Unawatuna Beach near Galle

The crescent-shaped beach of Unuwatuna, situated only 3 km east of World Heritage Site Galle, is famous for its shallow turquoise water and lush green palm trees. Small reefs allow snorkeling and protect the sandy beach and make it safer for children than any other beach at the southwestern coastline. Though much of the sandy strip was lost due to the Boxing Day Tsunami 2004, Unawatuna is still Sri Lanka’s most popular beach with independent travellers. Though large hotel complexes are not yet built at the lovely beach, there is a large amount of guest houses, Ayurveda parks and restaurants and discos, making this a busy and quite noisy place, particularly in the weekends, when young people from Colombo come here to have fun. The more picturesque and best protected part of Unawatuna Beach is at ist western end of the beach, where stairs also lead up to a small hill with a pagoda and a newly erected huge Buddha statue, with a beautiful view overlooking the entire beach.

More about Unawatuna Beach and surroundungs here...

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