Hotel Shanelo, Negombo

Gampaha District

Gampaha is an urban city in Sri Lanka and is the capital of the Gampaha District in Western Province, north of Colombo. Gampaha District is separated from Colombo mainly by the Kelani River. Gampaha town is about 4km from Miriswatta on Colombo-Kandy road. Gampaha is surrounded by Yakkala, Miriswatta, Weliweriya Udugampola and Ja-Ela towns.

The name "Gampaha" in Sinhala literally means Five Villages. The five villages are known to be Ihalagama, Pahalagama, Medagama, Pattiyagama and Aluthgama.

Western Province

The Western Province is the most densely populated province of Sri Lanka. It is home to the legislative capital Sri Jayawardenapura as well to Colombo, the nation's administrative and business center. Western Province is divided into 3 main districts called Colombo (642 km²), Gampaha (1,386.6 km²) and Kalutara (1,606 km²) districts. As Sri Lanka's economic hub, all the major local and international corporations have their presence in the city and so do all the major designer and high street retailers, so be ready to indulge in some retail therapy in western province.

Having the highest population in the all the provinces, the almost all the premier educational institutions in the island are located in western province. Universities in the province include the University of Colombo, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Kelaniya, Open University, Sri Lanka, Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University and University of Moratuwa .Western province has the largest amount of schools in the country, which includes National, Provincial, Private and International schools.