Beach Hunt in Tangalle

Tangalle area was our first beach paradise in our 3 weeks trip of Sri Lanka and it offers so with beautiful, mostly secluded beaches. The main Tangalle beach is quite crowded with touristic restaurants and inflated prices. The area offers many remote and hidden beaches so go out there and explore the area and find your piece of paradise! We found this spot and it was fantastic.

TURTLE WATCHING: YES or NO?

The area is also famous for watching turtles coming out at night to lay out their eggs. Supposedly the best time to go see is from 8 pm onwards and the highest chance to see that is on Rekawa beach. We decided not to go there, as it apparently gets super crowded (150 people). Turtles do come out of the water but don’t lay eggs as there are too many people! The Turtle Conservation Project will also charge a fee for foreigners and since they are apparently not turtle-friendly we skipped this. Please reconsider if you really want to bother and scare the turtles while they are finding a safe spot for their eggs.

Turtle hatcheries are also common in the area. From our experience most of them they take eggs from the beach and once they make it out as baby turtles, put them in tanks, leave them for 45 days – which is too long for turtles to properly develop their sensors to be able to survive in the wild. Of course turtle hatchers charge tourists in the process. We do not support such organizations – wildlife should stay wild and supporting such places actually harms it! Instead we went off the beaten track in the morning and were exploring footprints made by turtles over the night. Wildlife without human distractions is our way.

STAY AT THE PERFECT PLACE TO RELAX IN TANGALLE

One of the highlights in Tangalle was our stay in Maya villa. It’s a newly beautifully renovated 110 years villa in a secluded area overviewing rice fields. The beautiful large garden has many places for you to chill – swing on large tree, several small couches, 2 hammocks and a beautiful pavilion which is the ideal place to do morning yoga and meditate. The perfect setting really made us feel so peaceful and relaxed.