Tangalle, Unawatuna or Hikkaduwa

G'Day

So, we have a week in Sri Lanka at the beginning of April and will be heading beach-side for the majority of it. Trying to narrow down where to stay and have landed at one of Tangalle, Unawatuna or Hikkaduwa. I visited Unawatuna in 2002 (pre tsunami) and absolutely loved it. It was a really low key little place back then with minimal development. I get the impression that is not the case anymore.

Ideally, we are looking for something that is Unawatuna 2002 or at least close to it. I think Hikka is going to be too developed for us and by the sounds of it Una as well. Is Tangalle a few notches down from the aforementioned in terms of development but still a nice spot to vist for 5 nights or so?

Advice appreciated!

I was in Unawatuna in 2010, and there's a club on the beach, Psychotic Banana or some such, that plays it loud nearly all night. Not terribly relaxing.

Nice. Psychotic banana! In saying that when I was there in 2002 it was apparent there was a bit of a smack problem in the local area. Remember one night a waiter serving us lobster dinner with his eyes rolling back into his head, totally out his nut. The lobster was lovely all the same......

Tangalle is OK - quiet with a few restaurants dotted along the beach although the beach is nothing special.
IMO Unawatuna is dreadful, every little space built on and claustrophobic.
The northern end of Hikkaduwa was infintely better than the centre, relatively quiet spots and laid-back restaurants and with some good snorkelling if that is of interest.
I liked Mirissa and the numerous coves between Tangalle and Unawatuna.

Thx Checkingirl! Sounds like you know the coast there pretty well. I read some average stuff about Mirissa so kind of ruled it out. Would you recommend?

I guess it depends on exactly what you want. I stayed at the furthestmost eastern end of Mirissa (by the rock) in a place that had extensive private grassed land adjoining the beach. Loads of sun-loungers, it was heavenly peaceful lounging around under the palms in the garden during the day. As you walk westwards along the beach it gets busier and busier and the entire length of the beach is easily walkable. Horses for courses. There are lots of good restaurants and the seafood was the best I encountered in SriLanka. I picked Mirissa primarily for blue whale spotting which turned out to be a fantastic experience. It's a pretty beach with nice quality of sand and swimming / splashing in the sea is great. I liked it.

haha.. it is called Happy Banana

Or does it depend on the hour? ;)

It's a well-known place among locals, even to Colombo.

@friendly_checkingirl - where did you stay in Mirissa? :)

Hotel was called Giragala Village. Budget but clean and everything worked. The huge private garden directly on the beach is for me the selling point.

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