Sri Lanka starts to be also well known for its beautiful beaches with warm water, coconut trees and amazing sea food. Southern Sri Lanka offers various spots to relax with more or less wild beaches. Unawatuna and Mirissa are the most entertaining ones but some others less crowed really deserve a stop. My favorite one remains from far Tallala, but I reserve it for my next post, along with Tangalle, another pearl of Southern Sri Lanka. Exploring the southern coast with a car and stop at various points is a good option to discover all these different beautiful beaches and other curiosities. Otherwise, take few days on these beaches to sunbath, chill, dive and surf !
The best season for Southern Sri Lanka beaches is the dry season from December to April. Ocean is quiet and warm. However, Unawatuna and Mirissa can be crowed at this time of the year, with lots of tourists drinking beer and listening to the music in the various bars the beaches can offer.
The atmosphere is completly different in wet season from April to November : beaches are not crowed at all and waves can be impressive, with surfers enjoying it. Water is a bit cooler and it can be a little hard to swim, but not impossible if you avoid the places with rocks. Wet season is not that wet, rain is not everyday and does not last too long. We were there in July and as you can see my pics are really sunny !
Therefore, if you travel during the dry season, I would recommend to end your itinerary by southern beaches, where you can relax, enjoy a quiet and warm sea and do some watersports such as jet ski or scuba diving (Scuba diving clubs are closed in wet season anyway, due to strong waves and courant). If you travel in wet season, I recommend to start your itinerary by these southern beaches as a nice introduction to Sri Lanka, especially after a long journey in plane, and then end by eastern beaches to relax after you whole trip. Seasons are the opposite in the east, summertime in July and August will be dry season.
Unawatuna : Click here to see my work on Unawatuna on IStock.
Unawatuna is a beautiful and huge beach with lots of bars on the sand. Behind the beach is a little street with shops, restaurants and hotels.
Dalawella Beach :
Dalawalla beach is part of Unawatuna. The beach is far less crowed and is famous if its rope attached to a palm tree where you can take beautiful pictures ! (below pink pic is from "Journey by Era" - to be honest, I did not want to queue for this kind of famous insta pic, even though they are really beautiful !)
For a little snack on the beach with a nice seafood platter or wood-fired oven pizza, try the Wijaya Beach.
For a relaxing stay, I highly recommand the Kaju Green Eco Lodges, 5 minutes in tuk tuk from the beach.
Weligama is another beach between Unawatuna and Mirissa. The main point of interest is the rock in the middle of the sea. I would not recommand to stop there for a long while. During low season, wastes are brought back by the sea and black birds rove around it.
However, an amazing resort stands there and might be a good spot on high season : Cape Weligama Resort
Weligama is also well know as a surf spot but cannot be done all over the year.
Season starts end of september until April. To book your surf sessions, you can contact LSR, Lanka Sport Reisen, which a local agency, providing sport activities all over the country.
Mirissa : Click here to see my work on Mirissa on Istock.
Few miles later, you will find Mirissa Beach, which is very nice and that I would rate better than Unawatuna. More vegegation and less buildings directly on the beach gives it a more lush and exotic atmosphere. Take a walk along the sea to the east and discover kind of a creek with rocks, a nice spot to be more isolated from the rest of tourists.
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