Temple on the lake
The Seema Malaka Temple is a beautiful Buddhist temple whose location on Beira Lake makes it a true oasis of peace and tranquility in hectic Colombo. The temple is apparently a recreation of a previous temple which had sunk into the lake, and was built by Geoffrey Bawa, one of Sri Lanka's leading architects and the founder of the Topical Modernism school of design.
The temple is located a few minutes' walk from the famous Gangaramaya Temple and you can get a single ticket for both temples at the entrance to either one. What's lovely about the Seema Malaka Temple is it's location on three floating platforms on the lake connected by wooden walkways. The views of the lake and the skyscrapers of downtown Colombo are unbeatable and the fact that it's more of a local attraction that an international draw means that remains quiet and uncrowded most of the time.
