Unawatuna is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Sri Lanka and is the most “famous” beach in the country. It is a lovely banana-shaped beach of golden sand and turquoise water, surrounded by green palm trees! Behind the beach, in between palm trees, is Unawatuna center. It is basically one street full of small nice restaurants and shops selling souvenirs, clothes, water, jewelry and so on. It will give you a vibe of a completely different surrounding where you could see tourists walking around and having a cup of hot coffee in small cafes or shopping in street shops. The beach is popular with tourists, and part of the beach is occupied with sun beds for rent.

Photo credit: Fahad Aidrus

Unawatuna beach lies in a suburb of Galle, about 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) southeast to the city center and approximately 108 kilometers (67 mi) south of Colombo. Unawatuna is situated at an elevation of 5 meters (16 ft.) above the sea level. Unawatuna is just 90 minutes away from Colombo airport.

Photo credit: Jana Maiwald

The most amazing feature of the beach is its natural pond in the sea without heavy waves. This is an ideal beach to bath and swim in the sea as it is very safe with its less wavy nature of sea water which reminds us a swimming pool. Post tsunami sea has become deep and from two to three steps to the water you will be already in deep sea. Many water sports can be seen in the Unawatuna beach such as Scuba diving, snorkeling, surfing, canoeing, Banana rides, Jet Skiing, etc. If you are a water sport lover this is an ideal place to engage in water sports with its safe surrounding. Also, there are boat services to watch coral reefs in the sea.

Photo credit: yulia__sergeevna

Unawatuna is famous as not so expensive destination among tourists which make it easy to access for any kind of tourists. Most of restaurants and guest houses run by locals of the area which makes the destination less expensive and economically sustainable.

The tsunami in 2004 swept away many beach front restaurants and has devastated the sandy beach to a great extent, marring the natural beauty which results in disappearing the beauty of the destination. But still, this spectacular beach is standing alone as one of the most beautiful beaches in Sri Lanka with its bluish water and golden shore. Therefore, all of us should maintain the beauty of this beach when we visit the place as it continuous to be one of the most famous beaches in our island. Let’s leave only footprints in the shore!