The most popular beach resorts of the south coast
area starting around here and streaches towards Galle and beyond. There
are many large hotels catering the tourists but are often busy during
the weekends with local tourists.
58 km or 1-¼ hours’ drive from Colombo, Beruwela marks the start of
the commercial strip of southwest coastal resorts. This is one of Sri
Lanka’s two top tourist destinations, the other being Bentota. The fine
palm-fringed beaches here attract the majority of visitors to the
island, especially towards the end of the year, when the northeast
monsoon ensures calmer seas this side of the island. Beruwela is a
predominantly Muslim town and boasts the oldest mosque in Sri Lanka,
situated on a beautiful headland just out of town. It is believed that
the mosque was built at the landing site (then known as Barberyn) of the
first recorded Muslim settlers. Thousands of pilgrims flock to the
mosque each year for the festival at the end of Ramadan.
The starting point for a major beach resort area on the south coast,
Beruwela is believed to be the first Moorish settlement on the island,
established by Arab traders around the 8th century AD. A large
population of Sri Lanka Moors, many of them gem traders, still live in
this area, particularly in the “China Fort” district. The oldest mosque
in Sri Lanka – the Kachchimalai Mosque – is built on a rocky headland
overlooking this town.
Chief among the package tour resorts, this town attracts mainly
Europeans fleeing the intemperate winter for weeks at a time. Travellers
looking for adventure won’t find much here, as the surrounding area
consists mainly of mid to top-of-the-range hotels with beautifully
landscaped gardens and all modern conveniences, and gem, handicrafts and
tourist shops. All the hotels have facilities for water sports, tennis
and other outdoor games, as well as indoor games such as pool, snooker,
carom or table tennis. In addition, you will also find that some of the
hotels also have gyms, ayurveda healing centres, conference and
banqueting facilities.
There are some small islands out at sea that are worth investigating,
and a reef-protected slice of sea that makes swimming safe virtually
all year round. Deep-sea fishing is possible here, as well as
windsurfing
Comments
Post a Comment