The Sri Lanka Beaches That You Have To Visit

Last Updated: June 29 2021

We recently spent a month travelling through Sri Lanka, and got the chance to enjoy all the beautiful beaches Sri Lanka has to offer. Every beach we visited had long sandy beaches, was lined with palm trees and had the most incredible clear water. Each of the beaches has something unique to offer; whether it be the amazing sea life, the colour of the sunsets or the restaurants. In this post we are going to write about some of the beaches that we believe you should visit and why. Here are the Sri Lanka beaches that you just can’t miss, in no particular order.

The Sri Lanka Beaches That You Must Visit:

1. Hikkaduwa Beach

Hikkaduwa beach was the first beach town we visited, as we came straight from Colombo. It is very popular due to its resident wild sea turtles. They can be found along this beach, and come here regularly to feed on the sea weed. People are allowed to swim around them, and hold out seaweed from the sea floor to see if they will take it. However, people are absolutely not allowed to touch, disturb or follow them around.

This was an incredible experience, and one we will never forget. It is beautiful to be able to snorkel alongside the turtles, and watch them living their every day life. If you leave the main group of tourists and snorkel further out, you will tend to find lots more turtles swimming around. This was a much more enjoyable and memorable way to see them, as we were the only ones with them. Although the highlight of this beach is the turtles, this beach is the perfect place to swim. Hikkaduwa also has coral reefs just out from the beach. There are plenty of boats on the shore, that can take you out there to snorkel. There are also plenty of great food choices around Hikkaduwa.

Where to stay: Navora Homestay – This is where we stayed, and had a lovely time here. It was only a 5 minute walk from the beach to!

2. Unawatuna Beach

In terms of Sri Lanka beaches, Unawatuna is up there with the best! The beach is beautiful; with a little quaint town around the beach. Unfortunately we stayed a bit out of town, so had a 20 minute walk to the beach. However, we still fell in love with this beautiful beach. There is plenty of space to relax, to swim, and of course to eat! Unawatuna has amazing beach side restaurants with very reasonable prices. We had two chicken curries with rice and poppadoms sat on the beach with the sunset. This cost us 1000 LKR (around £4.25) which was a awesome price. Perfect for backpackers!

Unawatuna has some amazing beach hotels, and is a short walk or drive to other beaches such as Jungle beach and Dalawella beach. The town has cool hippie vibes, with plenty of shops, cafes and bars. You can also take the public bus to Galle fort as a day trip, which will take around 20 minutes.

Where to stay: We stayed a bit far out, so for that reason alone probably wouldn’t recommend staying here. However, you can find more places to stay in Unawatuna here.

3. Arugam Bay

Arugam bay is beautiful, and is very popular for outdoor activities including surfing. It is actually one of the world’s top destinations for surfing. It is a very small town with just one main street, however there is still plenty to do. The beach is one of the best known beaches in Sri Lanka, and there are plenty of options for accommodation, bars and restaurants.

Where to stay: You can find accommodation options for Arugam Bay here.

4. Jungle Beach

If you ware wanting to visit Jungle Beach, make sure to stay in Unawatuna. From Unwatuna you can either take a 10 minute Tuk Tuk journey or a 30 minute walk to this slice of paradise. Jungle Beach is a small cove with only a small stretch of incredible sand, but the sea is beautiful. It is also a great spot for snorkeling!

Along the right side of the beach there is a vast range of rocks surrounded by tropical fish. If you want somewhere to relax that is a little bit quieter than the other main beaches in Sri Lanka, then this is definitely the place. It is a super place to spend an afternoon, and one of the beaches we really enjoyed!

Where to stay: You can find accommodation options for Unawatuna here.

5. Dalawella Beach

Dalawella Beach is another gorgeous spot in Sri Lanka, and is only a short tuk tuk ride to Unawatuna beach. Or the walk takes around a 26 minute walk from Unawatuna. There are plenty of beach resorts here, however there is a lot less here than in Unawatuna. The restaurants that are here though, range from cheap and affordable to quite expensive.

One of the best things about Dalawella beach, is the famous photo spots here. There is the famous rock that everyone tends to climb on, as well as the beach swings located on the beach. For 300lkr (£1.30) you can have a few go’s on one of these huge swings that goes right out over the water. It looks super fun!

Where to stay: You can find accommodation options for Unawatuna here.

6. Mirissa Beach

Mirissa beach was our favourite beach in Sri Lanka! Not only is the beach breathtakingly beautiful, there are so many spots to take awesome photos, and of course eat plenty of food! Parrot rock can also be found just off Mirissa beach. From the top you can have incredible views of Mirissa, and we also saw baby black tip reef sharks swimming in the reef below.

The Instagram famous Coconut tree hill is also located in Mirissa, so definitely make sure you pay this spot a visit. Make sure you take time to relax here, and also watch the ocean. We saw plenty of wild sea turtles swimming here, every time we visited. You can also go whale watching in Mirissa, which we highly recommend. We have written a post about whale watching in Mirissa here.

If you only go to one beach in Sri Lanka, make sure it is Mirissa beach. Honestly this spot on the south coast is picture perfect, and you will not regret your visit here.

Where to stay: Sun Hopes – This is where we stayed, and couldn’t recommend it more! It is just by the beach, and is a really comfy place to stay.

7. Tangalle Beach

Tangalle beach has beautiful golden sands, lovely little restaurants and the Indian ocean is so beautiful here. However, be wary of the waves as they can get really rough here. There are plenty of food and shopping choices here, especially on the main street. The restaurants have amazing home cooked food, including the famous Sri Lankan curries. At one of the places we visited, a sweet lady spent over an hour cooking us lots of home made dishes and they were delicious!

We spent most of our time here in the water, or chilling on the beach so we don’t actually have any photographs here. We are sure we took some though haha! If you are looking for a more relaxed beach, then Tangalle beach is definitely for you. If you google some of the images of this beach, you will see how beautiful it is. Tangalle is also a good location to visit Udawalawe national park, as buses and taxi’s are readily available.

Where to stay: Charith Homestay – This is where we stayed, and it is only a 2 minute walk to the beach. They also have a lovely Labrador who likes to greet you upon arrival!

8. Trincomalee beach

Trincomalee is located on the east coast of Sri Lanka, and is a beautiful little town. It is a lot quieter than the beaches on the southern coast, so if you are looking for a more relaxing spot Trincomalee is a great choice. There are also plenty of other activities to do in Trincomalee, including whale watching, diving and snorkeling trips. You will never be left short of things to do!

It is easy to travel up to Trincomalee, just take the plenty of buses that run each day. We took a bus from Sigiriya, and found the journey really easy.

Where to stay: Blue Blu Resort – This is where we stayed, and absolutely loved it! They also helped us to organise a boat tour, where we could snorkel with wild sharks.

How to travel between beaches on Sri Lanka’s south coast?

Travelling between the beaches on Sri Lanka’s south coast is super easy! Public buses are very frequent and super cheap, with it often costing less than £2 between us to travel. Tuk Tuks are also readily available, and can be negotiated with for a good price. There are also plenty of taxi companies and drivers located at the beaches. The trains are also very cheap, although can often get quite busy.

We hope this post has helped show the beautiful beaches that Sri Lanka has to offer. We hope you find this useful when planning your Sri Lanka itinerary.

If you have any other favourite beaches, please drop them in the comments below! We would love to check them out!

P.S. If you want to see some more of our photos from the beaches of Sri Lanka check out our Instagram here.

Thanks,

Jack & Abbie

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