Closenberg Hotel
Magalle, Galle — 158.3 km from Bandaranaike (CMB), about 2 hr 26 min. Fixed fares from Rs 24,540, agreed before you fly.
Getting there from the airport
Your driver meets you in arrivals and takes you to the door. One fixed price for the whole car, agreed before you fly, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before pickup.
Location
6.03156, 80.23511
Guide du visiteur : Closenberg Hotel
Ce qu’il faut savoir avant d’y aller. Dernière vérification le 06-10-2026 par l’équipe de recherche TaxiList. Chaque information indique son degré de fiabilité.
- On-site restaurant: one restaurant
- Gardens
- Summerhouse at end of promontory
- Air-conditioned sea-facing rooms (refurbished 2003)
Near Closenberg Hotel
Places to visit close to the hotel. Drive time is by road, from the same pricing data as your quote.
Day trips from Closenberg Hotel
Further afield. Drive time is by road, from the same pricing data as your quote.
Closenberg Hotel occupies a promontory at the mouth of Galle harbour in Magalle, a site the Dutch first fortified in 1719 under the name Klossenburg — roughly, "the fortalice on which the sea roars." The house that stands there today, however, dates to 1861, when it was built as a private residence known as Villa Marina, on what was then a small islet connected to the mainland only by a narrow causeway.
Villa Marina was built for Captain Francis Bayley, the head of the P&O shipping company in Ceylon at a time when Galle, rather than Colombo, was the island's main port of call on the steamer route between Europe and Asia. His wife, Lucy Matilda Bayley, an artist, is credited with planting much of the property's gardens with ferns and flowering plants gathered along the P&O trade route between Calcutta and the Suez, a garden that visitors still walk through today. The Bayleys sold the house to P&O itself in 1871, and it served for a time as the company's official agent's residence.
In 1889, the property passed to Simon Perera Abeywardena, who renamed it Closenberg, and the Abeyewardene family has owned it ever since — making it, unusually for a hotel on this stretch of coast, a single-family property for well over a century, through the decline of Galle as a major international port and its later re-emergence as a tourist town.
The hotel today keeps a small footprint in keeping with that history: around sixteen rooms, several with working fireplaces alongside sea views, private balconies or patios, and an outdoor pool and garden with a poolside bar rather than a full resort layout. Two on-site restaurants serve seafood alongside international, local and Italian dishes, and a complimentary continental breakfast is included each morning.
Its position on a small, causeway-connected promontory means many rooms and the grounds look directly out over the harbour and the open sea beyond, a vantage point that predates almost every other hotel on this part of the coast. Closenberg's appeal rests less on a conventional resort amenity list than on this specific, well-documented history — a sea captain's residence, a shipping company's agency, and a private family home, on a spit of land the Dutch fortified for exactly the reason its name describes, all before it ever opened its doors as a hotel.
Your transfer to Closenberg Hotel
Closenberg Hotel is south-east of the centre of Galle, the point the quoted distance is measured to.
The nearest hotel on this site is Galle Fort Hotel in Galle Fort, about 2.0 km away.
What it costs
| Vehicle | Seats | Typically | Prices from | Book |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economy car | 3–4 | Alto, Aqua, Axio | Rs 24,540 | Book |
| Van, SUV and group | 4–50 | Every, Vezel, Toyota KDH, Coaster | Rs 32,630 | Book |
| Premium car | 3–4 | Camry | Rs 46,210 | Book |
One price for the whole car, not per seat. Drivers and fleets set their own rates, so these are typical prices from our system, not a guarantee — your actual quote can differ. Quoted by the same engine that prices your booking, for the 158.3 km shown — your own quote reflects the exact address, the time of day and any waiting time. See all 9 vehicle classes ↓
Questions about this transfer
How much is a taxi from Colombo airport to Closenberg Hotel?
From Rs 24,540 for the 158.3 km, about 2 hr 26 min. That is a fixed price for the whole car, quoted before you book, not a meter reading.
How long does the transfer to Closenberg Hotel take?
About 2 hr 26 min in normal traffic. Arrivals at Bandaranaike are busiest in the early morning, when the long-haul flights land together.
Will the driver wait if my flight is late?
Yes. Give your flight number when you book and your driver has it. There is no automatic flight tracking yet, so if you are delayed, message your driver on the number in your confirmation. Extended waiting beyond the pickup window is chargeable on a point-to-point transfer, and the terms say by how much.
Can I book a return transfer from Closenberg Hotel?
Yes — the same journey in reverse, at the same fixed price, booked at the same time or later.
All vehicle classes and prices
| Vehicle | Seats | Prices from | Book |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mini / Small Car | 3–4 | Rs 24,540 | Book |
| Economy / Medium Car | 3–4 | Rs 27,070 | Book |
| Sedan | 3–4 | Rs 29,540 | Book |
| Mini Van | 5–7 | Rs 32,630 | Book |
| SUV | 4–5 | Rs 33,240 | Book |
| Van | 8–14 | Rs 35,100 | Book |
| Luxury Car | 3–4 | Rs 46,210 | Book |
| Mini Bus | 15–30 | Rs 48,060 | Book |
| Bus | 30–50 | Rs 67,820 | Book |
Every class, every price, none hidden. Each Book button opens the booking form for this transfer with that class chosen.
Book your transfer through us
- Fixed price in advance, for the whole car. No meter.
- Your driver's profile is shown before you book.
- Free cancellation up to 24 hours before pickup.
- Day trips from the hotel can be booked from the cards above.
How this transfer works
One fixed price for the whole car, not per seat. There is no meter, so the figure you are quoted is the figure the booking honours. Give your flight number when you book and your driver has it.
The return leg from Closenberg Hotel is the same journey booked the other way, at the same price, and can be arranged now or later in your stay. Departures want you at Bandaranaike three hours before a long-haul flight, so add the 2 hr 26 min back to that.
Before you book
- Taxis in Galle — what the roads do at different times of day, and how being collected here works.
- Airport transfers — meeting your driver, luggage, child seats and how payment works.
- The airport to Galle route — the drive itself, in detail.
- A driver for several days — the usual arrangement for anyone travelling beyond Galle.
- The district map — where Galle sits, and what is around it.