Galle is a must when visiting Sri Lanka. It is largest city in the Southern area with a rich history and beautiful sights for you to explore. We stayed there for 3 days and we could, should have stayed longer! These are our top picks:
1. Galle Fort
This UNESCO site breathes Sri Lankan’s history; started by the Portuguese, continued by the Dutch and well maintained by the British and Sri Lankans. The sight has numerous sights from different times making it really special. The streets feel European and we were particularly happy to find proper vegan ice cream after almost 3 weeks under the Sri Lankan sun! Walk around the town & go to the lighthouse or the fort for sunrise!
2. Unawatuna Beach and the Palm Tree Swing
Unawatuna is a beautiful beach a few minutes from Galle city and well worth the visit. The Palm Tree Swing is one of the most (if not the most) »instagrammable« pic from Sri Lanka. The locals started to charge 3 EUR to do it but you should go for it. To tell you the truth it’s quite scary to hop on the tree and jump into the unknown, but once your up there, swinging on top of the ocean, it’s just fantastic!
3. Japanese Peace Pagoda
It’s interesting that not many people know about this place, it’s on top of the hill and can be seen both from Talpe and Galle Fort. We’ve seen many temples and pagodas and this is certainly one of our favorites. We felt so calm while walking around, reading about buddhism and admiring the majestic views.
4. Ishq villa
Hands down the best villa of our lives. ISHQ opened in November 2017 and the complete renovation was lead by a famous architect and boy did he do a great job! It has 4 large bedrooms and is rented as a whole to ensure full privacy so we felt like royalty. We also had our very own gourmet chef who made all our vegan culinary wishes come true. Have to mention the gaming room, since it was my first time to play FIFA 2018 on PlayStation and totally kicked Ziga’s ass, haha! (kidding of course, that guy spent his youth playing it).
5. Jungle Beach
You’ll have to climb through a mini jungle to access this beach. It’s close to the Japanese Peace Pagoda so good to combine it in a day’s trip. Also, there are a lot of hatcheries in the area so pay attention what kind of organizations you support!
