A few hours south of Colombo lies the cool little town of Unawatuna. Here you can swim and snorkel during the day, then eat and drink to your heart’s content at night. Unawatuna town itself was a little too pricey for us to stay in – we stayed in the neighbouring town of Talpe, which was 15 minutes drive away. Armed with a trusty 125cc scooter however, we made daily trips into Unawatuna and beyond, and here’s what we did.
Snorkel Jungle Beach
Jungle Beach is a small white-sand bay that’s tucked into the jungle. A small reef, which starts almost immediately offshore, makes this a prime snorkelling location. There are plenty of tour operators in Unawatuna town who offer trips to Jungle Beach, but the price is just ridiculous (we saw prices as high as 9000!) when you consider that the beach is only ten minutes away by scooter or tuktuk (Google Maps has accurate driving directions) or 45 minutes on foot. Many dive shops are happy to rent you snorkel gear – we rented masks, snorkels and fins from Seahorse Divers for 1500 for the day – you may be able to find slightly cheaper, but these guys have quality gear that’s been appropriately cleaned, and took the time to fit us correctly.
The beach is reached via a short but well signposted walk through the jungle, and can’t be reached directly by road. If you’re driving or scootering yourself, you will have to pay 100rs parking at the top of the walk. If you’re walking or catching a tuktuk, are plenty of waiting tuktuks for a ride back. There’s a small (and expensive) shop on the beach selling fruit and coconuts. When we went, the beach wasn’t too crowded, and was mostly populated with families (who were happy to watch our bag when we went swimming). In terms of the snorkelling quality, it wasn’t the best we’ve ever done – the corals are in poor condition, and there wasn’t a huge diversity of marine life. However, it’s still a fun way to spend the day.
Swim with turtles at Hikkaduwa Beach
More like paddle with turtles, really. At the southernmost point of Hikkaduwa Beach, the waves come together to form a natural off-shore shallow lagoon, and this 20sqm area if full of giant sea turtles who are grazing happily on the seaweed. Tourists are free to enter the water with them, but forbidden to touch them – there’s a guard onshore and another in the water monitoring people’s interactions. (Of course, there’s always those idiots who will try to touch them – don’t be one of them, kay?)
You can try to grab a handful of seaweed to feed the turtles directly, though they seem to largely prefer to mind their own turtle-business.
Hikkaduwa is 45 minutes north of Unawatuna, reachable by scooter, tuktuk, bus or train from Talpe/Galle. Unfortunately, the beach itself is unpleasantly crowded, so best just to come here for an hour or two with the turtles, and leave.
Explore Galle Fort
Galle fort is like stepping out of Sri Lanka and into Portugal. This walled-off fort belonged to the Portuguese and is now a world heritage site. The buildings are still in good condition, and with lots of small alleyways, a lighthouse, ramparts and a small beach, you can easily spend a few hours exploring here. There’s easy parking for scooters – park out of the way on a side street to avoid paid parking. If it all gets too hot, check out Isle of Gelato for some great ice cream.
Swim in an infinity pool for cheap!
Our backpacker budget certainly doesn’t include staying in hotels with infinity pools (in fact, it doesn’t include staying at hotels at all!) Luckily, there’s Closenberg Hotel, just in between Unawatuna and Galle, where budget travellers like us can pay just 500rs pp to pretend to live the life, and use their amazing infinity pool for an afternoon. It has an incredible view of the surrounding bays and cliffs, and is the perfect way to escape the midday sun.
Where to eat:
There are so many places to eat in Unawatuna – lots are good, not many are cheap. We managed to eat at both ends of the spectrum here.
National Tea Room – for a super cheap, tasty breakfast
Weirdly, a cheap traditional Sri Lankan breakfast of dahl with sambal and coconut rotti or string hoppers was much harder to find here than in other parts of Sri Lanka. Luckily, we found National Tea Room, who will do you a simple but filling traditional breakfast for just 150-200rs.
Skinny Tom’s Deli – for a super tasty, not cheap breakfast
Eggs Benedict Hoppers. That’s the reason we came here, and they didn’t disappoint. Salmon or bacon, wilted spinach, perfect egg and house-made hollandaise. One serve will set you back 850rs, but your stomach will thank you. Chase it down with a barista-made coffee or an organic juice (~450rs)
Sunrise Seafood – get the platter
Sri Lanka has some of the cheapest and tastiest seafood in the world. And you can get it all for a reasonable price at Sunrise Seafood, which is at the far end of Unawatuna Beach. This unassuming eatery puts together an amazing seafood platter, featuring lobster, crab, tuna steak, prawns and cuttlefish – we opted to have ours cooked in ‘everything’ which turned out to be a mouthwatering mix of lemongrass, chilli, and lots of garlic. It’s market price, but ours was 4000rs, and came with rice and chips. More than enough to feed two. Chase it down with a pot of ginger tea for 200rs.
Eat lunch at the bakeries
This is not restricted to Unawatuna at all – the bakeries all over Sri Lanka are the perfect place to get a cheap, delicious and filling lunch. But in this area, where the price of a sit-down meal is especially high, a bakery lunch provides the perfect budget meal. Some most popular items are fish rolls (breaded rotti, rolled around flaked fish, potato, veggies and spices), veggie or fish samosas (plain or breaded rotti, folded into a triangle, with potato and veggie spiced filling – sometimes with the addition of fish) and sambal buns (buns filled with a wet, spicy sambal). For a sweet treat try the rolled honey and coconut pancakes. Each item will generally set you back 30-70rs a piece.
