Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte

About Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte

Sri Lanka's official capital is a quieter, greener neighbour of Colombo, where a parliament building rises from a lake and egrets fish in wetlands a few minutes from busy roads. Kotte has a long royal past: from the early 15th century it was the seat of the Kingdom of Kotte, whose kings ruled much of the island until the late 1500s, and fragments of its ramparts and old temples still survive among the suburbs.

In the 1980s the government chose Kotte as the administrative capital and built the Parliament of Sri Lanka, designed by Geoffrey Bawa, on an island in Diyawanna Lake. The lake shore around it has become one of the most pleasant public spaces in the metropolitan area, with jogging tracks, a lakeside park and a cultural village showing traditional rural life.

Kotte is also a surprisingly good place for nature: Beddagana and Talangama wetlands host herons, kingfishers, water birds and butterflies. Visit early morning or late afternoon, and combine Kotte with the sights of central Colombo.