Tangalle The quiet coves of the deep south, and the turtle beach at Rekawa

Where to stay in Tangalle

Things to do from Tangalle

• Culture and heritage · a morning or an afternoonMatara: the Dutch Star Fort and the Weherahena templeMatara, about 15 minutes east of Mirissa, was a Dutch stronghold at the mouth of the Nilwala river. The Dutch rampart of the 1640s still closes off the promontory, topped since 1883 by a British clock tower, and across the river stands the small Star Fort, built between 1763 and 1765: a six-pointed star inside a moat, entered by a coral-faced gateway carved with the Dutch East India Company's insignia and the name Redoute Van Eck.
• Culture and heritage · a short visitThe great seated Buddha of Wewurukannala, DikwellaWewurukannala Vihara, at Dikwella about 20 minutes west of Tangalle, is known for its seated Buddha of 160 ft, about 50 m, the largest seated Buddha figure in Sri Lanka, as high as a building of 8 storeys, which rises above the old temple. The temple itself goes back to the late 18th century.
• Water and coast · a short visitThe Hummanaya blowhole at KudawellaHummanaya, near the fishing village of Kudawella, 12 km from Tangalle, is the only known blowhole in Sri Lanka. Sea water forced through a submerged cavern bursts up through the rock every couple of minutes, and the spray often reaches 25 to 30 m; its name comes from the 'hoo' it makes, heard some distance away.
• Nature and wildlife · a short walk on the plateauUssangoda, the red plateau above the seaUssangoda, about 40 minutes east of Tangalle, is a national park created in 2010 on a patch of high ground above the sea: a plateau of red, iron-rich earth covered only in grass and low, stunted plants, with small islands of shrub and tree. It is one of the island's few serpentine sites, whose soils, heavy in metals, support only a sparse flora, and 2 of its plants are found only in Sri Lanka.
• Dining · a morning, ending with the meal you have cookedA Sri Lankan cooking lesson with your hotel's chefSeveral of the villas and resorts around Weligama and Tangalle, and lodges on the edge of Yala, offer a cooking lesson with their own chefs, arranged with your stay. The chef introduces the island's spices, herbs and coconut, and guests cook at their own stations, from prawn curry and coconut sambol to vegetable curries, and at one safari camp egg hoppers in village-style clay pots.
• Adventure · a ride arranged with your stayA bicycle ride through the paddy fields and villagesVillas and resorts inland from Weligama and around Tangalle keep bicycles for their guests and arrange guided rides along the lanes behind the coast, past paddy fields, village houses, a village tank and small Buddhist temples.
• Water and coast · a paddle arranged with your stayKayaking on the lagoons around TangalleThe coast around Tangalle is broken by quiet lagoons behind the beaches, and some hotels keep kayaks or canoes for their guests to paddle them, among them the Rekawa lagoon east of the town.
• Wellness · single treatments, or programmes of 3 to 22 nightsAn Ayurveda programme near TangalleAround Tangalle, some resorts keep a resident Ayurvedic doctor and treatment rooms. A stay begins with a consultation, and the doctor then sets the treatments, diet and herbal remedies: warm-oil massage (abhyanga), herbal compresses, and shirodhara, in which warm herbal oil flows steadily across the forehead.
• Nature and wildlife · 3 to 5 hours, leaving the harbour at about 06:30Whale watching from MirissaThe continental shelf drops away sharply off Mirissa, so blue whales pass close to the south coast on their seasonal migration, and the town is one of the island's main whale and dolphin watching bases. Boats leave the harbour at about 06:30, for the calmest water and the best light.
• Adventure · about 90 minutes a lessonSurf lessons on the south coastWeligama Bay is where most people learn: a long sandy beach with no reef, waves that break gently, and water shallow enough to stand in across much of the bay, at 27 to 29 °C all year. A lesson of about 90 minutes starts on the sand with safety and technique, then moves into the water beside the instructor.
• Wellness · a private class, or a retreat of 5 to 8 daysYoga on the south coastThe south coast, around Weligama, Ahangama, Mirissa, Hiriketiya and Tangalle, is where many of the island's yoga retreats are based, often paired with surfing. Hatha, vinyasa and yin are the usual styles, taught in open-sided shalas facing the sea or set among the palms.
• Culture and heritage · about 1.5 hoursDondra Head, the island's southern tipDondra Head, 6 km south-east of Matara, is the southernmost point of Sri Lanka and carries the island's tallest lighthouse, a 49 m tower completed in 1890. The town behind it is Devinuwara, 'city of the gods', which gives the headland its name.
• Nature and wildlife · an evening from 20:00; a nesting can take up to 3 hoursWatching turtles nest at RekawaRekawa beach, 10 km east of Tangalle, is where 5 species of sea turtle come ashore to nest: green, loggerhead, leatherback, olive ridley and hawksbill. A turtle watch run by the local community guides visitors onto the beach at night.
• Culture and heritage · about 2 hours, including the climbMulkirigala rock templeMulkirigala, about 20 km north of Tangalle, is a Buddhist monastery built up a great natural rock, founded according to the Mahavamsa by King Saddhatissa and added to by kings through to the 18th century. Its 7 cave temples sit on 5 terraces, with reclining Buddhas, the largest about 15 m long, and Kandyan-era paintings of the life of the Buddha and the Jataka stories.
• Nature and wildlife · 2 to 3 hours, from 06:00 or in the late afternoonThe birds of the Kalametiya lagoon by boatKalametiya, 24 km east of Tangalle, is a sanctuary of coastal lagoons and mangroves, first protected in 1938 and declared again in 1984, where about 150 species of birds have been recorded, 54 of them migrants. It shelters 4 nationally threatened birds, among them the glossy ibis and the black-capped purple kingfisher.
• Nature and wildlife · a morning or late afternoon by jeep, about 50 km east of TangalleA safari in Bundala National ParkBundala was Sri Lanka's first Ramsar wetland, in 1991, and is a UNESCO biosphere reserve: a park of 5 shallow brackish lagoons, salt pans, thorny scrub and dunes that is an important wintering ground for migrant water birds. Close to 200 bird species have been recorded, and greater flamingos arrive in flocks of more than 1,000.