Trincomalee (or Trinco as the locals call it) is a coastal city on the east coast of Sri Lanka. Now a beautiful, quiet beach area Trinco is perfect for a few days of chilling. However, as one of the main cities of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka this area has had it very tough and has only recently started developing as an international tourist destination (and it’s still fairly quiet). Trinco and the east coast of Sri Lanka saw much fighting during the 25 year long civil war that only ended in 2009. To add to their troubles, the area was badly hit by the 2004 Tsunami which resulted in hundreds of deaths.
To get to Trincomalee we decided to stick with the local transport option and caught a local bus from Polonnaruwa. The bus doesn’t usually collect passengers in Polonnaruwa but the owner of our guesthouse was friends with the driver so was able to arrange it for us. A fairly easy two and a half hour trip and we were ready for some serious beach time!
We didn’t spend much time in the city of Trincomalee itself, rather headed straight to a smaller beach area called Uppuveli.
We stayed in reasonably simple beach cottages right on Uppuveli beach called Golden Beach Cottages. The rooms were expensive at approx $50 per night compared to most of our stay but to be a few steps to the beach this seemed a fair price to pay.
We didn’t really leave the beach facing restaurant or the supplied sun loungers in our few days there unless we were swimming in the ocean. The ocean was warm and calm and the sun was always shining making it a perfect place to relax.
In the mornings we strolled along the beach to check out the fisherman’s catch of the day. The integration between the local life and handful of tourists works well here. Unfortunately though, walking a little away from the resorts you do see the usual disappointing amount of plastic all over the place. We had gotten used to this in Asia but remain dissapointed.
We had talked about trying Scuba Diving for our whole time in Asia and probably would have kept up the talk with no action had it not been for the super friendly dive instructor from Angel Diving which was next to our room. After a quick chat we signed up for a private discover dive the next morning and spent the afternoon reading the background theory.
Jen had a bit of a panic on the morning before the dive (we were both pretty nervous about our first dive) but decided to head out and try anyway. Unlike most dive centres we did the initial training in shallow water rather than a pool session which meant we could just swim on and do our first dive. We loved it and as soon as we were back on the boat decided to fill up the oxygen tanks and head back down for a second dive. Interestingly I used a lot more oxygen than Jen on the dives – either I was less relaxed or the beard needs its own oxygen supply!
We loved the experience – especially because of our friendly and calm dive instructor and because it was just the two of us. We will look to do our PADI at some point on the trip!
Trincomalee and the east coast do not yet receive the attention they deserve but we would recommend making the journey and helping bring some needed tourist dollar to this beautiful part of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Overview and Travel Tips
Sadly that brought us to the end of our time in Sri Lanka. We headed back and stayed a night in Negombo Beach (which is closer to the Colombo airport than Colombo itself). The beach was absolutely filthy – I won’t ruin the lovely image of Sri Lanka by including a photo but check back on my Instagram from when we visited in April 2017 to see.
DO visit Sri Lanka – it’s one of our favourites. We recommend:
- use local transport when you can. Its cheap and fairly reliable. A lot of tourists hire a car with driver for the duration of their stay – I really don’t think this is needed;
- try stay in smaller guesthouses than the big resorts. They are better value and often good quality. The new mega resorts will destory Sri Lanka and staying in them you are not experiencing the country at all;
- allow enough time to see the diversity of the country, two to three weeks is doable – any less and you will struggle;
- skip Kandy and Colombo – these are big, crowded cities. Your time is much better spent elsewhere;
- ride the train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya – it’s unique and has stunning views; and
- be selective of which ATM you use. Fees range $2 to $6 per withdrawal (plus any fees you have from your own bank). Find an ATM with a large withdrawal option and lower fee or these will add up!
