Beruwala Beach
Beruwala Beach
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
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4.0
404 reviews
Excellent
185
Very good
135
Average
58
Poor
17
Terrible
9
Emanuel P
6 contributions
Jul 2024 • Couples
We stayed at The Palms Hotel in Beruwala and soon as you go out on the beach, if you go to the left, you come to the first shack.
There is a man there, Sisiya Bandula, who has helped us with lots of things. We hired Tuk Tuk with him to take us to Aluthgama and have a look around the various shops there. You can also tell the driver to take you to a certified place to Change any currency at a much better rate.
Another day, the Tuk Tuk driver took us to a Turtle Hatchery in Kosgoda, which was fascinating and informative. From there, he took us to a private Moonstone mine and that was mind blowing. We were there and saw the whole procedure, of when they bring the stones, up from the mine, till it's polished and made into jewellery. That half a day trip, all for 8000RS, plus hatchery admission fee.
He can arrange a Massage for you for around 6500RS. There are two that I highly recommend, Mantra or Suwa Asapuwa Ayurveda. They will really look after you. Our Beruwala holiday was an experience of a lifetime
There is a man there, Sisiya Bandula, who has helped us with lots of things. We hired Tuk Tuk with him to take us to Aluthgama and have a look around the various shops there. You can also tell the driver to take you to a certified place to Change any currency at a much better rate.
Another day, the Tuk Tuk driver took us to a Turtle Hatchery in Kosgoda, which was fascinating and informative. From there, he took us to a private Moonstone mine and that was mind blowing. We were there and saw the whole procedure, of when they bring the stones, up from the mine, till it's polished and made into jewellery. That half a day trip, all for 8000RS, plus hatchery admission fee.
He can arrange a Massage for you for around 6500RS. There are two that I highly recommend, Mantra or Suwa Asapuwa Ayurveda. They will really look after you. Our Beruwala holiday was an experience of a lifetime
Written July 18, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Pradeep Kumar Mishra
Bhubaneswar, India283 contributions
Mar 2020
Sun..Sand & Sea...Beruwala beach is one of the most magnificent beach in Sri Lanka. The cool sea wind with all natural beauties will certainly impress any one. If you want to relax for a while than it's the perfect place.
Written March 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
svvoii
Changsha, China348 contributions
Dec 2014 • Friends
Here is a lot of specific information based on personal experience. I wish I had this knowledge before our trip. I hope it will help you people to plan, enjoy your trip and make your holidays much enjoyable and easy going.
2 days trip from Beruwala:
Royal Botanic Gardens as well as Spice garden was on our route way to Kandy. Our first point of 2 days trip was Elephant Orphanage, I recommend you to go there, the elephants are amazing. It is also interesting to see how they make the paper from elephant's "droppings" (sorry), you can also buy some in their shop, it is kind of popular ). The ticket to the orphanage cost $20/person + some extra options if you want to feed or wash them etc. (one more surprising tip: you officially will pay extra money in all those places of interest, for example in Elephant Orphanage if you are not a local or from some Arabic country ($10) or Africa ($5). It was one of the negative experiences), not cheap but the Elephants are definitely worth it.
Than we had the Royal Botanic Gardens, if you plan to go there give it some more time, it is rather big and very beautiful.
The Spice garden is rather small but it was interesting to listen about the plants they have. But, again, this is the place where they consider you as a bag with money. Be careful to try some treatments they offer in their "showroom" for free! (my friend was ready to give a good sum of money to the guy who did him a head massage with some herbal oil?), at the end they take you to their shop where you can buy some oil and herbal's they just advertised, but guess what.. the prices in the shop 3 or even 4 times higher than the real price (by the way there are nice pharmacy shop right in Beruwala if you are interested to buy some handmade coconut oil, etc. It is located by road if you go by tuk-tuk from the hotel to Bentota beach, next to the fish-seafood market before the bridge).
After that we get to the Tooth Temple in Kandy, we had a different guide there for the Temple tour - 1,500 rupees for the guide (if you decide to have this tour you should have some cover for your legs to be able to get inside, be sure you have it with you or be ready to pay for a rent). Than we had a night in Kandy. Very busy day. It took about 200 km from Beruwala to Kandy but in Sri Lanka it feels more like 400 km. road traffic is a total mess. I consider it as a disadvantage of our 2 days trip. Second day we had a beautiful mountain views, breathtaking waterfall and Mackwoods Tea Factory. Second day was a different and the road back took to much time. It is about 300 km from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya and then back to Beruwala but the road traffic even worth because 70% of the route was on the mountains. We start our trip from hotel at 4:00 in the morning and back to the hotel next day about 10:00 PM.
We choose the places by ourselves, you can do the same and pick the only places you want to visit. We also had plans to go to Gale Fort and I have prepared to do the tour by myself but we didn't manage to get there. I even planned to go there by local train to feel the difference and contrast.
Entertainment:
Regarding restaurants/cafes, I don't think you can find a really good one in there at all. If you will it might be as good as expensive. This experience was kind of culture shock to us. I wont comment it any longer, you should see and feel it by yourself. For every person it is different.
They have several very good restaurants at the hotel but the price was to expensive for us. It is also couple of cafes at the beach side, we used to eat at Sasha ones and ordered to take away some sea food, coral fish from Sunflower.. it was okay but, again, the price is not reasonable. They also have some kind of water trunk with live lobsters at Sunflower, 6,000-7,000 rupees/kg, 2 pcs per kg. Just to compare with market price - 2,500-4,000 rupees/kg. But you need to be able to bargain very hard to get a good price.
Like I mentioned in my reviews the best option for us was to buy any seafood at the local market place not far from the hotel and pay for cooking it at the nearest sea side cafe (next to the hotel, left side if you look at the ocean). We used this option our last evening, the food was just perfect, we had about 6 kg of food for 4 person (2 big dorada fish - highly recommended, big prawns and 4 lobsters but I'd rather buy some more prawns instead of lobster), all this cost us around $70. I believe it could be even lower if we had some local person we could trust to buy it for us.
IMPORTANT tips:
Here are some general tips you need to be aware of and prepared for.
- The level of humidity everywhere in Sri Lanka is very high especially at the coastal side of the island, combine it with high temperature and "curry" smell everywhere. In couple of days the hair and skin will be soaked with that smell.
- I'd rather not trust anyone outside the hotel despite you guide if you manage to trust him. Almost every person you might meet will try to cheat on you, as long as you don't know the language and your skin color is white - you are just a bag with money to local people, especially to beach boys, they will make money on you in every place you visit with them.
- The first questions, after "-hello, how are you", you would be asked while walking the beach would be like: "-where are you from?", "which hotel you stay?" and "-for how long you are going to stay?" !! these questions are allow them to identify how much money they can get from you. For example if you stay for a very short period of time the price whatever they offer will be higher. And the opposite if you stay much longer. some kind of discount because the offer can be done couple of times. ) something like that.
- Always check the quality of seafood before it is bought or cooked, especially if you are going to order it in cafe, the smell should be more fresh and the fish gills color should be more lite rosy. Because of the high temperature seafood could spoil faster. When we ordered some food from sunflower to take away, they were offering us not fresh coral fish, after I pointed at the dark and bed smell gills they brought me the same one but totally fresh! I also went to see how they cook it to make sure it is the one we ordered.
- If you want to try some local alcohol drinks (like arak or red rum), there are only one place in Beruwala you can buy it but you better ask the guide to buy it for you. The same principal is always there. The price is also indicated by producer right on the bottle you just need to find it but.. the price can rise for you up to 30-40%. The quality is also vary.
- Real price for the bottle of the Lion bear is 180 rupees (check on the bottle). I also recommend you to try a ginger bear, it is non alcohol but it is very good.
- Real price for a coconut (yellow, orange coconut) is about 25-40 rupees. And it is better to chill it before you drink it. You can use the refrigerator in the room to make it cold.
- If you like milk products you should try their local curd, it is available at the "supermarket" in a big pottery dish jar.
- If you need a tuk-tuk (to go to the shop, pharmacy, local temple, Bentota beach etc.) I recommend you to take it near the hotel, not far from the hotel gate take left, there are guys with blue shorts. The price for round trip starts from 400 rupees but you can drop it to 200-300 rupees. The beach boys offer even lower price for 100 but be careful their purpose is only to hook you up first.
With the very best wishes to all of you guys who find this info helpful !
Have a Happy Holiday )
2 days trip from Beruwala:
Royal Botanic Gardens as well as Spice garden was on our route way to Kandy. Our first point of 2 days trip was Elephant Orphanage, I recommend you to go there, the elephants are amazing. It is also interesting to see how they make the paper from elephant's "droppings" (sorry), you can also buy some in their shop, it is kind of popular ). The ticket to the orphanage cost $20/person + some extra options if you want to feed or wash them etc. (one more surprising tip: you officially will pay extra money in all those places of interest, for example in Elephant Orphanage if you are not a local or from some Arabic country ($10) or Africa ($5). It was one of the negative experiences), not cheap but the Elephants are definitely worth it.
Than we had the Royal Botanic Gardens, if you plan to go there give it some more time, it is rather big and very beautiful.
The Spice garden is rather small but it was interesting to listen about the plants they have. But, again, this is the place where they consider you as a bag with money. Be careful to try some treatments they offer in their "showroom" for free! (my friend was ready to give a good sum of money to the guy who did him a head massage with some herbal oil?), at the end they take you to their shop where you can buy some oil and herbal's they just advertised, but guess what.. the prices in the shop 3 or even 4 times higher than the real price (by the way there are nice pharmacy shop right in Beruwala if you are interested to buy some handmade coconut oil, etc. It is located by road if you go by tuk-tuk from the hotel to Bentota beach, next to the fish-seafood market before the bridge).
After that we get to the Tooth Temple in Kandy, we had a different guide there for the Temple tour - 1,500 rupees for the guide (if you decide to have this tour you should have some cover for your legs to be able to get inside, be sure you have it with you or be ready to pay for a rent). Than we had a night in Kandy. Very busy day. It took about 200 km from Beruwala to Kandy but in Sri Lanka it feels more like 400 km. road traffic is a total mess. I consider it as a disadvantage of our 2 days trip. Second day we had a beautiful mountain views, breathtaking waterfall and Mackwoods Tea Factory. Second day was a different and the road back took to much time. It is about 300 km from Kandy to Nuwara Eliya and then back to Beruwala but the road traffic even worth because 70% of the route was on the mountains. We start our trip from hotel at 4:00 in the morning and back to the hotel next day about 10:00 PM.
We choose the places by ourselves, you can do the same and pick the only places you want to visit. We also had plans to go to Gale Fort and I have prepared to do the tour by myself but we didn't manage to get there. I even planned to go there by local train to feel the difference and contrast.
Entertainment:
Regarding restaurants/cafes, I don't think you can find a really good one in there at all. If you will it might be as good as expensive. This experience was kind of culture shock to us. I wont comment it any longer, you should see and feel it by yourself. For every person it is different.
They have several very good restaurants at the hotel but the price was to expensive for us. It is also couple of cafes at the beach side, we used to eat at Sasha ones and ordered to take away some sea food, coral fish from Sunflower.. it was okay but, again, the price is not reasonable. They also have some kind of water trunk with live lobsters at Sunflower, 6,000-7,000 rupees/kg, 2 pcs per kg. Just to compare with market price - 2,500-4,000 rupees/kg. But you need to be able to bargain very hard to get a good price.
Like I mentioned in my reviews the best option for us was to buy any seafood at the local market place not far from the hotel and pay for cooking it at the nearest sea side cafe (next to the hotel, left side if you look at the ocean). We used this option our last evening, the food was just perfect, we had about 6 kg of food for 4 person (2 big dorada fish - highly recommended, big prawns and 4 lobsters but I'd rather buy some more prawns instead of lobster), all this cost us around $70. I believe it could be even lower if we had some local person we could trust to buy it for us.
IMPORTANT tips:
Here are some general tips you need to be aware of and prepared for.
- The level of humidity everywhere in Sri Lanka is very high especially at the coastal side of the island, combine it with high temperature and "curry" smell everywhere. In couple of days the hair and skin will be soaked with that smell.
- I'd rather not trust anyone outside the hotel despite you guide if you manage to trust him. Almost every person you might meet will try to cheat on you, as long as you don't know the language and your skin color is white - you are just a bag with money to local people, especially to beach boys, they will make money on you in every place you visit with them.
- The first questions, after "-hello, how are you", you would be asked while walking the beach would be like: "-where are you from?", "which hotel you stay?" and "-for how long you are going to stay?" !! these questions are allow them to identify how much money they can get from you. For example if you stay for a very short period of time the price whatever they offer will be higher. And the opposite if you stay much longer. some kind of discount because the offer can be done couple of times. ) something like that.
- Always check the quality of seafood before it is bought or cooked, especially if you are going to order it in cafe, the smell should be more fresh and the fish gills color should be more lite rosy. Because of the high temperature seafood could spoil faster. When we ordered some food from sunflower to take away, they were offering us not fresh coral fish, after I pointed at the dark and bed smell gills they brought me the same one but totally fresh! I also went to see how they cook it to make sure it is the one we ordered.
- If you want to try some local alcohol drinks (like arak or red rum), there are only one place in Beruwala you can buy it but you better ask the guide to buy it for you. The same principal is always there. The price is also indicated by producer right on the bottle you just need to find it but.. the price can rise for you up to 30-40%. The quality is also vary.
- Real price for the bottle of the Lion bear is 180 rupees (check on the bottle). I also recommend you to try a ginger bear, it is non alcohol but it is very good.
- Real price for a coconut (yellow, orange coconut) is about 25-40 rupees. And it is better to chill it before you drink it. You can use the refrigerator in the room to make it cold.
- If you like milk products you should try their local curd, it is available at the "supermarket" in a big pottery dish jar.
- If you need a tuk-tuk (to go to the shop, pharmacy, local temple, Bentota beach etc.) I recommend you to take it near the hotel, not far from the hotel gate take left, there are guys with blue shorts. The price for round trip starts from 400 rupees but you can drop it to 200-300 rupees. The beach boys offer even lower price for 100 but be careful their purpose is only to hook you up first.
With the very best wishes to all of you guys who find this info helpful !
Have a Happy Holiday )
Written July 1, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
LJackson
Glasgow, UK24 contributions
Feb 2018 • Couples
Beautiful Beach with white sand and warm water. Never felt overly busy either. Plenty of places for lunch or a drink nearby.
Written March 2, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
andrewpamela
Caerphilly, UK82 contributions
Feb 2015 • Couples
stayed here in beruwala beach, at the sagrika beach hotel (fab little hotel) the sea can be a little rough with big waves, be careful with children although shallow theres a swell and the waves will hit you over the beach boys may pester you a little but they are ok, theres a lovely little restaurant called ( fresh) mid way along the beach just down from the few shops to the left looking at the sea, best beer and food prices, and excellent food, if you want to call home get a dialog sim card you can ring a land line back home for 2 rupee a min, or 15 rupee to a mobile for shopping go to food city alutgama return in a tuk tuk 2-300 rupee don't pay more
Written February 21, 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Ishan Johri
Meerut, India156 contributions
Sept 2018 • Business
This beach is really nice, cleaning is very nice, food is excellent in near beach, people enjoyed a lot.
Written August 6, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jorge
Lisbon, Portugal92 contributions
Nov 2019 • Couples
This is one of the best beaches in Sri Lanka. But on the 3rd quarter of the year is better than now. The sea is to wild and beach to small
Written November 10, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Turtle5954
Warrington, UK1,895 contributions
Jan 2019 • Friends
Stunning beach, shallow slope to sea but some good waves for those who like a bit wilder. Plenty of eateries up and down the beach, a few too many hawkers but heh, didn't spoil it I guess
Written January 21, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Athula Rubesinghe
Colombo, Sri Lanka185 contributions
Jun 2018 • Solo
When one the beach don't eat or drink from the way side restaurants on the Beach. If you ARE eating out just walk into the Kitchens and see for your self if it's a hygienic place using good water.
Enjoy your holiday. Sri Lanka has very very good beaches.
Enjoy your holiday. Sri Lanka has very very good beaches.
Written June 23, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Kusal D
Colombo, Sri Lanka22 contributions
Feb 2018 • Couples
Actually this beach is so long and pretty, you can walk,you can surf,you can swim,you can eat seafood,you can try helicopters,you can get spa ,(light house 🏡,river safaris ,lagoon ,fresh seafood,Bref garden,fishing,tours,jet ski )every thing all have
Written February 6, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi can anyone guide me ? We are looking at the club palm bay for a holiday in April . We usually go all Inc but was wondering whether this is a good idea in Sri Lanka ? Is it cheap to buy a meal and glass of booze out their . Any advice would be great thanks
Gill
Written October 15, 2016
Hi. There's plenty of places to eat . Close by to the hotel you are looking at is Kandoori. They sell Indian and Sri Lankan food but it's so cheap. They do sell burgers but they are quite spicy . There's a place called Chicken Bite Delight that's close to the hotel too . A bit of southern fried chicken and chips is what they sell. Good prices again. However both of these places are alcohol free zones. The next main villages Aluthgama and Bentota are bustling little places where you can buy alcohol from the local wine store(Ranga wine stores) they charge u a bit more than local price but still cheaper than hotels. There are some lovely restaurants such as the Aida and Golden Grill both in Bentota and about 5-10 mins in a tuk tuk. Everyone's helpful and friendly wherever you go and are more than willing to go the extra mile. If u need any more info please don't hesitate to ask. I can even give u a number for a friend of mine who won't try and overcharge you and is a very honest person. If u want to go anywhere he will take you no problem.hes also a registered tour guide at a fraction of hotel prices.
Written October 17, 2016
Hi There
We are visiting Beruwala next week and wondered if you had any more info you could share regarding the Turtle hatchery?
Is it seasonal? Did you need to book this in advance? How much did you pay? etc
Thanks in advance for your help :-)
Kelly
Written June 18, 2015
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