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* |
Idle the days
away on sandy beaches
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* |
Get active with a range
of watersports
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* |
Walk around the gardens
at Brief
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* |
Visit a turtle conservation
hatchery
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Visit the mask museums
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* |
Dance the night away in Hikkaduwa |
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* |
Go deep-sea fishing |
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* |
Consider day trips to Galle
or Kandy
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Sri Lanka’s west coast attracts the bulk of the
holidaymakers who flock to the sandy beaches of the Indian
Ocean for a traditional beach holiday.
But, as our west-coast hotel guide reveals, the region
offers not just traditional package hotels – many
of them recently upgraded – but small, independent
properties and luxury boutique properties.
A new coastal motorway, due to be completed by 2007, should
add to the tranquility of all these holiday towns, as
well as slashing journey times.
About one-and-a-quarter hours south of Colombo, as you
cross the Kalu Ganga bridge, you have reached the point
where Sri Lanka’s West Coast starts for real. You
enter a region of beautiful sandy beaches and mangrove-lined
lagoons, ideal for a restful beach holiday.
Kalutara, the first beach settlement, has a reputation
for fine mangosteens (be careful not to stain your shorts
while eating them) and a visit to the Basket Society will
reveal the local skills in basketware. Richmond Castle,
an old spice-plantation mansion, can be reached by taking
a canoe down the old Dutch canals.
Beruwela, together with Bentota on the southern side of
the Bentota River, is dominated by large, mid-range holiday
hotels, although in Sri Lanka there is rarely, if ever,
a sense of over-development. Beruwela has a golden strip
of mile-long beach and, apart from the five-star Eden
Hotel, is for those on a stricter budget. For an unusual
outing, consider the paradise garden of Brief, a 25-acre
estate which was the lifelong work of the celebrated landscape
artist Bevis Bawa.
Bentota is doubly blessed by the lazy waters of the Bentota
River, ideal for watersports and boat trips, and a quite
wonderful, broad sandy beach which unsurprisingly has
attracted a range of largely top-class hotels. The gently-shelving
sands offer generally safe swimming, making this one of
the most appealing Sri Lankan destinations for a traditional
and relaxing family holiday.
Continue your journey south and the small settlements
continue. The turtle hatchery at Kosgoda plays a vital
protective role for the turtles that lay their eggs on
the beach annually, and is well worth a visit. At Ambalangoda,
the mask carvers and puppet makers predominate.
Hikkaduwa was once a favourite hippy haunt of the Sixties.
It faltered for a while, not helped by a seedy reputation
for sex rackets, but it is fighting back and retains a
buzz that attracts the backpackers, independent travellers,
and generally younger crowd. Its range of budget accommodation,
scattering of simple but decent restaurants, beach bars,
and beachside nightclubs gives it something of the mood
of a resort in Goa or Bali.
The beach is narrower here than at Bentota and swimming
demands particular care because the currents can be strong
in places, but the southern end of town, in Wewela, offers
the best surfing on the south coast. The coral reef, although
slowly dying, pulls in the snorkellers and divers.
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