Where to stay on the west coast?

YALA you can go elephant safari, beach and good hotels...... if you go Minneriya there are elephant safari, elephant riding.

TRINCOMALEE for scuba diving and snorkeling , calm beaches (trico is 70km away or 1.5 hours drive from minneriya).

PInnawala to Elephant orphanage for see feeding, bathing elephatns, ride an elephant and BEruwala is 3.5 hours drive for beach..

hope it helps
Raja

Sorry I didn't see "West Cost " part.. for all there only palce is Kalpitiya... from there you can do beachy thiings Diving, Snorkeling, kite surfing . sandy beach.. from 1.5 hours drive a NP called Willpaththu...you can find herd of elephanats there.

Thank you, any other suggestions on the west coast? Any ideas welcome

Kalpitiya have sri lanka''s biggest coral reef. best thing is it is located 1 hour boat ride into the river...bust still no deeper than 5-7 feet.

find a hotel that near to both beach and lagoon.
sorry I missed one thing..Kalpitiya is the best for Dolphin watching in Sri Lanka..

Dolphin beach Alankuda, Welle wadiya, Cocodance Kitesurfing Resort , Bar Reef Resort , The Rascals Kite Resort, Rosaanne Beach Resort are good 3/4 star hotels

Ok thank you! Do you know much about
Kandi, una watuna, ela and Marissa (suggestions from a friend), are they on the west coast? And are any of the places you mentioned good for elephants/national parks?

kandy , Un, MIrissa and Ella are some of main palces

Una watuna and mirissa far better than Kalpitiya but it is in South cot..but much recommend. MIrissa have the world biggest Blue Whale population..

Kandy is a cultural city . That include Temple of the tooth relic which is the world most scared Buddhist temple it is in the middle of the country..( pinnawala elephant orphanage is near by)

Ella is for hikes and good views..Also Kandy to Ella train ride is the Sri Lanka's most beautiful train ride( go through tea plantaion and hills)

May I know what is the reason you want west beach???? normally west cost is not much good as it is not calm most of the year. Sep- Apr south cost is the best.....if you stay more than 6 days Colombo -Kandy-Ella- Udawalawa(Natuional park) and then South beaches . if you follow this route will not disappointed. But you may need a car with driver....what is your number of nights gonna stay here

I wanted west as thought just easier to go to tourist party?/ convenient from airport So I'm thinking bentota and kandy as my 2 locations. Apparently bentota is nice? Can't afford to stay in more than 2 places

Nope. For party( tourists) best is hikkaduwa, mirrissa.. benthota night life is not great but beaches are.

Benthota is really nice. Big and spreaded beach, water sports available, near to turtle hatchery .

Kandy is also good. U can do pinnawala n sigiriya in day trips

By the way. How many nights for your whole trip?

I think perhaps 10 night but ok perhaps Mirassa be better then if the weather is ok in august- are there some bars etc in that area then? And not so many in benthota