 100 US dollar hotel credit, the upgrade on arrival subject to availability and a welcome gift.
What a night at the luxury hotel in Colombo costs
A night at the luxury hotel in Colombo starts at 179 euros. That is the price for this one hotel.
There is no minimum stay: a single night is bookable, and for a city where many spend only the first or last night, that is the right rule. Included are: breakfast for two people, a 100 US dollar hotel credit, an upgrade on arrival subject to availability, a welcome gift, and early check-in and late check-out subject to availability.
When it is at its best: from December to March. The southwest of Sri Lanka then has its dry season, the sea off Galle Face is calm, and the evenings on the lawn are what the city is made for.
What belongs to Colombo: two monsoons. The southwest monsoon brings rain to this coast from May to September; the northeast monsoon hits mainly the other side of the island from October to January. That is not a warning but the map: anyone coming in summer plans the east of the island and Colombo as the gateway.
When the city celebrates: in February, when the Gangaramaya temple leads elephants and dancers through the streets for Navam Perahera.
When to enquire early: for Christmas and New Year – and for the ocean side. With ten categories of the same size it is not the hotel that is scarce but the side.
How long to stay: one night at the start and one at the end of the trip – or three if you really want to look at the city.
And whatever the date: you get the suitespot benefits in the quietest week of the year just as you do in the busiest.
Ocean, hotel credit and exclusive services in a 5-star hotel
Sri Lanka is an island the size of Bavaria on which you drive from beach to tea country in a day. Colombo is its gateway: you land here, you set off from here, and here in recent years a whole new city has risen out of the sea by the harbour.
Personal luxury travel adviceOur travel advisors personally accompany your booking – 365 days a year, from the first offer to late check-out. Reach the suitespot VIP service via email or WhatsApp.Phone: +49 30 81452346 · hotel@suitespot.comThree things belong to it. First Galle Face Green itself: laid out as a racecourse in 1859, today the promenade where Colombo watches the sunset – with isso wade, fried prawn cakes, from the carts along the edge. Second the Gangaramaya temple on Beira Lake: Buddhist, eclectic, with a museum that collects everything ever donated, from ivory to vintage cars. Third the train to Kandy from Fort station: three hours, spent sitting on the left.
For everything else there is the hotel credit: 100 US dollars, with no rate condition and no further strings – in a hotel with four restaurants the obvious use is an evening at Kaema Sutra.
What our travel advisors arrange most often: the driver for the island tour, because Sri Lanka is travelled with a driver rather than a hire car, and the train tickets to the hill country, which are gone weeks ahead.
And for members of Shangri-La Golden Circle: our benefits come on top of the programme's, they do not replace them. Give us your membership number when you enquire.
Earn points & use your status in Colombo
The properties in Colombo share a single loyalty program. Your booking counts within it as usual – a direct rate with points, elite nights and your status benefits, plus what suitespot adds. The most widely represented is Shangri-La Golden Circle.
At no extra cost: you pay the same rate as booking direct with the hotel – the suitespot benefits come on top, free of charge.
| Program | Hotels | Examples in Colombo |
|---|---|---|
| Shangri-La Golden Circle | 1 hotel | Shangri-La Colombo |
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Frequently asked questions about luxury hotels in Colombo
How many luxury hotels in Colombo does suitespot have?
We reviewed the best hotels in Colombo and picked one: the Shangri-La Colombo on Galle Face Green.
What does a luxury hotel in Colombo cost per night?
A night starts at 179 euros – a comparatively moderate entry price.
Which is the best hotel in Colombo?
The Shangri-La Colombo. It sits at 4.6 out of 5 in our ranking, with 500 rooms and suites, 41 apartments, four restaurants and CHI, The Spa.
How large are the rooms at the luxury hotel in Colombo?
Ten of the 14 categories measure 42 square metres, three 84, one 126. From Deluxe to Premier to Horizon you gain not one square metre – only the side and the floor.
Which rooms in Colombo have a sea view?
Five categories face the Indian Ocean, four face Beira Lake on the city side. Ask for the ocean side by name – our recommended category is the Horizon Club Ocean View.
Is there a minimum stay in Colombo?
No. A single night is bookable – the right rule for the first or last night of a Sri Lanka trip.
How far is the hotel in Colombo from the airport?
Bandaranaike airport is a good hour north on the expressway. Colombo Fort station is a quarter of an hour away.
When is the best time to visit Colombo?
It is at its best from December to March. From May to September the southwest monsoon brings rain to this coast – then the east of the island is the one to see, with Colombo as the gateway.
