Beach or hills?

Ask the Tourist Information Officein Colombo (Tel: 94-11-243-7055), opposite the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, where to go for a day out of the city when there is no cricket and they will, with an enthusiastic smile, suggest Kandy.

If you're not going to Kandy for a game, it can be done very easily by train. The Intercity Express, with observation car accommodation (at Rs 680 for a day return ticket per person), leaves Colombo Fort railway station at 7am and arrives in Kandy at 9.30am. This gives you time to explore the town, visit the Royal Botanical Gardens at Peradeniya (admission $10: about Rs 1315), as well as the obligatory pilgrimage to the Temple of the Tooth (admission Rs 1000). The return Intercity leaves Kandy at 3pm, getting into Colombo at 5.36pm.

To book in advance, as well as choose to have breakfast served on the way out and a snack on the way back, along with unlimited tea or coffee, choose a seat on the Exporail, a luxury air-conditioned coach attached to the Intercity train, which costs Rs 2200 for the round trip.

If you like elephants, hire a driver and vehicle for a day trip to the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage to watch elephants of all ages bathing in the river and being fed (at 9.15am, 1.15pm and 5pm). There are restaurants near the orphanage that serve beer, and lots of tacky gift shops. Entrance to the orphanage is Rs 2000. A car and driver for hire (five hours round trip) will cost at least Rs 5000.

Another trip inland along the A4 and A7 highways will take you to Kitulgala, ceaselessly promoted as the place where the bridge that starred in the film The Bridge On the River Kwai was blown up. Nothing much to see there now except the majestic swirl of the river. However, it's possible to go white-water rafting there on organised day trips from Colombo.

For a day by the beach, a pleasant option is to catch a train from Colombo Fort railway station (departure at 8.35am) down the west coast to Bentota (return fare Rs 220, second-class). The Bentota railway station is by the beach and next to Hotel Susantha's (Tel: 94-34-227-5324), where you could happily base yourself for a day, enjoying drinks and a modestly priced lunch in the garden restaurant when you tire of swimming in the sea.

If you're more adventurous, stroll out of the hotel's garden along the Galle Road to the bridge, to bargain for and book an outboard motorboat trip up the Bentota river. Or you could have an a la carte lunch at Aida's Restaurant (Tel: 94-34 227 5398) in pavilions overlooking the riverside.

Or walk to Bentota square, by the railway station, for lunch at the Golden Grill Restaurant (Tel: 94-34-227-5455), whose Mixed Grill Platter with beef steak, pork chop, chicken leg, fried egg, bacon, sausage, chips and vegetables is legendary - and costs Rs 1200. The train back leaves Bentota at 3.39pm to arrive in Colombo at 5.20pm.

To head further afield, you could take a train departing at 10.30am from Colombo Fort railway station to Galle, arriving there at 12.42pm (Rs 360, second-class return). The attractions are the walled fort of Galle, built by the Portuguese, Dutch and British occupiers, narrow streets threading between ancient and art-deco houses, trendy boutiques and charming cafés. The return train leaves Galle station at 3.30pm to arrive in Colombo at 6.07pm.

Another plan for a day off could start with a visit to Colombo's Railway Museum. Colombo's collection of steam engines used to be a source of amazement for steam and rail enthusiasts, who were occasionally allowed to view them in the rail yard at Dematagoda. Now, after many years and various attempts, a railway museum has opened to the public on Olcott Mawatha in the capital. Although the website puts the admission price to foreigners at Rs 500, I was told by the bored young man on duty when I strolled in one day that admission is free.

The museum, open from 8am to 4pm every day except on public holidays and weekends, consists of a hall with some railway station furniture, including a Tyers Patent Train Tablet Apparatus over 100 years old, and a station platform called Colombo Terminus. An enormous narrow gauge crane dominates the space, but the main attractions are the three locomotives at the platform.

The first is a cute saddle tank steam engine (Class 040ST), possibly dating back to the 1890s. The second steam engine is identified as Class 20601, but there is no other information available on it. The third, Number 727, is a diesel hydraulic Y1 Class Shunting locomotive that was originally designed and built locally, and then lay abandoned for long until rehabilitated.

Once done with the museum, walk, or hail a tuk-tuk, to Colombo Fort railway station to take a local train for the 12km journey to Mount Lavinia. Head to the Mount Lavinia Hotel, with its agreeable ambience, swimming pool, and buffet lunch in the Governor's Café or tea on the terrace, and spend a day delighting in Colombo's colonial heritage.

Instead of going out of Colombo, you could spend the day running around it (sort of) by becoming a visiting member of the Hash House Harriers, or Hash House Harriettes for women. The Harriers (men only) meet on Monday evenings at 5.15pm to follow a trail, jogging around the city to the ultimate destination: a pub. On Wednesdays there is another run when women and children can join in too. Described as "a drinking club with a running problem" the Hash House Harriers have a long and eccentric history revelling in token exercise and serious camaraderie.