The Southern Expressway opened two gleaming service stations near Welipenna. Each houses a Cargills Food City and assorted shops like Juiceez, Dinemore, Gihan's, Gill's, Pascucci and New Monis. They also have ATMs and quite decent bathrooms.
Taking the Southern Expressway is like stepping (or driving) into another world. It's Sri Lanka's first proper highway. There are no cows, goats, dogs or even trishaws or motorbikes. It's just a fast corridor between Colombo and Galle, cutting that chaotic drive down to about 1.5 hours.
Sri Lankans, however, have to stop, no matter the length of the trip. Hence the service area. This exceedingly modern building looks like Heathrow Airport and houses everything a traveling Sri Lankan family could need. Dinemore, New Monis for short-eats, Juiceez for juice as well as ATMs and clean bathrooms. There's also a lonely Pascucci coffee-shop off in the corner somewhere.
Note that this stuff, however, isn't cheap. A Juiceez juice will set you back about Rs. 150-200 and a Dinemore meal can push Rs. 500. There are no roadside kades, no Tipi-Tip, no boiled corn, nor roti, and the malu paan (at New Monis, which you must remember from the Galle Road) is not especially cheap. It's a modern rest-stop for a modern highway, with modern prices.
Refreshments aside, the service area also a bank of ATMs (Bank Of Ceylon, Commercial Bank, HNB) and quite serviceable sinks and bathrooms. The bathrooms, for now, are actually outside the building, past the ATMs, but they're exceedingly clean. We've included photos above.
Perhaps it's not a destination in itself, but the Southern Expressway Service Area is already bustling and worth a stop if you're on your way south. Note that there's no gas or car repair there, it's just for human refreshment.
TIP
The bathrooms are currently outside but decent. Go around back, exiting near the ATMs.
The Southern Expressway opened two gleaming service stations near Welipenna. Each houses a Cargills Food City and assorted shops like Juiceez, Dinemore, Gihan's, Gill's, Pascucci and New Monis. They also have ATMs and quite decent bathrooms.
සිංහල
දකුණු අධිවේගී මාර්ගයේ අනගි සේවා ස්ථාන දෙකක් විවෘත වුණා, වැලිපැන්න පිවිසුම ආසන්නයේ. ඒ දෙකේම තිබෙනවා කාගිල්ස් ෆුඩ් සිටි, ජුයිසීස්, ඩයින්මෝ, ගිහාන්ස්, ගිල්ස්, පැස්කුසී හා නව මෝනිස් අලෙවිහල්. ස්වයංක්රීය මුදල් යන්ත්රත්, හොඳ වැසිකිලි පහසුකමුත් එහි තිබෙනවා.
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kk
no gas???
wtx??
Kani
The wash rooms are accessible from inside and there's no need to around the back. Just walk towards the ATMs and the you'll see the entrance to the washroom.
Surend
And its not expensive compared to other shops… Malupan at monis only Rs. 42 :) and fish roll just Rs. 40
Malshi
Service overall is kinda slow though, especially if you are in a hurry to get back on the road.
DinidudeAlwis
Pascucci was an uttter disappointment (Colombo>Galle). Half of the stuff on the menu were not there, service was horrid, and the order of a family who ordered after I did was completely messed up.
Lalith
Absolutely right… Horrible service… Staff unskilled… The cake I ordered was aged like scotch… Don't go
Kal
Looks like a another waste of money.
dinesh
Its look like international qulity…
Spencer
A good beginning, Give it time it will be OK!
Chamlysongmailcom
Very much disappointed with this rest area. I went with my small kids to the washroom. A woman who was cleaning the wash room scolded us using bad words. My kids even got scared. Is this really a rest place if kids can't use d toilets? That woman is a thin tall woman, worked on Sunday 25th may around 2pm in galle to Colombo side rest area. Pl don't keep these kind of wicked women to work.
wwwmonkey
Quite bizarre that they don't have a gas station here.
kp
Went through one of these back in april, and I've been out of the country for the last few years and was looking forward to checking these out. piss poor. the place looks great from the outside, but that's pretty much it. Both on our way to galle and back, the AC was switched off and the doors were open (we asked around and were told the AC is only put on when the place gets busy). On our return trip (at night), the place was open, the shops were open, but the lighting inside was worse than in a saiver kade- dim and dingy. See, this is why we can't have nice things. No sooner do we build them, we make an excuse to not run the places properly… Sad.
Rishi
Recently I had the displeasure of ordering a chocolate biscuit pudding from the Pascucci coffee-shop.
I knew there was something wrong with the taste as soon as I had a bite, so I naturally checked the expiry date.
to my surprsie coudn't find the expiry or the manufacture dates in the dessert cup. After a short debate with the shop manger about the condition of the chocolate biscuit pudding, I was able to get a black coffee since they didn't offer cash refunds (and coffee would allow me to take the long drive home…….just in case)……Consumers Beware !!!!!
Jagath
Very funny service place…No place to buy a cup of tea. They only have Nescafe…I guess Multi National Company is offering some kind of incentive to these staff in the cafeterias to offer Nescafe and refuse Tea. Even foreigners were puzzled when they were offered Nescafe instead of Tea….You walk in to any cafe and ask for tea they either ask you to try at Monis shop of offer Nescafe. When you try at Monis shop they say tea will take 30 Minutes to prepare and who will wait 30 minutes for tea on a one hour journey. My advice is take your tea or don't try tea at this spot.
jk
The statement "Sri Lankans, however, have to stop, no matter the length of the trip. Hence the service area." shows the writer's ignorance that it is an accepted standard internationally to build rest points at every 50km or so intervals avoid driver fatigue. It is not because Sri Lankans need to stop no matter :-)