Angurukaramulla Temple
Angurukaramulla Temple
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
4.0
272 reviews
Excellent
101
Very good
106
Average
50
Poor
9
Terrible
6
Mike C
Manchester, UK14 contributions
Jan 2020
Stopped here on a private guided tour. in the middle of negombo it is very impressive. females have to cover up shoulders etc.. .but they give you a shroud. a massive budda and when you go inside the lions mouth pay £5 you see a pictorial history of how the buddist religion came about, with simple explanation in various languages from a guide book. more of a museum with great art work. Well worth a half hour visit at least.
Written 8 January 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Enri Glay
New York City, NY5 contributions
Jan 2024 • Solo
I recently visited Agurukaramulla Temple, and it was an amazing experience! The temple’s architecture is stunning, and the intricate carvings are a sight to behold. The peaceful atmosphere made it a perfect place for reflection and relaxation. The staff were friendly and provided interesting information about the temple’s history and significance. Highly recommend a visit!
Written 26 June 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Nick B
London, UK537 contributions
Dec 2013 • Family
The reason I am giving this place 4 stars is because of the sheer beauty of the place. We specifically wanted to visit this location, and asked a tuk-tuk to drive us here.
This temple is (apparently) approximately 200 years old, and is slightly delipadated - although there is work being undertaken to restore it. There is also usually a guide on hand who will walk-and-talk you around for roughly 15 minutes, and inform you on some pretty amazing and educational things.
Definitely worth a visit.
However, there a few things I want to mention:
*Wear respectable clothing, and you have to remove your shoes at the entrance - although you are reminded about this by the signs (some people have mentioned this already).
*THE SCAM: some people have also touched upon the "guestbook".
There is the opportunity to give a donation at the end to help towards the restoration project - fair enough. However, the guide insists that you SIGN AND READ a "guestbook". To my horror I read previous donations of at least 3000 Rupees, some as high as 6000. I felt guilty as the most I could really give was 1000 as I needed cash for the tuk-tuk journey back (fortunately this 1000 Rupees was accepted).
BUT - the SCAM is that people usually give 300-600 Rupees, and an extra '0' is added by the guides who then use the "guestbook" to con/guilt people such as myself.
BEWARE if you do visit here, and perhaps write donations as "THREE HUNDRED", rather than "300".
This temple is (apparently) approximately 200 years old, and is slightly delipadated - although there is work being undertaken to restore it. There is also usually a guide on hand who will walk-and-talk you around for roughly 15 minutes, and inform you on some pretty amazing and educational things.
Definitely worth a visit.
However, there a few things I want to mention:
*Wear respectable clothing, and you have to remove your shoes at the entrance - although you are reminded about this by the signs (some people have mentioned this already).
*THE SCAM: some people have also touched upon the "guestbook".
There is the opportunity to give a donation at the end to help towards the restoration project - fair enough. However, the guide insists that you SIGN AND READ a "guestbook". To my horror I read previous donations of at least 3000 Rupees, some as high as 6000. I felt guilty as the most I could really give was 1000 as I needed cash for the tuk-tuk journey back (fortunately this 1000 Rupees was accepted).
BUT - the SCAM is that people usually give 300-600 Rupees, and an extra '0' is added by the guides who then use the "guestbook" to con/guilt people such as myself.
BEWARE if you do visit here, and perhaps write donations as "THREE HUNDRED", rather than "300".
Written 15 December 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stewen Rhodes
1 contribution
Dec 2018 • Couples
Upon our arrival to srilanka on the first day our driver took us to two Hindu temple and church and fish market and many more. Our impression is vanished and tolerance went to zero,by visiting this place .actually we have good feeling about Buddhism. But this place is to snatch money from tourists.we went Hindu and Catholic churches. No one asked money.this place is monitor by CCTV cameras by the big monk and he checks from the room whether all tourists are paying money.the guy told us.when we enter to Buddhism Temple we must feel peace. But by seeing this money collecting man we feel very disappointed. He is wearing a short pants and shouting like a fish seller in fish market.and his explanations is very annoying. Every tourists asked to buy a small book which doesn't worth 50Rs ,but everyone obliged to pay 1000Rs.
This is a tourist trap and avoid this
This is a tourist trap and avoid this
Written 9 December 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Romesh Wijesiri
Negombo, Sri Lanka14 contributions
Dec 2018 • Friends
I am a buddist, I wisit first time with my indian friend he say this old temple very beautiful. locataed at near negombo city. I am so happy visit this tempale
Written 6 December 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
B & V
London, UK59 contributions
Oct 2018 • Couples
We visited with a private guide and this was one of the places we visited during an afternoon tour. We walked round the areas outside with our guide providing information which was interesting. Upon entering the temple our guide was spoken to and an apparently an entrance fee was required, there was no reference to this being required to be seen anywhere and we did not have cash on us as our tour had been booked and paid for prior to going, our local guide was clearly not familiar with a fee being charged. We left without seeing the interior of the temple. It was a great shame and feel it would be better if there were clear notification of how much should be paid to see the interior of the temple and alternative methods of payment. We left feeling disappointed and not having learnt any more about Buddhism or the history of the temple. I would not recommend going unless you are prepared to pay whatever is seemingly required on the day.
Written 8 November 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ricowilf
Auckland Central, New Zealand150 contributions
Nov 2017 • Friends
There's really not a lot to do in Negombo especially when it rains. However, I would seriously suggest a visit of the Angurukaramulla Temple. A tuktuk will costs 200-300 but you can get a Pickme Driver (use the taxi app) for 120rs.
I wasn't expecting much to be honest so was pleasantly surprised at the 3D artwork inside. The temple entrance is unique with it's animal mouth as if you are entering the belly of the beast although it did remind me of a large cat head at a fun park. Once inside the walls at covered in paintings depicting Buddha in various states of temptation and peril and how he deals with it. The centre of the temple has Buddhas standing, lying down or sitting in a mediative state surrounded by worshippers all in 3D. The statues are very well made and lifelike. There are other buildings and smaller temples on the site as are 35 practicing monks although we didn't see any at the time.
We had a local (who I later found out was the caretaker of the temple) give us a very brief history of the temple, however, this was soon followed by a hard sell on the donation front which added a sour note to the experience. He showed us a visitors book that stated peoples names, countries ad what they had donated. I flicked through and was very surprised to see that the donations ranged from 1,500 - 4,500 rs. I found this a tad hard to believe and politely told him so.
Having travelled extensively I'm aware of what a traveller will generally donate and it's usually a few dollars for something like this not $15-$45. I just put what I considered to be fair into the donation box. The caretaker wasn't very happy with us and was no longer interested in answering any questions. Had it not been for this interaction I would have given this 5 stars. A donation should be just that and determined by the person giving otherwise charge an entrance fee.
I wasn't expecting much to be honest so was pleasantly surprised at the 3D artwork inside. The temple entrance is unique with it's animal mouth as if you are entering the belly of the beast although it did remind me of a large cat head at a fun park. Once inside the walls at covered in paintings depicting Buddha in various states of temptation and peril and how he deals with it. The centre of the temple has Buddhas standing, lying down or sitting in a mediative state surrounded by worshippers all in 3D. The statues are very well made and lifelike. There are other buildings and smaller temples on the site as are 35 practicing monks although we didn't see any at the time.
We had a local (who I later found out was the caretaker of the temple) give us a very brief history of the temple, however, this was soon followed by a hard sell on the donation front which added a sour note to the experience. He showed us a visitors book that stated peoples names, countries ad what they had donated. I flicked through and was very surprised to see that the donations ranged from 1,500 - 4,500 rs. I found this a tad hard to believe and politely told him so.
Having travelled extensively I'm aware of what a traveller will generally donate and it's usually a few dollars for something like this not $15-$45. I just put what I considered to be fair into the donation box. The caretaker wasn't very happy with us and was no longer interested in answering any questions. Had it not been for this interaction I would have given this 5 stars. A donation should be just that and determined by the person giving otherwise charge an entrance fee.
Written 1 December 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Michael O
Stockholm, Sweden6 contributions
Dec 2018 • Couples
Just thought I’d mention that we were asked to pay 2000LKR each to visit the temple. We didn’t have that much cash so they accepted 2000LKR för the 3 of us. It is a nice temple, but a bit expensive. The guide said that this was a new policy.
Written 30 December 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Charlotte W
Hamilton, New Zealand47 contributions
Jan 2016 • Couples
Interesting to visit whilst in Negombo. Glad I read other visitors' reviews - the guest book has definitely been altered slightly with regards to donations as I doubt everyone the last few days had donated 4000SLR! Worth a visit if you're nearby.
Written 22 January 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Sheytanova
Sofia, Bulgaria77 contributions
Oct 2014 • Couples
It was one of the most interesting attractions in Negombo. If you have free time in Negimbo – visit it! The only thing we did not like was the fact that all of a sudden this guy started following us asking for donations and money for the temple. It was our last day in Sri Lanka and we were tired of such people… Anyway, it is a nice temple to visit!
Written 3 November 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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