By following the coastline of Sri Lanka you'll find one beautiful place after another. This blog post gives you a great insight into which places to visit and an ultimate travel guide for it.
Content:
Hikkaduwa
It's a small beach town located in the South of Sri Lanka and popular for its good waves for surfing.
Food
For breakfast go to Salty Swamis, they have amazing smoothies, smoothie bowls, avocado toasts, and other different kinds of breakfast. The cafe is located right next to the beach. It's a nice co-working space as well, so after your daily morning surf, you can also do some stuff for work.
Be aware that they’re only open till 3 pm. With their location, they would have great potential for the perfect sunset bar.
There’s a nice small restaurant, called Tambili Café a little bit outside the center. They offer sustainable food from local markets and fresh fish directly from the ocean.
If you want to eat some fancy seafood or traditional Sri Lankan dishes Friends Indeed is a very great place to visit, and one of the best restaurants in town. It’s located on the main road of Hikkaduwa, so when you walk around the town, you won’t miss it. I had the grilled tuna steak with mashed potatoes, which was delicious.
Things to do:
The Tsunami Museum shows the effects of the tsunami that occurred in 2004. It was very fascinating, because the main focus of the tsunami was mainly on Thailand, even though Sri Lanka suffered more deaths and destruction.
Hikkaduwa is, as already mentioned, a great spot for surfing and offers great waves for beginner and intermediate surfers. Additionally, renting a surfboard is quite affordable and only costs around 2$.
In Hikkaduwa itself and around the coastline you can find lots of offers to visit the Turtle Hatchery. I don't recommend visiting such places, because the people there make a profit out of it by changing people to holding the turtles.
Parties and drinks
There are some spots that are recommended for partying, but due to Covid-19, it was less touristy. We went to Top Secret, which was quite chill with live music and good drinks. Mambos was a nice place for watching sunsets and having some drinks. And we also went to Funky de Bar, which had also a nice ambiance.
Unawatuna
Approximately 40 minutes away from Hikkaduwa there's another beach town with smaller waves. It was a bit more touristy than the other place.
Food
If you're looking for a nice co-working spot Skinny Tom’s is your place. They have good food, a nice breakfast, smoothies, and free wifi as well. For faster internet speed you can buy a wifi package. I went for the Greek salad with tofu - it was delicious.
Tuesday could be your lucky day. Because on Tuesday there’s taco day at The Hideout. Located in the center of Unawatuna, you’ll find authentic Mexican food and the view from the rooftop is perfect for a chill evening there. We tried the vegan nachos and just let me tell you one thing, you can’t tell there’s no cheese on it.
One of our favorite spots in Unawatuna was the Shack Coffee. It's a surf shop, bar, café, and restaurant. The tuna bowl was astonishingly delicious, so you definitely have to give it a try. The Mediterranean plate was good too, but the portion was quite big as a starter - definitely eat it as a main dish!
It’s also a nice concept as well, where you can order in your name and at the end of the day you’ll pay for everything you’ve consumed.
In general, all of their employees were very friendly and made us feel welcome all the time. Which is why we regularly visited this place. It just offers you everything you need for a satisfying day!
La Bohemé lives up to the name and has a nice bohemian atmosphere. The restaurant itself has one of the best pizzas, even better than some real Italian ones. You can adjust the sauce and the toppings.
Koha Surf Lounge has a very chill ambiance and good cocktails. They don't really have much food there, but great vibe!
Things to do:
Galle Fort was made by the Dutch and for this reason, it has kinda a European look. The wall is walkable, or you can walk around inside as well. Nice shops, good for shopping.
Jungle Beach is a "hidden" beach. Not really special though.
The Beach of Bonavista is a small beach between Unawatuna and Galle. The beach itself is nothing special, and for sure not famous for its clean beach. In spite of everything, very good waves for beginners. A private surfing lesson at the Shack Coffee costs around 3500 rupees, which is around 10$.
Mirissa
This town has one of the most beautiful beaches and crystal clear water in Sri Lanka and is located in the South of Sri Lanka.
Food and drinks:
At the beach there are lots of restaurants, that will offer a seafood platter for two people in the evening. You'll find many restaurants at the beach, and all of them are approximately the same.
There are two good coffee/breakfast spots with decent wifi connections:
Shady Lane has yummy smoothie bowls and you can create your own breakfast toast by adding avocado, eggs, tomato, cheese, etc.
The other one was Aloha Café, which has a huge selection of smoothies and smoothie bowls. The consistency of their smoothies is creamy and a perfect subject for your social media.
We also tried out an Italian place, which had just opened its doors. Milky Wave offers real Italian food and ice cream. Although, it wasn't that good in my opinion the only option in Mirissa when you're craving for Italian food.
Things to do:
Because Mirissa is famous for its beautiful beach, we didn't do much there. There's a stone called Vergalle Point, which is located at the main beach. You can also surf, snorkel or just swim at the beach.
We didn't make it to Coconut Hill. But it's a small spot at the beach with lots of palm trees on it. A perfect spot for your Instagram photos!
If you're heading from Mirissa to Ella, you can book a Safari Tour to a national park. You'll definitely see some elephants and if you're lucky a leopard as well.
Party:
At the beach, you'll find some restaurants that will turn into a club at night. Just walk across the beach, and if you're lucky, you'll find a good one.
DICKWELLA/HIRIKETIYA
In the very South, you'll find a small beach town called Dickwella. Dickwella is located next to the famous surfer beach Hiriketiya.
Food:
If you're looking for food and need to work with decent internet Verse Collective offers you exactly that. For 1000 rupees you'll get wifi and they have breakfast till 12pm and afterward the lunch/dinner menu. The spicy tofu bowl was very tasty and they have very good coffee, which is a gem in Sri Lanka. Additionally, the interior look of it is beautiful.
Right next to the Hiriketiya beach, you'll find the Dots Bay House. They make wood oven fresh pizza, and good prawn curry and the burgers looked nice as well. If you're lucky, they'll have live music as well, which gives the restaurant a nice vibe.
Next to Malu Poke (which should have good poke bowls) is another restaurant. The menu of Bahia doesn't really have lots of dishes on it, but all of them sounded delicious. Anyways, the spicy prawn spaghetti was so good. Be aware that they're truly spicy.
And another good restaurant must be Smoke & Bitters. Even though, we didn't make it to the restaurant, the ambiance of it at night - wow! Make sure to make a reservation, otherwise, it's almost impossible to eat there. Just walk a little further after Verse Collective and make your reservation there.
Things to do:
As already mentioned, Hiriketiya Beach was the reason to visit this place. Although, the beach was very small, thin, and crowded. You'll find definitely something less crowded somewhere else.
If you're in need of a good walk Dickwella Beach gives you the best environment for it. A long and wide beach, perfect for a walk.
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