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The Best Beaches in Sri Lanka

There’s only so long a person can go without enjoying some well-earned R&R on the beach…! ‘What is the best beach in Sri Lanka?’ is a frequently asked question from most of my clients. To answer that question, in a tropical island surrounded by miles of amazing beaches, there is no one-best-beach. It depends on the season and what you want from your beach holiday.

For Surfers

If catching a wave is all that you’re interested in, the beach for you is Arugambay, one of the best surf spots in the world. The surfing season is from April to October.

For Divers

From November to April, the West Coast is what’s ideal for diving enthusiasts and Colombo is the best spot on the West Coast with over 10 wrecks and several picturesque reefs. From May to October however, the dives are best on the East Coast in Passikudah.

  

Photo credit to Island Scuba...

For Snorkeling

During the West Coast beach season, Hikkaduwa is best for snorkelling and Nilaveli Beach on the East Coast is best during the East Coast Beach season.

For Whale and Dolphin Watching

Depending on the wind and the waves, November to April is the best season to see Blue Whales, Spinner Dolphins, Sperm whales and sometimes even Killer Whales in Sri Lanka. Mirrissa on the South Coast and Kalpitiya on the West Coast are the best places to experience this.

For active days and lively nights

Hikkaduwa and Unawatuna are the best if action is what you’re looking for. There’s the beach, plenty of water sport options and many restaurants and bars along the beach who most often host beach parties at night.  

Unawatuna Beach

Quiet Beaches

If you want to avoid the crowds and spend your time on a deserted beach, I’d recommend Thalpe… There are some lovely beach bungalows in Thalpe and it is much more peaceful when compared to busy beaches like Unawatuna.

Calm Beaches

In my experience, Passikudah Bay beach during its season is the most calm… It’s almost like a shallow salty swimming pool with no waves and is ideal for people who are not too confident in the sea.

Whatever you’re into, it seems like Sri Lanka has a beach that you’ll love…!

Want to find out more about beaches in Sri Lanka? Email me on gbot@mylankandream.com!

The largest animal that ever existed

After everything I have read and watched about the Blue Whale population in Sri Lanka, I have been itching to check it out for myself for some time now. It was the BBC feature on Blue whales and the research done by Sri Lankan Marine Biologist Asha De Vos that got me psyched initially.

My Whale Watching excursion from Mirissa, a town on the South Coast of the country, was long overdue and I was determined to go before the season was over. The whale watching season for Mirissa starts in November and goes on until April. Finally, on the 16^th of March my trusty travel companion and photographer [my dad!] and I drove down to the Mirissa Fisheries Harbour hoping that it wouldn’t rain like it did the night before. We had to be in Mirrissa at 6.20AM and we had to leave Colombo at 4 in the morning. I didn’t have a hard time waking up though, because I woke up 3 times that night in shock, thinking that I had overslept. Despite my patchy night’s sleep, I was wide awake, alert and excited for the whole journey.

The Mirissa Fisheries Harbour

As we approached the Mirissa Fisheries Harbour, we followed the signage that led us to The Mirissa Water Sports Center office because they were our whale watching tour provider. A lady named Deepika handed us our packed breakfast once we had signed in.  Once we got onto their boat, Jayasooriya2, we were handed a bottle of water and a life jacket. We were amongst the first few on board the vessel so we got the best spot right at the front of the upper deck [provided of course, that you don’t mind getting splashed repeatedly by the spray from when the waves hit the sides of the boat]. The boat left the pier at around 7AM, just as the sun was rising.

 

Jayasooriya - 2

 

Our front row seating!

The Sunrise

 

For the first one and a half hours we didn’t see anything except for a few flying fish, some fishing boats and a cargo ship and I was starting to lose hope. I had read an article written by Naturalist Gehan De Silva Wijerathne on whale watching in Mirissa that said that you are more likely to come across a Blue Whale in Mirissa than you are to see a Leopard at the Yala National Park. Needless to say, I was becoming a little sceptical of that statement because I had seen leopards in Yala in the last few times I was on safari there and it had been almost 2 hours and there were no signs of any blue whales. The crew said that it was unusual that we hadn’t seen any yet but they hadn’t lost hope.

A fishing boat

An overcrowded fishing boat!

 

A Cargo Ship

 

Just as I was about to lose heart, we encountered small school of striped dolphins. This species of dolphin is easy to identify because of its markings - you could recognise them easily by the stripe that runs along either side of their bodies. They started showing off as they got closer to the boat by jumping high above the water and performing some very entertaining acrobatics, which were so amusing that I only caught bits of it on my camcorder and my dad barely managed to get some pictures on camera because we were so excited!

Notice the stripe that runs along the side?

 

The acrobatics

The splashes

  

The dolphin sighting renewed our hope and all eyes were searching the waters for what we had come to see. Before I knew it, one of the crew yelled “there, blue whale, at 10 o’clock” and I looked that way just in time to see the largest animal in the world dive smoothly into deeper water. I got so excited when I saw it that I momentarily forgot to point my camcorder in that direction.  So once again, I managed to get only about 5 seconds of shaky unclear footage!

The crew keeping their eyes peeled

Everyone else keeping a look out as well

 

Around thirty meters long, the largest animal to have ever existed, far bigger than the biggest dinosaur that roamed the planet is one of the most humbling things I have ever seen. Despite their size, these endangered marine mammals are so graceful and smooth in the water. People often assume that there is an off-season for whale watching from Mirissa because the whales migrate. That is not the case however, because the blue whale colony found off the coast of Mirissa uncharacteristically do not migrate like the rest of their species and instead they stay close to the deep canyon areas. The rough seas are the reason for the off season.

The spray from their blow hole

Their back sliding back into the water

We saw 3 blue whales after that, and I managed to get better recordings of the spray of water from their blow hole and their backs sliding gracefully in the water. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see their tails, also known as flukes, sticking neatly out of the water as they dived down. I was glad that we started to head back at around 11.45 because I was tired and sleepy after the early start that morning. About an hour later my whale watching tour ended with the sight of the red Mirissa Hills.

The view as we approached the harbour

Fort Food

An honest review of the food and the places to eat in the Galle Fort by someone who loves to eat!

Ask any Sri Lankan and they’d tell you that a Galle Bath Curry [rice and curry from Galle] is the best you could find in the country. Rice, a fish curry and jaadi [pickled fish] or karawala [dried maldive fish] are the essentials of a typical meal in the South Coast.

This post however isn’t about rice and curry, instead it is about the delicious food that I have stumbled upon while wandering around the Galle Fort. Let me first start with the smaller vendors…

You will always find raw mangoes available with a mouth-watering mixture of chillie powder, salt and pepper sprinkled on it to give that bitter-sweet spicy flavour that Sri Lankan’s love. Getting the perfect ratio of chilli powder, salt and pepper has come down to an art form mastered only by these vendors. The same mixture is sprinkled onto pineapple by the pineapple vendors at the Fort. There are also kadala karayas [vendors who sell boiled chickpeas mixed with pieces of coconut and dried chilli] and men that sell Bombai Muttai, which is something similar to candy floss.

Moving on to the bigger cafes and restaurants, Pedlar’s Inn Café is one of my favourites. It has a very historic  vibe inside with lots of wooden carvings and other old ornaments as well as art on the walls that are seen only with a black light… A refreshing twist to their vintage setting. Try their coffee milk shake which is absolutely energising, especially on a hot day.

The vintage interior

The historic look inside Pedlar's Inn

There’s also Indian hut, which is famous for its tandoori chicken and [surprisingly] its Chinese food (!), Wok on the Wild Side which ironically serves rice and curry instead of Chinese(!), Anura’s where everyone goes for the best pizza in Galle and the Nescafe shop, which is famed for its Roti!! Clearly, when it comes to the food at the Galle Fort, you can expect the unexpected!

Indian Hut: Serves Indian as well as Chinese!

Good Advice!

 

My absolute must-eat-before-I-leave-the-fort food is some homemade Ice Cream. There’s a tiny pink and blue shop on Church Street that sells various interesting flavours of Ice Cream such as Magic Mango and Banana, as well as juices, milkshakes and coffees. Dairy King is a small but delightful place with the friendliest owner named Tariq, who’s sure to recommend something great depending on what you like.

The Facade of Dairy King

Tariq - The friendliest owner...!

Spending a day soaking in the sights, sounds and flavours of the fort is enough to leave anyone stuffed to the brim with food and culture. If you are planning to explore the Fort, you should definitely try as many of the places I’ve mentioned above as you can while you are there, and if you aren’t able to, then at least taste Tariq’s Ice Cream!

10 things you should know before coming to Sri Lanka

While searching for tips that are available to travellers planning to come to Sri Lanka, I found that there was not much good advice offered. Which is why, this month, my post features 10 things that travellers should know before coming to Sri Lanka.

1) You need to get a Visa

Since January 2012 all tourists are required to obtain a Visa to enter Sri Lanka. You can apply online through the Sri Lankan Electronic Travel Authorization website - http://www.eta.gov.lk/slvisa/ .  A tourist Visa for double entry valid for 30 days costs US$ 30.00 for adults and is free for children under 12. You could get the Visa on arrival at the airport, but I recommend that you get it before you arrive because it saves time and is more convenient.

2) Packing Essentials

It’s important that you pack light for your holiday, especially if you are going on a tour with your family. Spending half an hour trying to stuff five cases into a car every time you travel from one destination to another is a huge waste of time and effort. If you are exploring Sri Lanka, you are likely to visit many religious places, so it is important to pack a modest outfit like jeans, light coloured pants or a knee length skirt with a light coloured top, tshirt or shirt with sleeves. Other things that you should pack are flip flops, a hat or cap, sun glasses and a light jacket if you are staying in the hill country which can get chilly in the evenings.

3) Medicine: Talk to your physician

Although I believe it isn’t necessary, most doctors recommend taking Malaria tablets if you are travelling to the North of the country. You should meet with your physician and get advice on what medicine is best for you in the event of allergies etc.

4) Insect Repellent

Sri Lanka is a tropical country and we are home to lots of insects such as mosquitoes. Consider bringing a good brand of insect repellent to avoid getting annoyed by them.

5) Chargers

The plug points in Sri Lanka are most often three round pins or three square pins and electricity is at 230 volts at 50 Hertz. If your devices need charging and it doesn't support this power voltage, you should bring an adapter along with you to protect it.

6) It’s hotter than you think!

Everyone knows that Sri Lanka is a warm country all year round. However, most of the time, it’s hotter than you think. It’s important to not only bring the sunblock, but to actually use it and remember to stay hydrated. Whether you are going to climb Sigiriya Rock or for a short walk down the street, you should always carry a bottle of water with you. It is also very humid in Sri Lanka, so consider packing a good hair conditioner to avoid having frizzy hair throughout your holiday!

7) Don’t get ripped off…

Some shop owners, vendors and tuk-tuk drivers look to make some quick money and tourists are an easy target for them. Don’t give in if they charge you extortionate prices and don’t let them guilt you into giving them a bigger tip than they deserve. Find out how much a ride is to your destination before you get into the tuk tuk, or better yet, get a metered one so you know you won’t be paying extra and always bargain with vendors who don’t have a fixed price list…!

8) Road Rules

Try not to get freaked out by the traffic and the chaotic way people drive here. You will get used to after a few days on the road. Many people have asked me about driving a rental around Sri Lanka on their holiday. I always advise them against it unless they are used to the way Sri Lankan’s drive because it isn’t the safest thing to take on.

9) Food

I believe that to fully experience a country, you need to fully experience its food. You should try as many types of dishes possible and experience the wide range of fruits and vegetables that Sri Lankan has to offer without thinking about the calories. A few must try food items are string hoppers, hoppers, koththu roti, Ceylon tea, tin-kiri te [tea made with condensed milk] and [obviously] rice and curry.

10) Experience

There is so much more to Sri Lanka than just the pristine beaches, ruins and tea estates. You must witness the Sri Lankan culture and experience everything from the wildlife that we are so proud of to the rivers that flow from the hill country. Sri Lanka has so much undiscovered potential and I believe you should stray off the beaten track and discover it first-hand.

I hope you found this post useful. I will leave you with Andrew Zimmerman words; “Please be a traveller, not a tourist. Try new things. Meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding the amazing world we live in”.