Sri Lanka: 'Down south'

I spent 9 months in Sri Lanka, and found it a difficult place to live and work, but I’d still recommend it as a great place for a short holiday.

My travel tip is to spend the least possible time in Colombo. Once you’ve shopped at Odel, had a typical Sri Lankan lunch at Senkada opposite, had your choice of drinks at the Inn on the Green or the Seaspray at the Galle Face Hotel, and dined over seafood at the Wadiya Beach or the Mount Lavinia Hotel, there’s nothing more left to do in Colombo. Just head out and see the rest of the country.

The north and the east are out of bounds, unfortunately. The options you have are to go ‘down South’ or go ‘upcountry’ as the Sri Lankans put it.

The South is avoidable in the summer months, but any other time of the year, it makes a beautiful road trip. The road runs parallel to the sea, and the views of the ocean are breath-taking.

We just headed out one weekend without a plan, stopping wherever we felt like, whenever we felt like. We had been recommended the lunch buffet at the Blue Water at Wadduwa, so we made a stopover there. Enjoy a swim, dig into the buffet, and when overfull, lie on the deck-chairs under the swaying palms and enjoy a siesta. Then perk up with a cuppa and head out further south.

Further on up is Bentota, but we gave that a miss and drove on to Hikkaduwa. It’s a very touristy town, popular with Germans and Swedes. It’s a bit too commercial, so if it’s not a mini-Goa you are looking to visit with handicraft shops and and seafood restaurants at every step, then you are better off just passing through.

The real beauty of the Sri Lankan south is further ahead at Galle and beyond. The Galle fort is a charming heritage site, where people still live inside the olden houses of the Dutch fort, with pretty much the same furniture. It’s like traveling back to colonial times, and quite a few houses are reminiscent of old Parsi houses in the villages of Gujarat. And, oh, the waters are amazingly crystal clear.

Further south is Unawatuna, which is as far as we went before we made the long drive back to Colombo. A sleepy resort town, with none of the commercial fare of Hikkaduwa. You can see the famed stilt fishermen here, who perch on stilts in the sea hours on end to catch fish.

If you have the time, you can continue to the southern tip to Matara, and move up the south-eastern coast where the beaches are emptier and more peaceful. But I had work the next day, and had to miss out.

In the next post, we go ‘upcountry’ to the tea-gardens of Nuwara Eliya.