The green inland district capital, best known for the historic Henarathgoda Botanical Garden where Sri Lanka's first rubber trees were grown.
Gampaha is the administrative capital of the district, an unhurried inland town set among paddy fields and rubber and coconut land about 30 km north-east of Colombo. Its best-known attraction is the Henarathgoda Botanical Garden, a shady 19th-century garden where the first rubber trees in Asia were cultivated. The town is a convenient, low-key base for exploring the sacred Kelaniya temple and the surrounding Gampaha countryside, and sits on the main railway line between Colombo and the north.
The Gampaha area rose to prominence in the colonial period when the British established the Henarathgoda garden in 1876 and planted rubber seedlings brought from Kew Gardens, seeds that founded Sri Lanka's rubber industry and much of South-East Asia's. The town grew as a railway and market centre on the fertile 'wet zone' plains north of Colombo and became the seat of the Gampaha District when it was carved out of the Colombo District in 1978.
A shady 19th-century botanical garden where the first rubber trees in Asia were grown, laced with old trees and a lily-covered lake.
An ancient and deeply sacred Buddhist temple believed to have been visited by the Buddha, famed for its vivid murals and the Duruthu Perahera.
An ancient royal temple and archaeological site linked to the self-sacrificing King Sri Sangabodhi, with a rare intact circular relic house.
Halal and Vegetarian-friendly options are tagged below. Kosher food is not commercially available here; observant travellers usually self-cater or contact a Chabad house.
Sri Lankan · Budget
A no-frills town-centre eatery serving hearty Sri Lankan rice and curry, kottu, hoppers and short eats at low prices, with plenty of vegetable curries for meat-free diners.
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