You can't visiting Sri Lanka and not visiting the beaches. Nowadays, the incredibly charming South Coast is a hotspot for wellness, yoga and surfing resorts.
During the trip planning, I planned many tourist attractions into our itinerary at the south coast (e.g. Mulkirigala Rock Temple, Kataragama Temple, Geoffrey Bawa Estates – Lunu Ganga etc), I even told the parents to bring their kids to whale watching trips, I was also considering of taking up a short beginner's surfing course. However, we ended up just stayed put at Paradise Cove most of the time. We have no regrets, this is exactly the way I would love to spend my time at the beach -- doing nothing.
Paradise Cove Villa
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| The villa view from the beach |
The Paradise Cove Villa is tucked in an isolated beach on Nilwella. It is far away from the tourist hotspots, and we almost felt like we owned the entire beach!
There are 6 bedrooms, 4 on ground floor with independent bathrooms, and 2 on level 1 facing the beach with excellent view. Underneath these 2 beach-facing-rooms is the open air lounge where we spent most of our free time.
There's a small pool and a sundeck at the backyard. Walking to the end of the backyard, there's a small gate that lead to the beautiful peaceful sandy white beach.
The Paradise Cove Villa is the reason we fell in love with Nilwella.
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| The path in the backyard leading to the beach |
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| Very dreamy bedroom |
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| Ensuite toilet |
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| Semi outdoor shower |
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| Lovely pool |
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| Our favorite spot to spend time together |
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| The indoor living room |
Besides being super cozy, we also love Paradise Cove Villa because of their friendly staff and their super delicious food. We had almost every meals there and we love their traditional Sri Lankan food.
You can have stroll after stroll at the beach, you can swim, you can try bodyboarding......
It was hard to say goodbye......
Nilwella Beach
Nilwella, between the bigger and more known Tangalle and Dikwella, is definitely one of Sri Lanka's best kept secret. This quiet fishermen village is the ideal place to relax away from the crowds for a few days. During our stay there, we were the only tourists. (sorry for uploading tons of photos here. Can't resist to show off. Because we stayed there for 3 days 2 nights, I basically have photos for almost every different times of the day. Haha!)
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| misty dawn |
Despite really love to stay at Paradise Cove all the time, we did leave and explore the surroundings a bit. We took tuk-tuks to Dikwella, hoping for some souvenir shoppings but there was actually not much to see.
So we ended up in another beach - Dikwella Beach. We planned to walk on the beach a bit, but a storm was coming. So we ended up spent most our time at
Verse Collective.
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| Before the storm |
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| After the storm |
We had great time at
Verse Collective. Good food, good coffee, nice ambience. Very relaxing. It is a cafe, a hostel, a coworking space, and a boutique.
Hummanaya Blow Hole – Dickwella
We also visited Hummanaya Blowhole because it was close to where we stayed, and it was fun to bring the kids to see the second largest blowhole in the world. The water can blow up to height between 25-30 meters!
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| The entrance of the park is within a housing area |
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| see the rainbow? |
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| We were hoping for some big waves..... |
We even took some 90's boy bands album covers:
Dondra Head Lighthouse
Dondra Head Lighthouse is the southernmost point of Sri Lanka, and the tallest lighthouse of Sri Lanka (and one of the tallest in South East Asia). According to history, the name Dondra means the city of gods. It is one of the most celebrated religious city on the island.
The Lighthouse is still active and helps to guide ships and boats and is positioned at a crucial point in the Maritime route. The Dondra Head Lighthouse also transmits radio wave signals to surrounding lighthouses in Sri Lanka.
Coconut Tree Hill
This is one of the prettiest, very Instagram-worthy spots on the South. It is situated at the end of Mirissa Beach and completely covered with coconut trees overlooking the ocean.
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| Coconut Tree Hill from afar |
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| Another group photo to capture the fun we had at the South Coast |
