Sri Lanka Tourism Advisor - Travel and Tourism Information

West Coast

West cost of Sri Lanka is the most developed and most tourists oriented from all. The beautiful coastline of west is full of hundreds of hotels and guesthouses with different standard. Among the west cost beaches the most popular one is Negombo which is north of Colombo and conveniently close to the International Airport. The beaches like Waikkala, Seeduwa, Uswetakeiyawa and Marawila are also popular among to tourists. This region is very popular beautiful old Catholic churches, Dutch built canals and beautiful lagoons.

Negambo
The beach resort Negombo is popular among tourist as it is very close to the International airport. As it is 10 km from the airport , attracting many visitors. You can have many different accommodation options at Negombo ranging from simple home stay to ultra luxury hotels with very competitive price range and we must not forget about so many different bars and restaurants.
Among the attractions of Negombo the Dutch built old fort, the Dutch canal which is stretches for about 100km and St Mary’s Church are very popular. If you are visiting Negombo do not forget to visit the “Duwa” daily fish auction.
Marawila, Mahawewa and Chilaw.

When you travel further north of Negombo you will come to Marawila and then Mahawewa. Mahawewa is popular for Batik workshop. You will be able to by Batik slightly lover than the price of tourist shops. If you travel further along the Chilaw road you will come to Chilaw town. The main attraction of Chilaw is the Munnesvaram Temple which is treated as one of the most important Siva temple in Sri Lanka. The present building is said to build during the British colonial times as the original temple was destroyed by the Portuguese. The temple houses the main Shiva lingam and a golden stature of Parvati, the wife of Shiva.

Mt Lavinia

When you go further south of Colombo along the Galle road you will come to the town Mt Lavinia, which is almost suburb of Colombo and also a popular beach. The main highlight here is the Mt Lavenia Hotel.

Kalutara

Passing Mt Lavenia, Moratuwa and Panadura you can visit Kaluthara town. The major landmark of Kaluthara is the giant hollow stupa stands on the banks of Kaluganga which houses a smaller Stupa and images of the Load Buddha. When you go further inland few kilometers you can visit Richmond Castle. This magnificent building is built by following using both Indian and British architectural features. When you go further along the Galle face hotel

Beruwala
Beruwala is located 60 km away from Colombo and it is popular for the wide beautiful beach and for package tourist crowed. This area is packed with all range of resorts and hotels which offers luxury and excellent facility to the tourists. There are many Ayurveda resorts in this area which offers Ayurveda and spa treatments. South of Beruwala you can visit “Aluthgama” which is filled with small shops which are selling masks, wooden carvings and fish and vegetable markets. One of the attractions closer to Aluthgama is the Brief Garden (about 16 km) which is a beautiful creation of the landscape artist and the sculptor Bevis Bawa.

Bentota, Balapitiya and Ambalangoda

Bentota is located 62 km from Colombo and south of Beruwala. Bentota also offers different types of accommodations ranging from delightful boutique hotels to villas etc. Another important feature of Bentota beach is that it offers plenty of water sport activities. As you travel further south end of Bentota beach you can evident many turtle hatcheries which stretches up to beach of Induruwa and Kosgoda. Sri Lanka is treated as an important marine se turtle nesting ground. Among the eight marine turtle species in the world five of the species can be seen in Sri Lanka. The sea turtle are threatened because of human activities such as poaching of eggs and disturbance of nesting grounds. To address this issue in Sri Lanka the sea turtle conservation project has established several turtle hatcheries. The project buys eggs from locals or get from nesting grounds and hatch them. The newly hatched turtles are released to the sea during the night.
As you travel further south you can visit Balapitiya and Ambalangoda. Balapitiya is popular for Madu river boat safaris. You can evident beautiful wildlife so many different species of birds of the tiny island of Madu river. The town of Ambalangoda which is 86 km away from Colombo is very famous for mask carving. You can visit mask factories and museums as well.
Hikkaduwa

Hikkaduwa Beach

Hikkaduwa is located About 100 km from Colombo and it one of most popular beach resort of Sri Lanka. Hikkaduwa is treated as the diving center of Sri Lanka, with many diving schools. If you are a experienced scuba diver you can rent equipment from these diving schools, if you are a beginner try PADI courses from professionally qualified diving instructors. Hikkaduwa was once popular for its astonishing Coral Sanctuary and glass bottomed boat rides on this beautiful Sanctuary. But unfortunately this magnificent coral garden is no more there, only patches of surviving corals are there with variety of tropical fish. The beautiful coral garden is killed mainly because of the “Elnino “effect and the human activities.