Coastal Retreats
The heartland of Sri Lanka’s Christianity, Negombo, is divided into two halves: a vast expanse of beach lined with hotels, restaurants and bars, where almost all visitors stay, and the old town with its old colonial sights with the gateway of the old Dutch Fort built in 1672, it is now the local prison with the imposing St Mary’s Church, the town’s principal place of worship rising behind and hundreds of colourful boats moored around the edge of the Negombo Lagoon.
Once an isolated backwater between the Puttalam Lagoon and the Indian Ocean, the windswept Kalpitiya peninsula and its outlying islands, fringed with largely unspoiled idyllic white-sand beaches, is a prime kitesurfing destination and a seasonal dolphin and whale watching destination.
One of the first places on the island to embrace mass-market tourism, Hikka’s major visitor attraction, is the Coral Sanctuary at the northern end of the beach, which can be observed from a glass-bottomed boat or, still better, snorkelling.
One of the South’s most appealing destinations, Weligama Beach, with its sweeping arc of largely deserted sand stretching around the sparkling waters of Weligama Bay, with its photogenic selection of pastel-painted fishing boats bobbing up and down in the bay, is among the finest on the coast.
The sleepy village of Nilaveli, North of Trincomalee, harbours one of Sri Lanka’s ultimate get-away-from-it-all destinations: kilometres of white-sand beach tickled by palm trees, and famous for diving, snorkelling and boat trips to the nearby Pigeon Island Marine Park.
The east’s twin beaches of Passekudah and Kalkudah, with milky white sand and clear, gently lapping waves fringed by seemingly endless coconut plantations and cashew groves, are famous for just lying on a beach all day or indulging in sailing boat trips, jet skiing, water skiing and banana boat rides.
Easy-going, laid-back Arugam Bay was placed on the tourist map by visiting surfers who came to ride what is believed to be the best waves in Sri Lanka. A-bay, known in surfing circles, now attracts non-surfers too for its chilled-out atmosphere, off-the-wall charm and dolphin-watching tours from the nearby Pottuvil lagoon.
A laid-back hamlet on a fine stretch of sand tucked away into a pretty bay, backed by a fringe of coconut palms, Mirissa has gained fame as the island’s leading whale-watching centre with excellent chances of watching sperm and blue whales close to shore.
Set in a stunning crescent-shaped palm tree-fringed cove and protected by an offshore reef, Unawatuna offers safe year-round swimming and water sports adrenaline junkies, and the beach beyond offers rows of sun-loungers under colourful beach umbrellas for sun worshipers.
A vast swathe of white sand beach on the southern shore of Bentota Lagoon, lined by a string of stylish resorts, boutique hotels and idyllic villas and backed by dense groves of palms, Bentota is Sri Lanka’s classiest beach destination and Sri Lanka’s premier spot for water sports from wind-surfing to jet-skiing, wakeboarding, and river cruises on the lagoon, tangled waterways and swamps that meanders inland.