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A wide sandy beach with a fishing boat on the sand, people wading far out in calm shallow water and a casuarina branch in the foreground

Beaches in Sri Lanka

Start with the best-known places: Arugam Bay, Bentota, Unawatuna and Mirissa.

45 guides8 itineraries pass throughChecked 11 Oct 2026

Plan your route

Where to find beaches

  • Southern Province 25 guides
  • Eastern Province 13 guides
  • Western Province 8 guides
  • Central Province 6 guides
  • Uva Province 6 guides
  • North Central Province 3 guides
  • Northern Province 3 guides
  • Sabaragamuwa Province 1 guide
  • North Western Province 1 guide

Top places for beaches

Map of Beaches

The 15 places with coordinates in their guides; numbers match the top places.

Map of 15 places
  1. 1Arugam Bay
  2. 2Bentota
  3. 3Unawatuna
  4. 4Mirissa
  5. 5Negombo
  6. 6Trincomalee
  7. 7Weligama
  8. 8Hikkaduwa
  9. 9Nilaveli
Open in Google Maps© Mapbox © OpenStreetMap

Around Arugam Bay, by distance

Road distance from Arugam Bay to each guide's map point. Places without a road route show the straight-line distance.

© openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT | Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Beaches in pictures

Photos from the guides, credited on each page.

  • Aerial view of Arugam Bay beach in early light, with fishing boats on the sand, palms and guesthouses on the left and waves breaking along the shore
  • People walking the grassy rampart of Galle Fort above the sea wall, with the white Meeran Mosque and the lighthouse ahead
  • The wide, calm Bentota River at dusk, with a palm leaning over a small jetty and forest on the far bank
  • The curved sandy bay of Unawatuna seen from the hillside, with boats and swimmers in the water and wooded hills behind
  • Aerial view of Mirissa's curved sandy bay and small rocky islet, with hotels among the palms and surf breaking offshore
  • Negombo beach with golden sand, a red-and-yellow flag, waves breaking over a pile of rocks and the town's hotels in the distance under a cloudy sky
  • A small herd of elephants walking through green grassland beside a lake, with trees behind
  • Koneswaram Temple on Swami Rock, with a large seated statue of Shiva beside the temple's carved and painted towers and a flight of steps
  • Taprobane Island, a small wooded islet with a white gateway and steps, silhouetted against an early-morning sky beyond Weligama beach

Beach in beaches

Where to go for beaches

Experiences: beaches

Weather in Arugam Bay this week

  1. TodayShowers32° 24°100%
  2. TueThunderstorms32° 24°100%
  3. WedRain30° 24°95%
  4. ThuThunderstorms32° 24°82%
  5. FriThunderstorms31° 24°99%
  6. SatThunderstorms32° 24°100%
  7. SunRain31° 24°94%

Daily high and low in °C, chance of rain. Forecast for the guide's coordinates, refreshed every few hours. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com

Itineraries for beaches

What recent visitors report

Lines from the guides' 2025–26 visitor reports.

Planning guides for beaches

Frequently asked about Beaches

When is the surf season at Arugam Bay?

From April to October, according to Sri Lanka Tourism. From the Arugam Bay guide

How many days do you need for Colombo and Galle?

Three days works well: one day in Colombo and two nights in Galle, so you see the fort early in the morning and at sunset as well as in the heat of the day. From the 3 days: Colombo and Galle guide

Is it safe to swim at Bentota?

Take care, because currents can be strong and two visitors drowned in February 2025. The Department of Meteorology issues rough-sea warnings during the south-west monsoon (May to September). Keep away from breakwaters and heed local warnings. From the Bentota guide

How far is Unawatuna from Galle?

About 5 km south-east of Galle city centre, along the A2. From the Unawatuna guide

When is the whale-watching season in Mirissa?

November to April, according to Sri Lanka Tourism. Trips leave the fisheries harbour at around 6.30 am and last three to four hours. From the Mirissa guide

How close is Negombo to the airport?

Very close: it is the nearest major town to Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake, which lies just south of it. From the Negombo guide

Before you go

Header photo: Vakeezan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.