Colombo National Museum Ticket Price

Colombo National Museum ticket price in 2026 (at a glance)

The museum sits on Sir Marcus Fernando Mawatha in Colombo 7, and the Natural History Museum stands behind it in the same compound. You buy either a single-building ticket or one combined ticket that admits you to both. These are the current gate prices in Sri Lankan rupees.

Children under 5 usually enter free. A still-camera permit is about LKR 250 to 300 and a video permit is LKR 2,000, both paid at the counter. Planning a wider Colombo trip around the visit? Our Sri Lanka tour packages fold the museum into a city itinerary, and you can compare the full National Museum overview or current opening timings on their own pages.

Ticket price for foreign visitors

Foreign adults pay LKR 1,200 for the National Museum alone and LKR 600 for children. That works out to roughly 335 and 170 Indian rupees at current exchange rates, so for most overseas travellers this is a small fraction of the day's budget. If you want both buildings, the combined ticket at LKR 1,500 (about 420 Indian rupees) for adults and LKR 750 for children is the better value, because buying the two single tickets separately costs more.

There is no separate online booking step. You pay at the ticket counter just inside the main gate when you arrive, so you do not need to reserve anything in advance. Foreign nationals from SAARC countries were once charged a lower concession rate, but that tier is no longer confirmed in rupees and the standard foreign rate is what you should budget for today.

Ticket price for Sri Lankan locals and school students

Sri Lankan nationals pay LKR 100 for an adult ticket to the National Museum and LKR 50 for a child, with the combined ticket at LKR 120 for adults and LKR 60 for children. This is the tier most of our "for locals" searchers are after, and it is the same gate counter, not a separate queue.

School students on an organised group visit are typically admitted at the child rate, and pre-arranged school parties can ask the museum office about a group concession before they come. Carry a national ID or student card, since the local rate is for Sri Lankan residents rather than tourists.

Combined ticket: National plus Natural History Museum

The single most useful thing to know before you buy is that one combined ticket covers both the National Museum and the Natural History Museum behind it. For a foreign adult that is LKR 1,500 against LKR 1,200 for the museum alone, so the extra LKR 300 adds the entire natural-history wing of skeletons, taxidermy and Sri Lankan geology. Families and anyone travelling with curious children get far more out of the afternoon with the combined ticket, and it saves the bother of a second payment.

Opening hours, closure days and how to pay

The museum opens at 9:00 am and closes at 5:00 pm, with the ticket counter shutting at 5:00 pm and the galleries clearing by about 6:00 pm. Mornings are quieter and cooler, so aim to arrive by 10:00 am if you want the main halls to yourself. Allow two to three hours for the National Museum and an extra hour if you add the Natural History Museum.

The museum closes on public holidays and on Poya (full-moon) days, which fall once a month and shift with the lunar calendar, so check the date of your visit against the Poya calendar. There is also a weekly Monday closure in force, which matters if you are planning a Monday around the city. Entry is paid in cash in Sri Lankan rupees at the counter, as card payment is not reliably available, so carry enough notes for your tickets and any camera permit.

From central Colombo the museum is a short tuk-tuk ride, and the how to reach guide sets out the routes and nearest landmarks if you are walking or taking the bus.

Why trust these figures

Our Colombo desk cross-checks the gate prices on this page against the Department of National Museums tariff and two independent on-the-ground sources before each update, which is how we catch stale figures that other guides still quote. Across the Colombo trips planned through TravelTriangle, the National Museum is one of the most-added city stops, and travellers consistently tell us the combined ticket is worth the small extra over the single.

Planning your visit

The Colombo National Museum is one of the easiest and best-value culture stops in the city, and a single combined ticket under LKR 1,500 buys a foreign adult most of an afternoon across two museums. Once you have the ticket prices sorted, you can slot the visit into a wider trip with our Sri Lanka tour packages, or browse more of the city on the Colombo tourism guide.