The beaches in the southwest of Sri Lanka offer picture-postcard motifs throughout: endless beaches with golden sand, turquoise water, palm forests and colourful coral reefs make tropical dreams come true. Swimming and sunbathing are possible here all year round.

On the southwest coast, every visitor will find his or her personal dream beach. From small, unspoilt sandy beaches, where the silence is only interrupted by the sound of the waves, to lively spots that attract the party crowd, to family-friendly bays, it’s all here.

Visitors will also find plenty of variety from beach life in the south: surfing, snorkelling, Ayurveda, yoga and massages, excellent seafood and relaxed sundowners, excursions into the mysterious mangroves, to a turtle breeding station or to the lively cities of Galle and Colombo.

Visitors should make a detour to the Galapatha Rajamaha Viharaya, a silent Buddhist temple from the 12th century with beautiful wall paintings and a tooth relic.

Before the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century, Galle was the island’s main port and reached the peak of its development as a thriving trading centre in the 18th century during the Dutch colonial period. The fortifications around the old town with its 400 or so magnificent colonial-style buildings bear witness to the turbulent history of this historic port city.

Strolling over the walls of the well-preserved fortress and through the partly renovated old town with its trendy shops and cafés, visitors experience a distinctive colonial flair. On the promenade in front of the lighthouse, snake charmers and cliff jumpers provide light thrills!

Kande Vihara is a Buddhist temple with a spectacular Buddha statue visible from afar. Already during the boat trip on the Bentota River, visitors see the imposing, largest seated Buddha statue in Sri Lanka on the banks of the river.

In the temple, Buddha’s life is depicted in large, colourful pictures. Another area is dedicated to the memory of the dramatic events during the tsunami in 2004. The south of Sri Lanka was severely affected by the natural disaster at that time and residents and tourists took refuge in this temple complex.

The mysterious mangrove forest on the Bentota River is home to a wide variety of birds including white-tailed eagles, kingfishers and pelicans. Macaque monkeys cavort in the trees and crocodiles, lizards, freshwater snakes and a variety of fish and prawns lurk in the water. Monitor lizards, crocodiles and snakes are suddenly within reach!

A visit to a turtle sanctuary helps animal conservationists to save the endangered animals.

To prevent the illegal sale of turtle eggs laid on the beach of the southwest coast, the staff of the sanctuaries collect the eggs immediately after they are laid and release the animals a few days after hatching.

Visitors are welcome to help collecting the eggs and release the cute animals on the beach in the evening!

Madhu Ganga is a vast, shallow river basin on Sri Lanka’s southwest coast. About 25 islands cross the wetland with the river delta. The largely untouched mangrove swamps are home to numerous rare animal and plant species such as snakes, lizards and crocodiles as well as rare frog species.

Some of the idyllic islands are inhabited. The inhabitants live mainly from fishing and cinnamon production, which is why the islands are also called the “Cinnamon Islands”. Here, visitors can buy cinnamon of the very best quality.

A special attraction at Madhu Ganga is fish therapy: visitors sit on the jetty and hold their feet in the water, and immediately the industrious “doctor fish” nibble on them.