Arrive CMB from BKK @ 11:15 on 11/16 and go CMB- HKG on 11/18@12:40am. What should I do in interim. Stay at airport? Visit city? tx.

I can't believe you could seriously consider staying at an airport for 27 hours! Get out there and see the city. (But your question is not specific to OneWorld - probably best asked on the relevant destination forum).

That makes two of us. Unless you are a fan of whitegoods there is not much else to do at CMB.

I would head to Negombo there are a few threads on the Asia forum on where to stay. I was there in September for one night. Stayed at Brown's Beach Resort in Negombo. Wasn't to bad spent the day by the pool and the service I would say was the most friendly on any hotel I have stayed at.

IMO, CMB Airport is boring and Columbo itself is a madhouse (really!). Take bensyd's advice and head out for 24 hours.

Note. Checkin in for your 12:40am flight does not open until shortly after 10pm; ~2� hours beforehand.

Take extra note, you can't take money out of Sri Lanka so hide your local currency if the security see it after you have checked in but before you have actually gone through immigration then they will make you go back outside to drop it in the drop box which is a real PITA at CMB as you have to hand over your BP and get a special "transit" pass off the checkin agent and go back through securtity.....

Sorry to violently disagree, but Browns Beach Hotel would be the singularly worst hotel on the planet if there weren't ten million other ratholes competing for the honor.

Head into the city. Hang out around the Galle Face Green (and beach - well sort of) - do lunch and drinks at the Galle Face Hotel.

Get a quick TukTuk tour of the main attractions and temples - not that much to see

If your staying the night why not do it at the Galle Face Hotel - one of the oldest and grandest hotels in Asia.

FYI. Also caught the CMB-HKG flight at 1am (but only after a 12hr layover) in April this year. Check-in only opened about 2.5hrs before the flight.... There is nothing to do in the departures (although it was being renovated while I was there) - you can access the single canteen (post security) by going up the fire stairs to the upper level.

Once checked in and into the terminal proper the offerings are quite reasonable - a number of food outlets still open at that hour. The OW affiliated lounges (unsure if you have status) in the new wing are very good although no showers -- Showers are available on the right just after you enter the departures terminal -- they only accept USD - $3/4 from memory. [Luckily despite being an Aussie I always carry some USD on my travels].

Also if you're wanting to store baggage while hanging around for 36hr the Baggage Storage office is outside the airport on the main road... Be warned when you leave the terminal after arriving - it will be an absolute madhouse out there!

really?? the accomodation is not that great but its clean, and as I said the friendliest staff anywhere...I'd be interested to hear your experience though.

1. Booked a pickup with them off the late Cathay arrival. They never showed, weren't apologetic. Took a taxi. It's a surprisingly long distance from the airport.
2. We'd booked and prepaid a triple well in advance. Not available on arrival. Put us into a small room and after a long wait (past midnight by now) we got a rollaway.
3. Room nothing to brag about. Sterile cube, wobbly ceiling fan on its last legs. Lots of mosquitos for the entymologysts in the group to study.
4. Breakfast was mediocre but not terrible. Evening meals were actually quite good.
5. No complaints with staff (other than apparent general incompetence as noted above) but we didn't bring out the "friendly" in them.
6. In August, the beach was dirty and dismal looking. I don't remember the pool.

The above is partly a matter of expectations - I had read somewhere that Sri Lanka was the "new Bali". Bali (and especially the Balinese) are favorites of mine, and it takes no effort to obtain palatial accommodations there for USD100 or so. Browns got significantly more than that out of us.

I am going to move this to the Asia forum. There are some existing threads on Colombo. Here's one you might check out:

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthrea...hlight=Colombo

You can also consider a day trip to Kandy, which has a number of sights worth seeing.

SanDiego1K
OneWorld Moderator

Assume 45 minutes travel time between CMB and Colombo Fort area at the best of times.

I agree that a drink at the Galle Face hotel is pleasant, though somewhat overpriced. The Galle Face Green itself wasn't much of an attraction to me, though the stories of the scammers were pretty amusing. You might find the Pettah shopping area interesting or overwhelming (or both).

I'd basically get out of CMB as fast as possible and stay away until the last minute. I'd eat as much Sri Lankan fare as I could stuff myself with and, perhaps, spend some time at Odel's and Barefoot (all the 3 wheeler driver know where they are).

Not much to see in the city and it takes about 1 hour by taxi. Also, given the security situation, I would not hang around the city centre. Suggest you go to Negombo which is 20 mins by taxi from the airport, a reasonable resort style town by the ocean. Taxi cost me 800 rupees (about $8) one way. I took a hotel room for the day - perfectly clean and reasonable cost about $40 but no doubt cheaper is available. If you want details PM me and I will try to find them.

Agree that the airport is not a good idea - supposed to be the best in the subcontinent but even so 27 hours is a long time!