Exploring the South Coast: Galle Fort, Mirissa and Tangalle 

We started our travel in Sri Lanka in the beautiful and popular southern part of the island which took us to Galle Fort, Mirissa and Tangalle. 

Galle Fort is a Unesco World Heritage site. It was originally founded by the Portuguese but the fortified city which you can see today (although with a few changes) was later built by the Dutch. The city has many beautiful Dutch-colonial buildings which now house hotels, restaurants, galleries and boutiques. It is a lovely place to wander around taking photos, browse the shops and galleries and from time to time escape into one of the many cafes or restaurants for a cold drink – it does get super hot!

Galle Fort is about a two hour drive from Colombo International Airport. Whilst it is possible to use public transport to travel between the two we opted to get a taxi as we arrived in the evening (our original morning flight from Singapore was cancelled…a little annoying but didn’t worry us too much).

We had a somewhat adventurous taxi ride from the airport with our driver pretending he was in a Formula 1 race (and then almost running out of petrol in the middle of nowhere) but thankfully we arrived safely at our destination! It was already after dark so after checking-in and grabbing a quick bite to eat we went straight to bed but we were already looking forward to exploring Galle Fort the next day. With our flight being delayed we only had the morning to explore but we felt that this was plenty of time. Unless your budget allows you to splurge on one of the city’s luxurious hotels, we think that a day or even half day trip to Galle Fort is sufficient and it is a good stopover point on on your way further south after flying in to Colombo  (the capital which we deliberately avoided). 

Galle Fort is not cheap and we found basic accommodation to be rather expensive compared to some of the places we have visited. But staying at a simple guesthouse didn’t stop us from venturing to breakfast at the Fort Bazzar, one of the fancy hotels in town. It was a peaceful and relaxing start to the day but unfortunately not the greatest food. The hotel, however, did look lovely and had a beautiful interior. 

We spent the rest of the morning exploring the pretty streets and walked along the fort wall, which is a must when in Galle. One thing that caught our attention when walking along the wall was the number of young couples sitting huddled under an umbrella, whispering sweet words of love, staring lovingly into each others’ eyes or simply staring out into the water. At least it was what I imagined them to be doing, it was difficult to see because of the umbrella, but nonetheless we both thought it was very sweet. We later ventured to a small park outside the fort and again the park was packed full of young couples cuddling under umbrellas. Perhaps Galle is the city of love?! 

By lunchtime we were hot and sweaty and walked to one of the many restaurants for a cold drink and lunch. Our quick stopover was complete so it was then time to head to Mirissa. 

Mirissa is a beach town about an hour’s drive from Galle Fort. Being so close we decided to test out the bus system in Sri Lanka and hopped on a bus at the busy station in Galle. We were the last people on board and I got the last seat in the last row. Dale had to stand and we had to leave our large rucksacks at the front of the bus next to the driver.  As we sped off everything was fine (apart from Dale sweating profusely and me having to catch his drops of sweat so they didn’t land on the elderly gentleman under his arm) but then the bus started filling up…and filling up. Our stop was fast approaching and we started to wonder how will we get to the front (there was a door at the back but we needed to get our rucksacks). The thing with Sri Lankan buses is that, apart from the main stations, they don’t really stop fully and you have to jump off (or on) whilst the bus is still moving, albeit fairly slowly. We decided that Dale would fight his way to the front to get our rucksacks and I would stay at the back and he would signal when it was time to get off. So Dale signaled, I got off and then I heard Dale yelling out the front door for me to get back on…the bus continued driving, I started running… luckily, the friendly bus driver slowed down a bit for me and I managed to get run and jump back in the front doors. Phew! 

Arriving at Mirissa, we checked into the Peacock Villa. A lovely small guesthouse about five to ten minutes walk from the main beach. Although we didn’t have ocean views, we were contanstly surrounded by animals – peacocks, cheeky monkeys and water monitors. The water monitors were so huge at first I mistook one for a crocodile (stupid tourist!). 

The main beach in Mirissa is beautiful and still relatively unspoilt although there are some rustic guesthouses and small restaurants lining the beach. It also has a very chilled vibe (as does the town). On our first day we arrived in the early evening and found ourselves sitting on the beach with a cold Lion (the local beer), watching a magnificent sunset. It was difficult to leave and we decided to have dinner on the beach – most restaurants sell fresh seafood and you can choose your fish and have it cooked for you. We completely fell in love with Mirissa that night. 

The beach is just as beautiful by day but it is also worth exploring the little winding streets of the village and heading to Dewmini Roti Shop for lunch. This is a small family run restaurant serving freshly made and delicious roti and kottu  (both very typical Sri Lankan dishes that you have to try when in Sri Lanka).

Mirissa is famous for its whale watching tours. We debated whether to do this but in the end decided to go ahead – it’s not every day you get the chance to the see the largest mammal on Earth and neither of us has been whale watching before. There are many companies offering this tour but we chose Raja & The Whales as we read that they are a more ethically minded company. That is, they don’t chase the whales or get too close to them. The price of the tour was about $40pp and included a pick-up from our guest house and a fairly decent breakfast considering we were on a boat. The tour starts around 6am and takes about four to five hours. The company also provides anti-sickness tablets which we took – the boat takes you out to open waters and the sea is quite rough. We didn’t have any problems after taking the tablets but the bottom half of our boat was full of sick tourists. We were lucky to see about eight blue whales (most days they see only one) – at times up exceptionally close – and schools of dolphins including spinner dolphins. Unlike the humpback whales it is rare to get a glimpse of the blue whale’s tail but we did spot it at one point. The boat however was busier than I expected and the whole experience left me with mixed feelings, we don’t quite know why but we just didn’t love it. I don’t regret doing the tour but not sure I would recommend it to others. 

We left Mirissa feeling like we needed more time. It would have been nice to have another day or a few at the beach, jumping in the surf, sunbaking and watching the surf lessons in progress.

Tangalle is another town on the coast, about two hours drive from Mirissa. We again chose to take the bus which was easy and cheap. We didn’t stay in Tangalle itself but at a tiny village called Unakuruwa about 10 minutes drive from town (we caught a tuk tuk from the bus stop to get there). We went back into town once to stock up on snacks and booze and it was absolute chaos – we couldn’t return to our oasis quickly enough.

Unakuruwa was the perfect place to stay and we loved our accommodation, Little Tamarind, a small guesthouse which we found through Airbnb. With our friend Rochelle joining us, we had the top floor of the guesthouse all to our ourselves. That is, two large bedrooms each with an ensuite and adjoining balcony with ocean views. At the back we also had an area overlooking the forest with a massive built in couch which we could all comfortably lie on (and play plenty of cards and a dice game that Rochelle taught us).

There were three things that made Little Tamarind perfect. Firstly, the location – the guesthouse is within a five minute walk to the most beautiful beach, Silent Beach (as it is commonly known, although the proper name is Godellawela Beach). The beach is a perfection of leaning palm trees, golden sand and beautiful blue waters (although the surf and currents can be quite strong). It was very peaceful and apart from us there were only half a dozen or so people on the beach each day – a few guests of the luxurious Amenwella Hotel and some locals. There were no restaurants on the beach but a small hut with a few chairs where you can get a fresh coconut, a couple of Lions or a simple lunch. 

Although Silent Beach was by far the most picturesque, Little Tamarind is also a five minute walk to a small protected cove where the sea is much calmer but the water is not as clear, it is used more as a spot for small fishing boats to dock. A further 10 minutes walk from Silent Beach is the Goyabokka Beach, a busier beach but better for swimming (at least it was on the day we went). 

The second thing that made Little Tamarind awesome was the wild life. Every afternoon we would sit on our balcony overlooking the forset, watching the monkeys, squirrels, woodpeckers and many other birds just go about their day.  It was amazing. 

Finally, the staff at Little Tamarind were lovely. In particularly, Prasana, who was always smiley and chatty and really made our stay so much more enjoyable. He even showed us where to walk through a small clearing to where the monkeys usually hang out.

We ate most of our meals at Little Tamarind and the food was good (although not amazing). We did, however, have amazing seafood at Break Point, a tiny family run restaurant in the village. The menu is small consisting of fresh fish (you can choose your fish), prawns, and squid which are then served with potatoes and grilled veggies. It wasn’t cheap but totally worth it and the young owner was very friendly! 

Unakuruwa was really a small piece of paradise and I’m still dreaming of that beach…

Next up we go on a safari!