Beaches…Sri Lanka’s Pearl Gems!

On our tour along the south coast, we visited several beaches to get into a chilled and tropical mood. Some beaches of Sri Lanka looked as if they were directly cut out of a travel catalog being hidden lagoons with long stretches of pure white sand. Of course, there is also more touristic places with fancy restaurants and watersport activities. See below what we figured out!

Jungle Beach – After our visit in Galle it was a pleasant walk along the shore only 6 km away from the railway station. At the shore you can find several locals selling their goods such as freshly caught fish and tropical fruits. The path down leading you through a dense forest to the beach is beautiful. It is almost an “Alice in Wonderland” kind of feeling until you reach the sand. Definitely a great spot but not as good as we has imagined! However, our expectations were incredibly high after seeing some amazing beaches in Tangalle before. The beach faces Galle rather than the horizon and on its waters are several boats anchored not far from where we swam. In the air we could still smell the petrol of the boats and jet ski around. What was good is that there were only a few tourists and locals around but no beach vendors.

The way from the Jungle Beach to Unawatuna is probably one of the most beautiful trails you can imagine. It still carries the same kind of feeling as walking towards Jungle beach but with more adventure: pathways, beautiful trees, gasping horizon views and more. On the way sellers are spread throughout a dense forest offering everything from fresh cut pineapple and coconut to handicraft clothes and jewelry. It is a whole range of shopping you can acquire while walking peacefully in the middle of the jungle! You will never see a vendor next to another, and most products were displayed hanging on trees, rocks or even lying on the ground! On the way we also admired the beautiful Japenese Peace Pagoda.

Unawatuna Beach is nice and pleasant but not picturesque or calm at all. It is crowded, full of restaurants, bars and very commercial so that it has its niche of clientele. We encountered lots of tourists, party groups, vendors, some surfers and windsurfers as the waves go along. It is a great place to do waters sports, socialize, dance and sing along. We would recommend Unawatuna for a day to discover a different feeling and vibe or even longer if you are a party person. The sunset we admired was also beautiful as the sun slowly fell behind the trees, A great time to sit in one of the restaurants selling fresh fish.

Sunset at Unawatuna Beach

Goyamboka Beach was one of our favorite beaches of Sri Lanka! Like many others, it is almost a private beach where hoteliers seem to take the right of owning the place. However, it is quiet public and “hidden” once you will need to go through narrow and shallow paths. We have stayed for 7 nights at the Palm Paradise Cabanas & Villas and Goyamboka beach is the hotel’s beach, which was perfect! Calm, flat and crystalline waters, palm trees hanging out from the white sands and almost touching the waters, turn this beach into a memorable postal card! There are three restaurants on this beach that serve drinks and fresh seafood. This was without any doubts the paradise beach we have been looking and dreaming for so long!

Exploring the area around Goyamboka Beach

Perfect place to relax

Palm Paradise Cabanas

  TurtleBu Top Choice – Beaches of Sri Lanka: Amanwella Beach

Without the blink of one eye this perfect hidden paradise captured us in its raw beauty. Why? We wish we could describe this beach but no words are ever enough! If you dream with white sandy, deserted beaches, crystalline and blue waters Amanwella has it all! It was almost empty every day so that we literally felt like having a whole beach just for us. There is a very luxurious and posh hotel in front. The access from the main road to the beach is inevitable done through the hotel’s access street, which makes people think that it is private property. Although, by law hoteliers cannot own any beach site, therefore locals were happy to recommend this secret spot to us.

On different sides of the beach the depths of the water are different making it perfect for everyone. On the east side the waters are quite shallow, crystalline, calm and the break of the waves is low to none. This long stretch of white sand is perfect for families and someone more afraid of agitated seas. On the far west of the beach waters are deeper and tides stronger with “marine blueish” colored waters. There is only one restaurant/bar on the beach and it is located at the very far west. They serve amazing seafood and slashed a fresh coconut in front of our eyes so that we could enjoy its nutritious water. If you look for the perfect beach of Sri Lanka – that’s it!

Complete harmony at Armanwella Beach

Enjoying the freedom