Hikkaduwa Beach

Sri Lanka is a magical place of ancient Buddhist monuments, gorgeous beaches, lush green vegetation, clear blue skies, sunshine and friendly faces. The beach house at Hikkaduwa is a great place to unwind, sample the local surfing and diving opportunities, and from where you can then start to explore this stunningly beautiful island.

 Hikkaduwa is located 100km south of the country's capital, Colombo. The area is well-known for its coral sanctuary and the proximity of wonderful scuba diving sites to explore. With its unique beach culture, Hikkaduwa has long been the most popular diving and surfing area in Sri Lanka. In the centre of Hikkaduwa, a lagoon also creates a beautiful and safe snorkelling area. Further south, where the currents are stronger, surfing is the dominant water activity. The impressive coral reef runs just offshore and is populated by exotic fish and sea turtles that come ashore on this beach to lay their eggs.

Swimming

Warning: The sea currents directly in front of the beach house can be very strong and make swimming quite dangerous at times. Parents with young children should be particularly mindful of this. Better to just have a paddle or sit back and enjoy the impressive crashing waves at the beach house instead and, if you want to go swimming in the sea, take a trip to the Coral Sanctuary at Hikkaduwa or go down the coast to Unawatuna instead.

Diving

The diving at Hikkaduwa is diverse and there is an abundance of marine life and dive sites to suit all levels of experience. Big groupers, barracudas, moray eels, dogtooth tunas, manta rays, lobsters & turtles are often to be seen just off the coast at Hikkaduwa. A large number of wrecks have floundered off the coast in this area over the years, adding to the range of dive sites available.

The main diving season in the south west runs from November to April and there are a number of well-established diving centers from which to choose with Blue Deep Diving and Poseidon being probably the best.

Surfing

Hikkaduwa is a very well known surfing destination on the international circuit and annually attracts surfers from all over the world.

There are plenty of good surfing points and although most of them are reef breaks, none of them is risky since they all have a flat deep bottom. The wave size ranges up to 3 metres during the season. The main point, known as the main reef has 'A-frame' shaped waves, which can be surfed in both directions.