Unawatuna: The Surf, The Sand and the Sun!

Unawatuna!

When my pen pal arrived in Sri Lanka, I dreamed of travelling the country with her, backpacking when necessary and being independent, 21^st-century-women together.

My mother, bless her, had other plans. She forced our family car on me (plus a driver that she paid for) to ensure that two young, unattached women would stay safe when we went on trips into unknown territory. I didn’t protest too much because it cut down on my budgets for Sigiriya and Nuwaraeliya.

Funnily enough, when we came down south to Unawatuna & Galle, she let us go without a peep, minus male figure to protect us. Hmm... If you guys understand the logic behind that, please let me know.

Anyway, we took the 6.15AM intercity express train from Kandy to Colombo Fort and then hired a cab to take us to Unawatuna. We were in the 1st class compartment which costs LKR 500, but the 2^nd class only costs LKR 280 and is just as comfortable. 3^rd class is LKR 190.

If you have the cash, you can hire a vehicle to take you all the way to Galle/Unawatuna from Kandy, but it’s very expensive; you will pay upward of LKR 10,000 for the journey. We had a lot of heavy luggage so we took a cab from Colombo Fort to Galle. If you are travelling lightly or backpacking, there are 2 ways you can do this:

1. Take the Galle train from Colombo Fort and then (depending on where you’re staying) a tuk or bus to Unawatuna. Train schedule available here
2. Take the No. 138 bus or a tuk-tuk from Colombo Fort to Maharagama and then transfer to the Galle Expressway/highway shuttle bus. The ticket is LKR 400. It will drop you off at the main bus terminal in Galle.

There was a sand art festival going on @ U'watuna!

I made a huge mistake taking a cab. I had some errands to run in Colombo & we used the cab for that as well. The meter showed LKR 11,000+ when we finally arrived at Crazy Coconut Villa, Unawatuna. Yep. Cost us more than the hotel. I heard later that the cab with the Australian animal logo (I don’t wanna get sued so no names!) charges more than the others.

Dinner & my pen pal the photographer :)

After that though, the trip was awesome. We took a bus (LKR 30 per head) to Galle Fort and had a lovely ramble. Lunch was a disaster unfortunately; we ate at Fort Rotti on Lighthouse Street because it was cheap but service took ages. After 45 minutes they served us a MDK instant paratha folded in half with sad-looking vegetables that I could count on one hand (LKR 350 & 400).

Afternoon tea was excellent, however, at Mansion Cafe on Layn Baan Street. And dinner... omg dinner. Please set aside an entire day for Unawatuna beach which is LKR 500 away from Fort by tuk. It’s worth it. For LKR 1200, my pen pal and I got a large dish of batter-fried calamari (cuttle fish to us Sri Lankans) at Samaya Tranz that we couldn’t finish. We sadly said goodbye to it coz we had to go back to our hotel.

The Crazy Coconut Villa is a modest guesthouse with a private beach 2km towards Matara from the U’watuna beach. We paid about LKR 8,000 (about $55) for one night in an a/c double room, breakfast and lunch. Remember, this was the height of tourist season, so prices were high. We lounged around the beach the next day, reading, napping & sunbathing, until it was time to go. We hopped on the slow train this time at 12.50PM and came to Colombo around 4PM, the gentle swaying of the train lulling us to sleep.

You can see the tea things from b'fast the next day

Now that’s what I call a relaxing trip.


(Approx.) Total Time Taken :  2 days
(Approx.) Total Cost           :  LKR 16,000 (counting tuk costs)
Satisfaction                         :  5/5 (for the relaxation)
*All pictures are subject to copyright © Asuka Randeniye 2016