Sri Lanka · Western Province · Colombo
Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Cinnamon Gardens is an affluent Colombo neighbourhood named for a former cinnamon plantation, and it holds the National Museum of Colombo.
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Where to stay in Cinnamon Gardens
The practical side of choosing where to sleep.
Museums ring this neighbourhood. The National Museum of Colombo, the Colombo National Art Gallery and the National Museum of Natural History stand within walking distance of one another, so a room in Cinnamon Gardens puts a full day of collections outside the door. The Colombo Racecourse anchors the other end.
Quiet streets and an affluent grain make this a calmer base than the commercial quarters of Colombo, and the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour stands among its streets.
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Museum row
The National Museum of Colombo, the Colombo National Art Gallery and the National Museum of Natural History sit close enough together that one Cinnamon Gardens address covers all three on foot.Find hotels in Museum rowSport and events at the Colombo RacecourseRacecourse ground
The Colombo Racecourse and the Royal College Sports Complex give this corner of Cinnamon Gardens its open land, which keeps the streets around them wider and greener than the museum end.Find hotels in Racecourse groundMornings at the Independence Memorial Museum and the cricket collectionIndependence Memorial side
The Independence Memorial Museum and the Sri Lanka Cricket Museum stand at this end of the neighbourhood, with the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour a short way along the same streets.Find hotels in Independence Memorial sideHotel links are affiliate links: booking through them may earn us a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never affects how places are ranked. How this works
Things to do in and around Colombo
Ranked by global recognition; descriptions from Wikidata (CC0).
Museums & Galleries
3- National Museum of Colombo
- National Museum of Natural History
- Colombo National Art Gallery
Churches & Religious Sites
1- Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour
Stadiums & Sports
2- Colombo Racecourse
- Royal College Sports Complex
worth knowingacross 3 categories in and around Colombo
About Cinnamon Gardens
What are the main landmarks in Cinnamon Gardens?
Few Colombo districts hold this many. The National Museum of Colombo leads a run that takes in the National Museum of Natural History, the Colombo National Art Gallery, the Independence Memorial Museum and the Sri Lanka Cricket Museum, all inside one neighbourhood. Two sporting venues follow.
The Colombo Racecourse and the Royal College Sports Complex occupy the open land, while the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour supplies the one major church on the list.
What is the history of Cinnamon Gardens?
Cinnamon gave the place its name. A cinnamon plantation once covered this ground, and in 1789 the gardens carried 289 acres of cinnamon trees before the planting gave way to the streets of Colombo. The trees went; the name stayed.
What replaced them is an affluent quarter of museums and institutions, from the National Museum of Colombo to the Independence Memorial Museum, on land that once grew a single spice crop.
Where is Cinnamon Gardens?
Cinnamon Gardens covers a stretch of inner Colombo, in Sri Lanka, on ground that was a cinnamon plantation before the city reached it.
Common questions
What is the best area to stay in Cinnamon Gardens?
Museum row: A day split between the National Museum of Colombo and the art gallery. Racecourse ground: Sport and events at the Colombo Racecourse. Independence Memorial side: Mornings at the Independence Memorial Museum and the cricket collection.
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Updated October 2026