Wrong question with regards to your topic.
'The best place to live in sri lanka' is a different matter from 'The best place from where you can reach Colombo within 2-3 Hrs'.
As per best places...
* In my experience Kandy is a one of the best place(Everything with religious atmosphere).
*And areas where kurunegala - kandy rd (water , Goodclimate, soil and nice surroundings like indulgodakanda )
* Negambo rd are also good.(Especially water, cliemate, soil)
* I believe some areas of Gall is also nice. (You can earn money from plantation if u like)
* There may be some other areas in Sri lanka we have never getting touch with.
එහෙම තැනක වතු ආදායමෙන් ජීවත් වෙන්න පුලුවන් උනොත් කෝඩ් තියා වත්තෙ හතර මායිමටවත් ලැපක්වත් අරං එන්නෑ 
තව හොදට රීස්ටෝ කරපු පලාත්සභා ෆ්ලැට් රූෆ් පෙජරෝ එකකුත් තිබ්බ නං අම්මෝහ් 
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