Bentota - The Beach Town - Sri Lanka Trip part 1

Bentota is a Beach resort town in Sri lanka which you will find in most of the tourist itineraries. It is a long beach strip with resorts lined up with private beaches. The sands are velvety soft and white in color, most of the beaches are private beaches of these resorts and there is also a public beach.

Excited to hold turtles in Bentota

There is also another place nearby called Beruwala which is know for its Corals. The entire stretch from Bentota beach/Beruwala beach is facing the west - so sunsets from my angle/any beach are an amazing watch.
This was my first day in Sri Lanka Itinerary 

Beaches @ Bentota

How to go : Overall details of the trip covered in the itinerary here.
Colombo Airport --> Bentota = 110 kms (2 hours)
I had taken an early morning flight from Bangalore to Sri Lanka and it landed at around 5AM in the morning.
I had booked a car for the entire 5 day journey. The driver came to pick up at the airport and we were really very sleepy. No traffic in the mornings, so I was at Taj Bentota Resort by 7AM.
I was too tired from the over-night journey, so I simply had breakfast and crashed in the room.

When to Go: Bentota is on the south-west coastline, so the best time to visit is October to April.
However, I prefer to go off-season as you get good rates and places are not too crowded. I went there in July - which is the monsoon period, but we were lucky, it did not rain at all during my stay.

View from the room @Cinnamon Bey

Where to Stay :
I stayed one night at Vivanta by Taj - Amazing property - 5 Star hospitality and a private beach

The second night I stayed in Cinnamon Bey Beruwala Beach --> This was even better and we got it at a very cheap rate. This is built on turkish theme and has almost 5-6 restaurants inside the property. The Beruwala beach seems just like an extension of this hotel, but the sad part is it is not private. It is a public beach, but it is just outside the boundary of the hotel, and provides ocean view in the rooms. I found their breakfast spread much better and they also have an entertainment program every evening with Sri Lankan Cultural dances

Cultural Program @Cinnamon Bey

What to do:

Bentota Beach : White sand serene beach. Beautiful sunsets.

Beruwala Beach : Corals -good for snorkelling. The sand here is brown sand (similar to the one we see in Indian beaches). Beautiful sunsets. This is just by the Hotel in which I had stayed (Cinnamon Bey)

Tutle Hatchery

Turtle Hatchery : This is a small Turtle zoo kind of a place - they claim that they are saving thousands of turtles from destruction by hatching them. So, the fishermen collect turtle eggs from the sea - this hatchery burrows these eggs into the sand and allows it to hatch. It takes around 1.5 months for an egg to hatch and post that they feed them for 2-3 days and release them in the sea at mid-night.
They claim that they are saving the ecosystem by protecting the Turtles.
The ticket price is very expensive - 1000 Sri lankan rupees per ticket

Infant Turtles - 2 Days old

It is a small place with variety of turtle tanks - they also allow you to touch and feel the turtles yourself.

It is indeed a beautiful place and must be included in the Sri Lankan itinerary !!!
Other Posts in the Sri Lanka Series:
1. Sri Lanka Itinerary
2. Bentota - Beach town
3. Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
4. Kandy
5. Sigiriya.. Ravan's fort
6. Dambulla.. Caves and Golden temple
7. Colombo Trip Part 1
8. Colombo Trip Part 2

P.S - All the pictures/photos in this blog are original and are clicked from my iPhone and DSLR Nikkon D5300

Me @Beruwala Beach during Sunset