Sri Lanka, Best Place To Go In 2010
The New York Times recently said Sri Lanka is the number one place to go this year. I fully agree. Biased, obviously, but Sri Lanka really is a small miracle. You can get anywhere in this country within a day, and there are a million places that are awesome and different. The Times recommends Nilaveli (Trinco), Galle and Unawatuna. I’d make a few other recommendations, as well as the times of year it’s best to visit.
Now – South Coast
The swimmability of the ocean changes seasonally. Luckily, this is an island so it’s always season somewhere. Right now is great for the south-western coast. Tangalle is quite a bit deeper in my experience, but still OK. There are shallow, clear rock pools which are good for families. Mirissa is supposed to lovely, I sadly haven’t been. I think it’s season for whales and dolphins there too. As you go around the coast you then get to Unawatuna. Una is well developed commercially, there are tons of guest house and food and stuff. The beach is also great right now, and it’s a bay, so you can wade out a long ways safely. I recommend Kingfisher for food.
Galle is cool whenever, but it would be the most fun for tourists this 28th Jan through 1st Feb, for the Galle Literary Festival. There’ll be a bunch of international authors down and cosmopolitan people around, plus the place is a short hop from Una and even Hikkaduwa (basically Colombo’s beach suburb now, on the west coast).
Inland, Yala National Park is awesome. You can stay at the Yala Village and literally be on your balcony looking at wild boar and elephants. But do be careful.
Also, on January 15th there is a solar eclipse visible from very few places on earth. Jaffna is one of them. I’m heading up there on the 13th. It should be sweet.
Late Summer
Around July, August I always try to make it out to Arugam Bay. This is a surf spot which has evolved a bit of a tourism industry around. Personally, I try to stay away from the main stretch and swim around Pottuvil Point. This is a bit annoying to find, you basically turn left in Pottuvil town and wind in past the school and lagoon and stuff. Once there, however, it is unbelievable. There are these giant rocks stacked next to the beach. We slept on them and went swimming as the sun warmed the sea in the morning. The waves are strong but safe, so it’s just fun. Surfers get good 100 meter runs, but you can also do quite happily with a bodyboard. Get out and have avocado and mayonnaise sandwiches, french fries.
August is also the season for the Perahera in Kandy. This is a parade with elephants dressed up and lots of fire. It is basically the coolest thing ever. I think this is also the Nallur Festival in Jaffna, which should be more accessible this year.
Anytime
Then I think hill country, like Ella or Haputale, is awesome anytime. The beach is great, but the sublime views from way up in the hills are some of my favorite moments in Sri Lanka.
World’s End lodge in Haputalle, man. That place, to me at least, typifies everything that is right about this country.
PS: Apologies for the flood of comments on your blog today. Unwell so at home, bored and mostly catching up on old blogs I used to visit. I’ll stop now.
knock yourself out, haven’t seen you round here in a while
Besides the beaches (I think Tangalle as some of the most beautiful picture-postcard perfect beaches), I love wandering about the ancient cities like Anuradhapura/Polonnaruwa/Mihintale/Tantirimale
Yala is the place to be, as is the Fishing Hut on Murray Estate, Horton Plains at sunrise, the list is endless. There is however tbe other side to the story, that Sri Lankans simply do not seem to understand the concept of not littering. I was down south a couple of weeks ago and in Kalpitiya this weekend, the amount of litter everywhere has to be seen to be believed. I’ve been swimming in Una and literally been tangled up in plastic. I’ve been told Trinco and Pasikudah have also been badly littered by the flood of local tourists. Our people really need to sort themselves out, else the tourists lured by the NYT article are going to be in for a nasty surprise.
I agree and I don’t get it. Sri Lankans are generally clean people, bathe at least twice a day, keep their homes tidy but this does not translate into public behaviour. The streets are dirty and often filthy, people just throw their rubbish on the ground, and mounds of litter pile up on roadsides. It’s feral, and a public education campaign is required – like the one they ran ages ago about washing hand with soap after going to the toilet!!