In my 2 extra weeks in Sri Lanka after my tour, I visited a number of beaches on the south coast. I'll start by saying, if I were looking for a beach holiday, I would not have Sri Lanka as my first or even third choice. There are many more accessible, beautiful and calmer beaches other places in the world. Thailand, Bali, maybe Malaysia (not been there for many years). Sri Lanka may be marginally less crowded, but also more expensive. I think the quality of the hotels here are not as high, Imelda you pay a lot more money.
However, if you come here to see the rest of the country, which is totally worth it, and want some beach days at the end, I would choose Unuwatana. It's close to Galle, which was my favourite city. It's also closer to Colombo, if you want to go straight from the beach to the airport. Like stretch of clean sand, small waves, clean water, restaurants and hotels right on the beach. The streets around the beach have a nice vibe with more restaurants and shops. I wasn't there at night, but I think it would be quieter than Mirissa.
If you want a quiet, empty beach, choose the far end of Tangalle. Jungle, lagoon, huge stretches of beach to walk along. You can't swim there though. It was very rough. No 5 star hotels, not many restaurants at the far end. The backpacker end was busier.
Weligama is for surfing. Beach not so clean, small waves, locals swimming, fishing and fish restaurants, more of a night scene. It's quite stretched out though.
Mirissa is the best known and most popular and I liked it the least. Too busy, noisy, small street frontage that was busy and hot to walk along. Best night life though, and a turtle hatchery right on the beach.
Ahangama was another beach area I didn't like. Most of the beaches in Sri Lanka are only accessible through restaurants, Ahangama being the worst. The beach isn't even that large. I had an ice-cream at a cafe and left my stuff there in order to have a swim. There was a nice little shaded beach called 'Secret Beach's but it's not a secret anymore!
Finally I looked at Hikkaduwa and Bentota on the journey between Galle and Colombo. Hikkaduwa was a nice long beach, but again, the beach backed right on to a main road so was not so nice to walk along. Also they had a spot called Turtle Point, which had huge loggerhead turtles coming right amongst people's feet as they were feeding them with fish they bought from locals. It was fascinating but also awful to watch the tourists feeding and touching them, when it has been drummed into most of us not to touch the turtles.
Bentota was another nicish beach, off the main road, but more upmarket than the other places I saw.
I left Sri Lanka for the Maldives, and that is what I think of as gorgeous beaches. Endless azure blue seas, small waves, easy beaches to walk along.
So in my humble opinion, don't go to Sri Lanka for a beach holiday, but if you go and want a few days on a beach at the end, my pick is Unuwatuna!
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