How to Explore Sri Lankan Beach Destinations

Sri Lanka is known as a great beach destination. Since it’s an island destination, the country is blessed with many interesting and picturesque beaches that travellers love to visit whenever they head to Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan beaches are not just for swimming and viewing sunsets, but you can try out many new experiences while you are there. Here’s how you explore the Sri Lankan beach destinations in style.

Find the Perfect Base

As in all beach getaways, finding a strategically located rest can go a long way in helping you make the most of your vacation in Sri Lanka. In addition to making sure the venue is located by the beach, travellers should also find out which hotels offer easy access to some of the other highlights in the city. The advantages of a convenient base cannot be overestimated even when holidaying in a seaside resort hub the likes of Galle, Kalutara, or even Jaffna as those who are visiting the area for a limited time period can benefit from being within close proximity to the main activity hubs and cultural highlights in the areas. If you are heading to Hikkaduwa which is another unique beach destination, keep in mind that you can opt for any Hikkaduwa resort the likes of Hikka Tranz by Cinnamon.

Sign Up for a Whale Watching Safari

As the main reason why most locals and tourists visit beach destinations in Sri Lanka in the first place, no trip to the country would be complete without enjoying a whale-watching cruise. Trincomalee is one of the two top whale watching hubs in Sri Lanka with Mirrissa being the other destination. Setting out in the early morning hours, whale watching tours are likely to come across sperm whales and even the elusive blue whales out in the open sea, a few kilometres from the shore. Bryde's whales are also known to frequent the waters off the coast of these destinations while friendly dolphins are also known to occupy the waters during the peak whale-watching period in the area which falls between February and November.

Hit the Beaches

Sri Lanka is home to some of the finest beaches in the world. Visitors should try to spend time at least some of the most popular beaches here. Marble Beach and Dutch Bay are two idyllic paradises for swimming and water sports activities while Sal Beach and Uppuveli are equally breathtaking hubs for beach lovers, if they consider Tricomalee as their holiday destination. Kalutara has the Calido Beach, and the south has many interesting beaches including Unawatuna, Mirissa and Tangalle.

Explore the Spiritual Hubs

Many beach destinations in Sri Lanka are homes to their fair share of cultural attractions and spiritual points of interest. If you head to Trincomalee, there are many religious and cultural attractions located within close vicinity such as the Kali Kovil Temple, Koneswaram temple and Gokanna Raja Maha Viharaya. Even if you choose a convenient beach location such as Colombo (where you find the Galle Face Beach and the Mountlavinia Beach), you can come across many religious attractions around such as the Gangaramaya Temple.

Discover the Hot Springs

Not every beach destination is blessed with hot springs, but a very few are! The Kanniya Hot Springs in Trincomalee are the perfect example. Consisting of seven wells, the hot springs each have water up to about 1.2m so one can see the bottom of the well from above. Known to have healing properties, local visitors like to bathe in the water from the well to heal various ailments and as a ritual that's associated with a visit to the Kanniya Hot Springs.