The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
White sand and wonders
A search for the ultimate beach delivered plenty of extra allure for Aoife O’Riordain and her family on a visit to Sri Lanka
‘Where’s the runway?” asked my six-year-old son Senan as we sat under the shade of the tin-roofed hut that served as the terminal at Dickwella, on Sri Lanka’s south coast. The answer came with the sudden buzz of engines, and the Cinnamon Air seaplane swooped and landed on the surface of the Mawella Lagoon, pulling up at the jetty beside us.
My husband, Senan and I were on our way inland to the tea country that surrounds Kandy, our last stop on a two-week family holiday in Sri Lanka. We had come in pursuit of the ultimate beach – and Sri Lanka, with its ravishing green landscape surrounded by glorious white sand, all contained within a malaria-free island a little smaller than Ireland, had delivered.
Since the end of the civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers in 2009, Sri Lanka has been ascending the mustgo-now lists. The east and north east of the island has opened up to visitors and the south coast, badly hit by the tsunami of 2004, has a raft of new places to stay. You could just fly and flop on a beach along the southern coast, but that would be slightly missing the point of Sri Lanka, where you can pack culture, wildlife and great beaches into a relatively small space. As well as the variety, it’s also much better value than the Caribbean or the Maldives, where staying put in the same resort is the usual plan. To really do Sri Lanka justice, we chose a multilocation itinerary from Audley Travel.
Our trip had started on the east coast. From the airport outside Colombo we had headed straight to Galle on the south-east tip with our driver and guide, Mirtha. “Coconuts!” exclaimed our son in excitement as we sliced through the patchwork of palm, mango and rubber plantations on either side of the road. “It’s a paradise.”
Hiring a driver is still an affordable option here, and Mirtha, experienced with young guests and his own grandchildren, proved the ideal companion, with a prescient knack for knowing when a roadside break or change of scene was in order.
It also gave us the chance to make unscheduled stops along the way, quiz him about Sri Lankan life and delve into the local scene.
Galle Fort feels like a time warp. Founded in the 16th century by the Portuguese and later colonised by the Dutch and British, this Unesco World Heritage Site is one of Sri Lanka’s most charming spots. Its sturdy ramparts enclose a diminutive grid of cobbled streets lined with low-slung colonial houses concealing hidden gardens, and historic buildings such as the 19thcentury All Saints Anglican church and a hive of cafés, shops, restaurants and hotels. One of the newest is Fort Bazaar (telegraph. co.uk/tt-fortbazaar), set in a converted 18th-century Portuguese merchant’s house on Church Street. It’s done with a contemporary spin on colonial style, and its airy rooms are arranged across the main house and a courtyard at the back. Despite the high style, it’s resolutely child-friendly. For breakfast there were freshly squeezed tropical juices and Sri Lankan pancakes called string hoppers, as well as home-made granola loaded with the local staple of buffalo curd drizzled with treacle.
We slipped into local life, wandering the cobbled streets while monkeys bounded across the rooftops. We joined the locals strolling on the ramparts to view spectacular sunsets; ate dinner on the veranda of the Amangalla hotel (telegraph.co.uk/tt-amangallahotel), all whirring fans and wicker, and housed in the former home of the Dutch governor; and watched teens diving into the sea from the walls and playing cricket around the Triton Bastion.