quarryking

Should be ok.. only thing being you would need to relax at the lobby of the Galle face hotel until the B'fast opens, which would be around 7am i presume.

Alternatively, you could delay yoour departure from the airport and aim to leave the airport by say 6 or so and that way you make it to the city for b'fast by 7am.

Ausriver

Is it the best place for breakfast in CMB?

bmw303

Upon arrival at CMB Airport, can you stay overnight in the transit hotel or lounge, even if you dont have a connecting flight and are just desiring to exit the airport in the morning rather than at night? How would this work (do you go through immigration and then walk over to the lounge/hotel or just go through immigration the next morning)? Thanks.

quarryking

With regard to the lounge, upon arrival might be tough. As a departing passenger, the lounges are all post immigration and so in essence, once you land you'd essentially walk past some of the lounges. But not sure if they'd allow you to overnight there.

bmw303

Thank you!

Does anyone know about the hotel? If its possible to stay overnight at the airport hotel and leave around 6 am even if you do not have a flight out the next morning?

mster

Is is possible to overnight at CMB airside? I wouldn't normally consider it, but the airport hotel options look terrible. There is also a 24 hour priority pass lounge at CMB too (Lotus First Class Lounge).

I'm planning to arrive at 23:15 on CX and then depart ~12 hours later at 10:50 AM the next day on QR.

quarryking

mster

Is it possible to remain airside if you don't yet have the boarding pass for your departing flight? Can you pass through transit security without one?

onlysuites

I recently got in at 11pm on UL and left at 930am on WY. There isn't a good place to sleep in the terminal. In my opinion the $80 for the airport hotel is well worth it. Just one floor up and you can get a good nights rest. The UL lounge does have some lounging seats so if you get a boarding pass for your connection and are allowed lounge go to the UL one rather then the shared one they send you to.

You should be able to get a boarding pass from the transfer counter so saves you going outside. They can collect and re-tag your luggage. CX and QR are same alliance anyway so should tag your luggage onwards.

golfingboy

I may be mis-reading but if you are in Sri Lanka for less than 2 days you can apply for a free transit visa. I am spending 28 hours in CMB later this month and recently applied online - it was free and I was approved 10 minutes after submitting my application.

CHSDOC

I have an 8 hour layover, and I want to leave the airport, just to register Sri Lanka as a hit. So I'm thinking of this plan:

Arrive from MLE on UL at 1745. Hand luggage only. Taxi to Galle Face Hotel for a paid stay. Late dinner at Ministry of Crab then freshen up. Depart the next morning at 0330 (leave hotel at 2400?). Is this reasonable? Secure a transit visa online?

piyush

I get in to CMB at around 11:30 am and my next flight is at 11:30 pm. I figured I should be able to reach Colombo by about 1:30 pm and then leave Colombo at about 8:30 pm. I would like to get a hotel room and walk around for 3 - 4 hours. Which would be a good centrally located hotel? Is the Hilton any good?

quarryking

Assuming I'm reading your itinerary correctly, your landing at 17.45 hrs, say you leave the airport by about 18.15 hrs., you'd reach the city only by about 19.30 hrs.

Ministry of Crab has fixed timings for their dinner service and so you could make the 21.00 dinner service slot. You'd essentially be in the room only from say 22.30 - till midnight. After which you'd need to leave the hotel again for the airport. You could essentially scrap the hotel booking option and still accomplish the same.

Also, i'd say maybe even look at Negombo as an option. Not more than a 20 minute run from the airport. Lots of decent eating options by the sea. You wouldn't be holed up in a taxi for 2 hours plus, just commuting back and forth.

quarryking

All the below centrally located:
Hilton Colombo (rooms fairly dated)
Hilton Colombo Residences (more like long stay, serviced apartments)
Taj Samudra (right on Galle Face)
Cinnamon Grand (right on Galle Face)
Cinnamon Lakeside

Also consider Negombo as an option. Much nearer to the airport and lots of hotels right by the beach:
Hotels in Sri Lanka | Jetwing Hotels in Sri Lanka | Official Site

Travel times to the airport can stretch a bit if it's round about rush hour. Took me over 1.5 hours getting from the city to the airport on my last trip there.

Hope this helps.

piyush

Thanks. We landed up staying at Hotel Galle Face. Nice location though rooms were a bit dated. Reached there by 1:00 pm. Left the hotel by 8:45 pm and reached the airport by 9:30 pm. Since we already had our boarding pass we were at the gate before 10:00 pm.

It's amazing how Srilankan Airlines starts calling last call 90 minutes before the flight but doesn't actually start boarding the flight till 20 minutes before flight time. So you have to sit in a small room and twiddle your thumbs!!