The place
For a long time Hiriketiya was the bay the surfers kept to themselves: a horseshoe of sand at the end of a lane, too small for hotels, too good to give up. Word got out, and the bay is busier now, and better for it: a cluster of cafés, a couple of good kitchens, boards for hire, and the same warm, forgiving wave in the middle of the bay.
Kottamba Kanda sits on the hill just above and behind it, close enough to walk down in four minutes, high enough that the town's noise never climbs the slope. What follows is where we would send you, in the order we would send you.
Hiriketiya
Take the lane down before seven, before the day-trippers, when the light is low and the water is glass. The inside wave is mellow enough to learn on; the point, on the far side, is for people who already know what they are doing. Swim, then eat breakfast at one of the shacks on the sand (a curry, a coconut, a coffee) and watch the bay fill up without you.
Dikwella
The nearest real town, a few minutes up the road, and where your chef shops at dawn. Go with him once: the fish comes straight off the boats, the vegetables are cheap and still gritty from the ground, and the whole thing is over by eight. There is a good roadside kade for short eats, and a temple with a very large Buddha if you want the detour.
Talalla
Fifteen minutes west, a long crescent of pale sand that stays close to empty even when Hiriketiya is full. No surf to speak of, which is the point: this is the beach for a slow walk, a swim in flat water, and turtles nesting at the right time of year. Bring nothing; there is nothing to buy.
Tangalle
Half an hour east, a working fishing town strung along a run of coves: some open and wild, some tucked and calm enough to swim. Come for the lagoon at Rekawa at dusk, when the turtles come ashore to lay, or simply for a plate of crab and a beer somewhere the road has not quite found.
Galle Fort
An hour up the coast, and the one trip worth making a whole day of. The Dutch raised these ramparts in the seventeenth century, and the same line runs straight through the villa on the hill: the white lime walls, the terracotta roofs, the columned veranda and louvred teak shutters are its descendants. Walk the walls at dusk, when the stone gives back the day's heat and the light turns, then lose an evening among the galleries, jewellers and old-town cafés inside.
Getting here
Colombo is the arrival point; a driver brings you down the coast. Everything else on the map is an easy day out and back.
| Colombo airport (CMB) | 3 h 15 min |
|---|---|
| Galle Fort | 1 h |
| Mirissa | 40 min |
| Tangalle | 30 min |
| Hiriketiya bay | 4 min on foot |
The map
The pin sits on the villa itself, on the hill just behind the bay. Zoom out and the whole coast falls into place: Dikwella up the road, Talalla to the west, Tangalle to the east.