The South Coast

A crescent beach paradise with world-class whale watching and surf breaks.

Sri Lanka's most famous wildlife reserve - the best place to spot leopards.

A UNESCO-listed Dutch fort town with cobblestone streets, boutiques, and ocean views.

A famous banana-shaped bay minutes from Galle, with calm swimming, reef snorkelling, and a jungle-clad headland.

Beach town famous for coral reefs, diving, and a lively backpacker scene.

A tiny, palm-fringed crescent bay - the definition of a hidden gem.

An ancient lake-side temple town of great white dagobas - the classic base for Yala and Kataragama.

A perfect crescent bay with fishing stilt boats, gentle surf, and a vibrant village atmosphere.

The home of Sri Lanka's spectacular devil-dance masks and traditional mask-carving workshops.

A Ramsar wetland of lagoons and dunes where greater flamingos winter alongside crocodiles and elephants.

A historic Dutch fort city at the island's southern tip - star fort, island temple, and the end of the coastal railway.

A sleepy fishing town flanked by some of the south's longest, emptiest beaches and rocky coves.

A seven-terraced rock monastery with painted caves and a giant reclining Buddha - the 'little Sigiriya' of the south.

Sri Lanka's tallest lighthouse marks the island's southernmost point - next stop, Antarctica.

A Ramsar-protected river-lagoon of 64 islands, mangrove tunnels, and cinnamon islands near Balapitiya.

A hidden crescent of jungle-backed sand between Matara and Dickwella - one of the south's quietest beaches.

A natural sea fountain at Kudawella that erupts up to 20 metres - said to be the world's second largest blowhole.

A coastal lagoon teeming with waterbirds - Sri Lanka's oldest sanctuary, explored by silent canoe.

A lake-and-beach town of literary fame - island temples, cinnamon gardens, and the childhood world of Martin Wickramasinghe.

The heart of Sri Lanka's turtle conservation coast - nurseries, night nesting walks, and hatchling releases.

Sri Lanka's most important sea-turtle nesting beach, where five species come ashore at night.

The Ramayana's fallen Himalayan hill above Unawatuna - jungle, hidden coves, and a white Japanese Peace Pagoda.

The island temple of the god Devol - a shrine on its own rock off Hikkaduwa where justice is sought over the waves.

An eerie red-earth plateau above the sea, tied to Ramayana legend and unlike anywhere else on the island.

The south coast's coolest surf strip - consistent reef breaks, stilt fishermen, and a booming cafe scene.

Mirissa's famous palm-crowned headland - a grove of coconut trees above the blue Indian Ocean.

A white-sand cove with a natural swimming lagoon and the south coast's famous palm rope swing.

The southern gateway to Sinharaja - a tea town with rainforest trails, river pools, and none of the crowds.

A temple on a rock above a wild beach, where Queen Viharamahadevi landed - and the gateway to Yala's coast.

Geoffrey Bawa's country estate - the garden laboratory of Asia's greatest modern architect, on a lake near Bentota.

The site of the world's worst rail disaster - memorials to the 2004 tsunami's victims beside the Galle road.

Sri Lanka's first drive-through safari park - lions, elephants, and open enclosures near Hambantota.

Home of Sri Lanka's biggest seated Buddha - 50 metres of serene concrete with a walk-through 'hell tunnel' below.

A lagoon village hiding Buddhist history - the island monastery where Western monasticism in Asia began.

The white sentinel of Galle Fort - Sri Lanka's oldest light station on the ramparts' most photographed corner.

The quiet stretch below Bentota - clean golden sand, turtle projects, and low-key beachfront ease.

The south's great rainforest - waterfall pools, giant creepers, and endemic wildlife without Sinharaja's crowds.

The quiet elephant corridor between Yala and Udawalawe - big herds, big reservoir, almost no jeeps.

The deep south's thermal pools - a renovated bathing garden in the scrub near Sooriyawewa, beloved by safari-goers.

A sandbar-tethered islet on the deep south coast - wade across at low tide to your own blue-water lookout.

A 2,200-year-old monastery rising from the wilds of Yala - pilgrims, monks, and leopards share the rock.

A tiny private island with a 1920s villa, wading distance off Weligama - Sri Lanka's most storied address.

Matara's tunnel temple - a 39-metre Buddha above an underground maze of twenty thousand comic-strip murals.