Bandaranaike International Airport ground transport

CMB sits by the coast at Katunayake, so most arrivals split two ways: a short hop to the beach hotels of Negombo (~10 km) or the run south to Colombo (~35 km) down the Colombo–Katunayake Expressway (E03). The budget choice is the air-conditioned Airport Express coach (SLTB route 187/E03), which leaves the terminal roughly every 30 minutes between about 05:30 and 20:00 and reaches the Central Bus Stand at Pettah — a 500 m walk from Fort station — in around 50–70 minutes for about 130–150 LKR (~€0.50). PickMe and Uber both operate from the airport and are the easiest metered option; the official prepaid taxi counter in arrivals quotes a fixed fare instead. Because there is no rail link at the airport (the nearest line needs a road transfer first), longer journeys to Kandy (~3 h), Galle and Hikkaduwa on the Southern Expressway (E01, ~2–2.5 h), Bentota and Sigiriya (~3.5–4 h) are almost always done by a pre-booked private car — a driver, fuel and tolls bundled into one fixed price, which in Sri Lanka is both cheap and the norm. Note that tuk-tuks are not permitted inside the terminal but wait about 100 m past the exit. This guide compares price, time and frequency for each popular destination.