Five-star Fort, Colombo
The Kingsbury
A nine-storey hotel at the harbour end of Galle Face, where every one of the 229 rooms looks out to the Indian Ocean.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.
- Rooms
- 229, including 22 suites
- Opened
- 1973; reopened as The Kingsbury in 2013
- Views
- Every room faces the sea
- From the airport
- About 33 km from CMB
The hotel
From Inter-Continental to Kingsbury.
The hotel opened in 1973 as the Ceylon Inter-Continental, built by U. N. Gunasekera at the northern end of Galle Face, close to the harbour. It was a tall concrete block in a decade when most Sri Lankan hotels were low resort buildings. Later it traded as the Ceylon Continental, and today it belongs to the Hayleys group. It rises nine storeys above the seafront.
Hayleys spent about $18 million refurbishing it, and it reopened as The Kingsbury, with its first new guest arriving in January 2013. The hotel has known hard days: it was damaged by the 1996 Central Bank bombing and attacked on Easter Sunday 2019, then closed for a time before reopening. The 2012 refit had put Frette linen and Bvlgari toiletries in the rooms and named the two ballrooms the Balmoral and the Victorian.
- The sea from every room All 229 rooms and suites face the Indian Ocean, with the city on the other side of the building.
- Executive floor Executive Rooms sit on the top floors over the harbour and Galle Face Green, with access to the Executive Lounge.
- Pool and spa An outdoor pool above the ocean, and Senses Spa with the gym inside it.
Rooms & suites
Six categories, all facing the water.
Rooms run from Superior to the Kingsbury Suite. The higher the floor, the wider the view of the harbour.
- Rooms Deluxe Room On floors five to seven, looking out to the Indian Ocean.
- Club level Executive Room On the top floors, over the harbour and Galle Face Green, with Executive Lounge access.
- Signature suite The Kingsbury Suite More than 1,000 square feet, the largest room in the hotel.
Dining
Six kitchens and a rooftop bar.
Restaurants and bars as listed by the hotel. Shown for information.
- Harbour Court International and Sri Lankan buffet The hotel's all-day restaurant
- Ocean Seafood One of the original 2013 restaurants
- Yue Chuan Chinese In the hotel
- Tenku Japanese, with teppanyaki In the hotel
- Kings Steakbar Steakhouse A carvery on Sundays
- Sky Lounge Rooftop bar Drinks above Galle Face
Good to know
Before you go.
- Arrival The hotel publishes no standard check-in time, so we confirm it when booking. Direct bookings carry check-out up to 2 pm.
- Where you are Fort is Colombo's old commercial district, between the harbour and Galle Face Green. The promenade is a short walk away.
Getting there
Flying to Colombo.
Bandaranaike International (CMB) is about 33 kilometres north, and the hotel puts the drive at 35 to 45 minutes on the Katunayake Expressway, depending on traffic. Private jets use the same airport, which has no curfew.
- Malé 1 h 20
- Mumbai 2 h 20
- Singapore 3 h 55
- Dubai 4 h 40
- London 11 h 50 long-range jet
Questions
What guests ask first.
- Do all rooms at The Kingsbury face the sea?
- Yes. All 229 rooms and suites look out to the Indian Ocean; Executive Rooms on the top floors also see the harbour and Galle Face Green.
- How far is The Kingsbury from Colombo airport?
- About 33 kilometres from Bandaranaike International, or 35 to 45 minutes by the expressway according to the hotel.
- Was The Kingsbury once the Inter-Continental?
- Yes. It opened in 1973 as the Ceylon Inter-Continental and reopened as The Kingsbury in January 2013 after a refurbishment by its owner, Hayleys.
- Can SkyCourtage arrange the flight to Colombo?
- Yes. We arrange Business and First Class seats on scheduled airlines and private jet charter to Colombo, with one final price, our margin included. The hotel is booked with the hotel or through our booking partner.
Also in Colombo
Other hotels worth the trip.
- Shangri-La Colombo Five hundred rooms on Centre Road at Galle Face, opened in 2017.
- ITC Ratnadipa Opened in April 2024 with 352 rooms, and classified five-star by the national tourism authority in January 2026.
- Cinnamon Life Six hundred and eighty-seven rooms in the City of Dreams complex, opened in 2024.
- Taj Samudra Three hundred rooms on Galle Face Centre Road, open since the early 1980s.
- Cinnamon Grand Five hundred and one rooms on the Galle Road, a fixture of the city since 1975.
- Hilton Colombo Three hundred and forty-two rooms on Sri Chittampalam A. Gardiner Mawatha, opened in 1987.
- Cinnamon Lakeside Three hundred and forty-six rooms, opened in 1985.
- Sheraton Colombo On the Galle Road, rated five-star by Sri Lanka Tourism.
- NH Collection Colombo Two hundred and nineteen rooms, opened in 2017.
- Nüwa A hotel of 113 rooms and suites at the top of the City of Dreams resort, given its five-star certificate in May 2026.
- Sentido Heritance Negombo On the beach at Negombo with 139 rooms, some 13 km from the airport.
- Jetwing Blue The first Jetwing hotel, which began as a six-room retreat on this beach and now has two pools.
- The Blue Water Designed by Geoffrey Bawa, among coconut palms on the beach at Wadduwa.
Staying at The Kingsbury?
Book the room, then the flight.
Rates and availability come from the hotel itself. For the journey to Colombo, a Business or First Class seat or an aircraft of your own: tell us the date and we come back with one final price, our margin included.
Opens the hotel's own website. We have no arrangement with the hotel.