8 Best Beaches in Sri Lanka

BEST SRI LANKA BEACHES

Visiting beaches in Sri Lanka was really the highlight of our Sri Lanka trip. Some of them have jaw dropping scenery, while some of them are crystal clear. Overall, Sri Lanka has marvelous beaches and the best thing is, you can find a beach somewhere on the island depending on the monsoon. We followed the popular Southwest Sri Lanka route and the best season for South Sri Lanka beaches is from December to April. We were there in March and April and visited most of the famous ones. We basically made our way from Colombo to Mirissa, stopping at points we desired, either as a day trip from main points or by booking a hotel and staying. There is something for everyone in Sri Lanka coasts, whether you'd like to swim or relax on a sun bed with a coconut. You can use this travel guide to learn our experiences in sunny Sri Lanka beaches and choose your favorites!

Sri Lanka Beaches Map, photo credit: Enchanting Travels

1. UNAWATUNA BEACH SRI LANKA

Unawatuna is located 120 km south of Colombo and can be reached by train. Unawatuna Beach lies parallel to the main street in Unawatuna and it is a sandy beach, ideal for swimming. It is quite long and has yellow sand. The water is clear, blue and not so wild or wavy. It gets deep pretty quickly but it's perfectly safe for swimming. Unawatuna is a great spot to base yourself for visiting nearby beaches and the famous historic town Galle Fort. Unawatuna Beach hotels and restaurants put their sun beds and beautiful wooden tables along the beach, so there is plenty of space to laze your day away. Of course, you are welcome to just lay your towel on the sand buy a coconut from the locals, like we did =)

After you soak up the sun and enjoy the sea, head to one of the simple restaurants on the beach to enjoy the sunset and have some amazing Sri Lankan food. You can also check out our Unawatuna Beach walk video on Youtube.

2. JUNGLE BEACH UNAWATUNA

Jungle Beach in Unawatuna can be reached by tuktuk from Unawatuna. Walking up to the entrance is also possible but the weather is hot and humid, so we chose to go by the tuktuk. However, they also leave you up at the road and you need to walk down to the beach from the forest. It's an easy path and it only takes 7-8 minutes to reach Jungle Beach. There is a small place where you can buy cold drinks and simple food but it's a good idea to bring your own water and snacks, just in case. The beach is very peaceful, with crystal clear calm waters and there is plenty of shades to escape the sun.

Unawatuna Jungle Beach makes a great day trip if you combine it with the Japanese Peace Pagoda. If you pack your beach bag light, it's possible to walk from Jungle Beach to Japanese Peace Pagoda to watch the sunset and visit the amazing temple. When we decided to head to the temple, we realized there is a second Jungle Beach next to the first one and it is favored more by the locals. That's why the locals call the first one as "White Jungle Beach"! The second Jungle Beach (the one closer to the Japanese Peace Pagoda) is smaller but also has a small place to buy drinks and coconuts. Please check out our Unawatuna Jungle Beach Walk Video to see the atmosphere.

3. WIJAYA BEACH (DALAWELLA BEACH)

In our opinion, the best beach in Sri Lanka is Dalawella Beach! It has everything you expect from a tropical island beach, the long picturesque palm trees, long strip of sand, crystal clear waters that you can swim in and beautiful easy going beach bars. We spent the day listening to the small waves, climbing the idyllic rocks on the beach and taking photos. From Unawatuna or Galle to Dalawella Beach, it only takes 10-15 minutes by tuktuk, just get off at the sign of Wijaya Beach. Keep an eye out for the cute Dalawella Beach turtles as they may occasionally come up for air pretty close to the beach.

When the sun started to go down, we chose to pick a front seat in Wijaya Beach Restaurant to enjoy a great pizza and a passion fruit juice. This restaurant is the reason why the beach is also known as Wijaya Beach. Even though we couldn't find the world famous Dalawella Beach swing, we discovered Wijaya Beach Restaurant's terrace to witness one of the best sunsets in Sri Lanka. And once the weather cooled down a little bit, we chose to walk back to Unawatuna from Wijaya Beach, which was a rewarding experience in terms of photography.

You can watch our Dalawella Beach vlog below.

4. KOGGALA BEACH

We visited Koggala Beach on our way from Unawatuna to Mirissa Beach. Although we haven't swum here, it can be one of the most famous beaches of Sri Lanka due to its stilt fishermen. Our only goal was to see them, so we opted to include Koggala Beach in our day trip. Stilt fishermen are traditional Sri Lankan fishing men, who climb stilts in order to fish. That way, they are closer to the fish and they occupy a small space in case the beach gets crowded. As much as the pictures look mesmerizing, we have to admit that the Koggala Beach stilt fishermen are only there for taking place in touristic photos. After the tsunami is 2004, there aren't many fish here anymore, so they pose for a living. Nevertheless, it's a great experience to take pictures here and climb the stilts yourself!

The color of the water in Koggala Beach looks perfect but we don't think it's safe for swimming here. The waves are harsh and it's too rocky. Therefore, we only climbed the stilts and didn't swim.

5. MIRISSA BEACH IN SRI LANKA

Mirissa is a surfers' paradise in Sri Lanka but don't let that intimidate you. We are not surfers but there are parts of the beach you can enjoy swimming because Mirissa Beach doesn't have very big waves. That's why it's a great spot to learn surfing as well. Right in the middle of the 2 km long Mirissa Beach, stands the well-known Parrot Rock. The left side of Parrot rock is ideal for swimming while the right side is good for surfers. If you go further to the Northern edge of the beach, that's where you'll find the advanced waves.

Mirissa is famous for surfing as well as beach parties. Things to do in Mirissa Beach varies from swimming to watching turtle eggs crack and baby sea turtles rush to the water. Watching the sunset on Parrot Rock is how you wave goodbye to the sun and stat searching for a restaurant to have fresh seafood of the day. Mirissa beach Restaurants have tables right on the sand and fresh seafood displays where you can choose your dinner to be cooked for you. In our opinion, it's best to spend 2-3 days in Mirissa and visit the Insta-famous Coconut Tree Hill, at the southern en of the beach.

You can also take a look at our Mirissa Beach walk video to feel what it's like to walk on the sand here.

6. SECRET BEACH MIRISSA

In our opinion, Secret Beach is the best beach in Mirissa because we are not surfers, we are Mediterranean people =D This little piece of heaven has sparkling clear water and no waves! You guessed it right, Secret beach Mirissa is perfectly safe to swim. There is one small restaurant under the solid shade of trees and they make a mean passion fruit mango juice for 1.5 USD. We enjoyed our lunch of fried squid as well. What we loved the most here was the low volume positive music, which highlighted our day.

To get to Secret Beach Mirissa, you can walk from Mirissa Beach towards Weligama and then head to the dirt path to descend to the beach. It is only 1.5 km but the weather is hot. You can take a tuktuk for the first 1 km but we always choose to walk if we can and watch the incredible nature.

7. WELIGAMA BAY BEACH

Weligama Bay Sri Lanka is a big center for surfing lessons. If you want, you can find a surfing lesson for as low as 10 USD per hour. Some parts of the beach are shallow and protected from waves. So, it's good fo swimming as well. There are also big hotels and restaurants in Weligama Bay, which makes it a good place to visit at night, too. We only visited Weligama at night but it is very close to Mirissa Beach, you can even walk here.

8. HIKKADUWA BEACH

At first, we were planning to visit Hikkaduwa but it turned out we couldn't take a flight from Sri Lanka to Bali sooner and we had 4 extra days in Sri Lanka. We chose Hikkaduwa due to its proximity to Colombo. From Colombo Fort Station to Hikkaduwa, it's only a 2 hour train journey along the breezy ocean with great views. In the end, we found out that Hikkaduwa Beach is totally worth visiting and it became on of our favorite spots in Sri Lanka. We stayed in a small hotel called City Sunrise Hotel close to Hikkaduwa train station and enjoyed the beach every day. Our lovely hotel owners treated us like family and even taught us how to cook Sri Lankan desserts!

Hikkaduwa Beach is safe to swim and its sandy shore has plenty of palm tree shades to rest under. Giant sea turtles come to Hikkaduwa turtle beach, where you can respectfully observe them and maybe swim together. If you are a surfer, Hikkaduwa Beach offers surfing too, after the turtle beach point. To our taste, Hikkaduwa Beach restaurants were the best ones we tried in Sri Lanka. We still can't forget the crab and prawn curry we had at JLH Restaurant watching the marvelous sunset while dipping our toes to the sand. In our opinion, Hikkaduwa was better than Mirissa in terms of swimming, calmness and experiencing local life. The shopping here had more variety as well.