Beruwala Things to Do

Short trips from Beruwala

Boat trip on Bentota river

Kande Vihare Buddhist Temple
- Sri Lanka's tallest Buddha Statue. The Buddha Statue which is 160½ ft tall is constructed in Bhoomi Sparsha Mudra (Calling the Earth to Witness His Enlightenment).

Sri Kalyanarama Maha Viharaya, Kaluwamodera (opp. Araliya Hotel)
- This temple has the tallest ancient marble Buddha statue in Sri Lanka

Brief-Gardens (about 7 km from Beruwala)
- Brief Gardens is the house and garden of landscape architect Bevis Bawa, developed since 1929. It is a hillside garden with excellent views and many sculptures - both by Bevis himself and other artists. The estate was formerly a rubber plantation

Weekly Fair in Aluthgama
- Mondays there is a fair in Aluthgama (Mathugama Road). Large vegetable market and lots of street vendors. Beware of "commission boys".

Beruwala Fishing Harbour
- visit around 6am and watch the fishing boats being unloaded

Day trips could be:

Down the coast to Galle with possibility to visit
- Kosgoda Sea Turtle Conservation Project
- Boat Trip on Madu Ganga, Balapitiya
- Ariyapala Mask Museum, Ambalangoda
- Batik Factory,Ambalangoda
- Moonstone Mine, Meetiyagoda. This is one of the very few places in the world where blue gleaming moonstones are found. A number of stores and stalls sell jewellery made with these semi-precious stones.
- Hikkaduwa. Glass bottom Boat ride on the coral reef and maybe a swim inside the reef. Good place for lunch break (several good restaurants - Refresh is recommended)
- Galle. UNESCO declared World Heritage Site the magnificent Dutch fort is the most popular attraction of the town. 300 year old Dutch atmosphere is still very much alive around the fort and amidst its many historical buildings. Good possibilities for shopping in Galle.

Sinharaja Forest
- Sinharaja forest reserve is one of the least disturbed and biologically unique lowland rain forest in Sri Lanka. This forest covers an extent of about 11187 hectares from east to west .The length of the forest is about 21km and width from North to South is about 3.7km. It was declared a Man and Biosphere Reserve (MAB) in 1978,as representative of tropical humid evergreen forest Eco system in Sri Lanka and has been recognized by UNESCO as part of it's International Network of Biosphere reserves. It was declared a National wilderness area in 1988 and lately a world heritage site in 1989.

2-5 day trips could include:

Elephant Orphanage, Pinnewala
Kandy. Tooth Temple, Kandy Dance
Dambulla. Rock Caves Temple
Sigiriya
Hill Country (N'Eliya, Haputale, Ella).

The highly fragrant passion fruit is unmistakably tropical. About the size and shape of a large egg, passion fruit has a tough shell. Inside the 1 cm shell, juicy, yellow-orange pulp is filled with edible seeds about the size of grape seeds.(The famous Australian dessert, Pavlova, named for the Russian ballerina, is customarily topped with passion fruit pulp including seeds.)
Passion fruit pulp is good in marinade, sherbet, juice, salad dressing, and as dessert topping for ice cream, cake, and cheesecake.
It is delicious, to add some Passionfruit-halves to your morning-fruit basket. Passionfruit are available at all local markets in Sri Lanka

Because Papaya dates from prehistoric times, there are dozens of varieties. Some are tiny, while others are the size of a watermelon.In Sri Lanka mostly the medium-sized, orange- and yellow variety is available.In addition to being popular as a breakfast fruit and in salads,. Papaya pulp is a good addition to a marinade because its beneficial enzyme, papain, is a meat tenderizer. This fact accounts for its unsuitability with commercial gelatin which have a protein(animal) base.
Papaya seeds are peppery and can be pulverized for salad dressing and marinade. Add a slice of lemon or lime to a papaya half at breakfast or lunch to enhance the papaya flavor.
Papayas are available at Sri Lankan local markets.

Mango, one of the earliest cultivated fruits, has been grown in India and Sri Lanka for about 5,000 years. At least 500 mango varieties are grown there. In Asia, mangos are a common backyard fruit often eatenripe, but they are also enjoyed green with vinegar, soy sauce, salt, and pepper.

Mangos can be round, oval, or long and the fruit color can vary from green to yellow-orange. When buying mangos, select unblemished,firm fruit. It will ripen in three to five days at room temperature.If refrigerated, mango keeps well for about a week.

In Sri Lanka, Mangos are available at the local markets in "Mango-Season"

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There are several day-excursions you can easily take from Beruwela !
To make a long story short:have a look at my Beruwela-and Bentota-pages and read more about:
-the local Giant Buddha temple ( a 3-wheeler will do for your and your friend)
-a trip to the wonderful, real magic "Brief-Gardens", an oldstyle plantation house with many artefacts and a wonderful tropical garden,about 7 kms from Beruwela
- the Kande-Vihara-Buddhist-Temple in Aluthgama,hosting also several Hindu-sanctuaries, about 10 minutes via car or "Tuc Tuc" 3-wheeler,
- a boat-trip on Bentota River into the mangrove-forests,
- the sleeping Buddha near Bentota,
- the small monastery on the island opposite Lanka Princess Hotel
and some nice trips, you will find out on site !
Have a nice trip!

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On our way back from Yala, We stopped at Galle Fort, Driving through a huge gateway, once inside, The buildings still look amazing, We got out of our minibus and walked along the Fort wall, The sea is rough here, with rocks as you look down, We carried on towards Flag Rock, Which is one of the 9 points of Galle Sea wall, A few locals were standing on top, offering to take our photo, Once they had done this, They advised that for 200 rupee, they would dive into the sea. They laughed at the look on our faces, We agreed, The next thing, the young guy, aged 20yrs ran like the wide, and dived off Flag Rock, As He emerged and everyone cheered, We gave his friend 300 rupees, he seemed happy, But what a way to make a living........

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At 39mtrs the huge painted sitting buddha is an amazing site, Very close to Matara town, smelling incense burning and walking accross the hot floor, I could not wait to get inside, looking around, its a very busy place, with many people praying, giving flowers it felt wrong to take photos, But did take a few, My other half did not fancy the temple crush and asked our freind if the was a w/c close by, Not Quality, he replied, Other half desparate, so he was taken to local w/c, NOT a place to visit, He reported that the smell was like 1000 rotten dead cats, and not to visit, advice taken, we stayed at local lodge for lunch and rest. Only donation to budda, I gave 500 rupees, too much my friend said, but £3.00 for some great photos was cheap..

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I cannot stress how important turtle conservation is in Sri Lanka, Once the female turtle has laid here 100-150 eggs, The egg collector is on stand-by, as locals do eat and sell turtle eggs, he pays 5rupee for each egg, and takes then back to the sand holding bay, after 60 days, the turtles hatch out, from there they are placed into water holding tanks were after 3 more days they are set free. You can see many turtles here, including holding babies, hawksbill, leatherback, and green turtle all inhabit Sri Lanka.
This is a special place, and was damaged badly by tsunami, with all turtles being washed away. Please visit & make a donation, This place is run by donation, and recives no goverment funding....

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What a great experence we will never forget.. At Neptuen hotel, they have a holding tank, where baby turtles, who hatched the day before as placed to cool down and get used to sea water, then we walked into the ocean was handed a baby turtle to set free. You must do this, just a wonderful moment, no money involved just great feeling of setting a turtle free......

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We had already been to Kandy, Dambulla, Adams peak, so a trip down south was perfect.
Our good friend Raju arranged our stay in hotel at Yala National Park, and we set of at 6am, grabbing breakfast on way, very long coast road to Yala, some coast damage to many properties, with red cross tents. Driving through it seems quite sad that we are enjoying ourselfs, were many people died, But if we do not return, then Sri Lanka will suffer, We arrive at Hotel Chandrika, and un-pack our bags, Eat lunch in outdoor gardens, while we waited for our driver. We left at 2pm, and returned at 8pm, Yala is wonderful, we saw snakes, boar, jackle, so many wild beautiful birds, crocs, and elepants, with 2 tuskers, and 1 baby, it was amazing, if you want wildlife, Yala has it. We were left open mouthed at a beach were 2 bungalows once stood, The view is fantasic, Returning for our eveing meal, followed by to many bottles of arrack to remember.