Where can you see turtles in Sri Lanka. Sunday market in Hikkaduwa
This article will tell you about what Hikkaduwa Beach, a popular resort in Sri Lanka in the south of the island, is like.
Review about Hikkaduwa beach with photo
1) Hikkaduwa beach is good, wide and long - about 3 kilometers. Covered throughout with pleasant yellowish sand. On the first day, we wandered along the shore for an hour and a half, met only a couple of merchants, complete solitude. Even in the Maldives, the beach of our resort island was more crowded than in the south of Sri Lanka! True, the beach is not equally clean along its entire length. If at hotels everything is usually orderly and noble, then in front of some guest houses we noticed some kind of construction debris and other impurities. Not globally, but still.
2) Well, the Indian Ocean, of course, is incredible - powerful, noisy, a completely different impression compared to the Atlantic. The only problem with swimming in it is that the waves are huge. The only place where we saw people in the water was the bay behind the Hikka Tranz hotel. And so, red flags are raised along the entire beach prohibiting entry into the water. If you are traveling to the southern coast of SHL in the summer, keep this fact in mind.
3) This is the very bay that Christina is looking at.
4) But in general, the weather was gorgeous, and you can’t say it’s not the season!
5) Walking along endless beaches...
6) We've been waiting for this moment for a whole year and here we are!
Beach rating in Hikkaduwa: 7.5/10. In general, we liked it in Hikkaduwa! In June, the season is super low, resulting in an almost complete absence of tourists, the bulk of whom cluster in a few hotels where package travelers are taken. And despite the fact that we were never able to swim in the raging Indian ocean, we rated the beach in Hikkaduwa very highly. First of all, for its length and desertedness.
Hikkaduwa hotels on the 1st beach line
The situation with hotels on the first line in Hikkaduwa is as follows - there are not many of them, but they exist. And in principle, for every taste and budget, from inexpensive guest houses to luxurious “fives”.
In June, many guest houses were a little less than completely empty, and it’s hard to say that there was any activity near the hotels. In fact, you could choose accommodation upon arrival; there were plenty of accommodation options to suit any budget, but in the high season, in our opinion, it is better to think about accommodation in advance.
Well, we also made the following observation: if you can sometimes negotiate with guest houses on the spot a little cheaper than they offer online, then with decent hotels the situation is the opposite - when booking through Booking it almost always turned out cheaper than at the reception, and significantly cheaper . 🙂
In Hikkaduwa, Booking offers more than 500 accommodation options, of which just over 40 are located on the first line of the Hikkaduwa beach. You can view the entire list of hotels on the first line at this link.
We can also recommend the hotel where we stayed ourselves - this is a pretty good 4-star Citrus Hikkaduwa, a review of which you can find at.
We know that many people are specifically looking for a hotel in Hikkaduwa with a good beach and turtles. There is only one such hotel - this is Hikka Tranz (formerly Chaaya Tranz). It is really well located, there is a small cove nearby, where even in the season with big waves it is quite calm and you can swim.
Hikkaduwa beach in the photo
You can find more photos of Hikkaduwa beach in our album.
Turtles in Hikkaduwa
On the second day of our stay in Hikka, we decided to walk to the Hikka Tranz hotel, where large turtles swim to feed in the mornings.
8) Kristina and Sobakevich stomp to feed.
9) And here is the hotel itself in the photo, it will be difficult to make a mistake.
How to breed in Hikkaduwa
We knew in advance that the turtles have a local pimp who takes a bribe for the algae that these reptiles feed on. Having thought about it, we decided to pick up some algae ourselves along the way; there was no point in paying.
Approaching Chayi beach, we met the same native responsible for monetizing turtle eating habits. He immediately indicated that these turtles are his and he has been feeding them for 15 years, and our algae is complete shit, which we can feed each other, but not his shelled friends. For his own magic ones, he asked for 500 rupees. In addition, he promised to bring the turtle to the shore, because... she was hanging on the waves quite far away, and we would hardly have been able to do it on our own. Many people write on the Internet that you have to bargain hard with the Sri Lankans, because... They like to greatly inflate the prices for their services and in real life you can almost halve the price. That's what we decided to do. They immediately said - we will give 200 and no more. He started to get indignant, but we didn’t listen to him, we just went into the water. He's behind us.
10) To the right of Christina is the same turtle master.
Having lit this way and that with the turtle, they returned to the shore to settle accounts. He took 200 rupees out of his pocket - the dark-skinned ruler of the turtles spreads his arms to the sides, saying - “What am I, a sucker or something, drive five hundred, snowball!” I told him: “Its Good Price for You, Maine!” There is no one else on the beach except us who would be happy about this income, but no, he insists on his own. We are, of course, talking about ridiculous amounts of money, but there is no particular point in overpaying for something that is essentially free. They offered to pay 250 rupees today and 250 tomorrow when we come again to feed the turtles. Not at all. He began to appeal to our conscience, because this is his only source of income and if I don’t pay him now, he will have nothing to feed his family for dinner. Then he began to threaten that he would call his local bros and we would be in trouble. I started to get tired of this and as soon as it came to threats from him, I simply gave up and moved towards my hotel. He followed along and, having finished with threats of physical violence, moved on to the next round of pressure - he began to scare him with the police.
To be honest, I was aware of the approximate line of behavior of Sri Lankan hucksters in such cases and clearly understood that they had no real leverage over tourists. Therefore, I just slowly walked towards the hotel and watched how the initially threatening style of his rhetoric ultimately came down to the fact that he, with a face full of disdain, all in foam (he was literally foaming at the mouth!), agreed to the proposals us the money and set off, taking half the amount, cursing us at the top of our lungs, and went home.
This is not a very pleasant story. I can’t say that I behaved in the best possible way, but the guy showed himself to be quite stubborn, refusing us the slightest bargain.
11) The Sri Lankan asks for money for this very seaweed.
Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka: map, photo, weather, how to get there
The city of Hikkaduwa is located on the west coast, 128 km from Colombo International Airport (CMB). Belongs to the administrative district of Galle in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. The territory of the city of Hikkaduwa is located on the ocean coast, on a peninsula formed by the bend of the river flowing into the lake of the same name (Hikkaduwa Lake).
For lovers of a quiet and uncrowded holiday, it is worth noting that the number of permanent residents in Hikkaduwa is several times less than the number of visiting tourists. It is here that package tourism from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus is widely developed, with all the ensuing consequences of a popular resort, such as the presence of beach vendors and a certain amount of garbage on the beach.
Map of Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka
- to the north - Telwatta, Kahawa, Madampagama, Ambalangoda, Balapitiya;
- to the south - Tiranagama, Kumarakanda, Dodanduwa, Rajgama, Bussa, Gintota, Velawatta, Galle.
The resort of Hikkaduwa is a comfortable place to relax, with a relatively developed infrastructure, located two hours drive from the largest city of Sri Lanka, Colombo. Two national highways pass through the village: A2 and E01, which provides the opportunity to quickly get to any point on the island.
How to get to Hikkaduwa from Colombo airport
Getting from Sri Lanka International Airport, located in Negombo, to Hikkaduwa on the southern coast of the island is not at all difficult. To do this, you can use the official taxi service; the Colombo Airport prepaid taxi counter with fixed prices is located at the exit from the arrivals hall.
The taxi counter is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and on holidays. The cost of an official taxi from Sri Lanka Airport to Hikkaduwa in a car with AC is about 8,500 rupees. There is no need to book an airport taxi transfer in advance; the journey will take about 1.5-2 hours if you drive along the highway.
You can also use public transport services, for example, bus number 187, in order to first get to Colombo, and then transfer to a local bus or train to Hikkaduwa. Bus number 187 between the airport and Colombo railway station. Bus No. 187, depending on the type, arrives at the Central Bus Station or Pettah Bus Station. Colombo Fort Station and Pettah Bus Station are located within a 10-minute walk from each other.
Travel time from Colombo by train is about 2 hours, by bus - about 4 hours, as there are usually traffic jams at the exit from Colombo. And also because commuter buses towards Matara go along the coast along Galle Street, and not along the highway, which significantly increases travel time.
Buses connecting Matara and Colombo run 24 hours a day, with an interval of about 20 minutes during the day and about 1 hour at night. The total cost of a trip by public transport to Hikkaduwa will be about 200-400 rupees.
Hikkaduwa beaches: Narigama and Hikkaduwa
Hikkaduwa is remarkable for its lake of the same name, surrounded by magnificent tropical nature and the wonderful Narigama Beach. The majority of visiting tourists rarely visit the city to explore ancient cultural monuments and local attractions, preferring beach and sports activities to these destinations. There are two beaches in the city - Hikkaduwa beach(Hikkaduwa Beach) and Narigama(Narigama beach).
Hikkaduwa Beach is a narrow strip of sandy beach, densely built up with hotels, bars and shops. The bottom of the beach in most of the territory is rocky, which is why the waves rolling onto the shore contain almost no sand and have a crystal-transparent blue color. The area near the Hikka Trans hotel is used for swimming; there are almost no waves there.
Hikkaduwa Narigama Beach is a wide sandy beach, the entrance to the water is quite flat, there is no immediate transition to depth. There are waves, since Hikkaduwa is not located in a closed bay, but due to the presence of coral reefs, the waves are not very strong. The beach infrastructure is very developed.
Hikkaduwa Photos
Water sports in Hikkaduwa
A beach holiday gives you the opportunity not only to relax in the warm Indian Ocean under the tropical sun, but also to start practicing various water sports: diving, snorkeling, surfing in all its varieties and many other forms of active recreation on the coast.
There are several surf schools on the beach in Hikkaduwa, providing surfing lessons for children and adults. A lesson with a local instructor costs about 2000 rupees.
There you can easily find several diving centers providing the services of dive instructors. All water sports centers operate during the dry season - from October to April.
Feeding turtles on Hikkaduwa beach
In Hikkaduwa, huge turtles swim to the beach in the lagoon located opposite the Red Lobster restaurant, not far from the Hikka Trans hotel. Moreover, they do this on a daily basis, which attracts many tourists there. You can observe sea turtles in the lagoon from early morning until 3-4 pm.
Tourists have the opportunity not only to photograph huge turtles, but also to carefully feed them, sometimes even pet them. The key word here is "careful" - sea turtles have teeth and use them. The approach to the lagoon, photos with turtles and feeding of the turtles are FREE, even if there are local businessmen who claim otherwise. Enterprising Sri Lankans even manage to make a living by selling turtle food - algae - to white tourists.
Sights of Hikkaduwa
Lake Hikkaduwa
(Hikkaduwa Lake)
The second most popular place in the city after the beach is Lake Hikkaduwa, which attracts many tourists with walks along the calm surface of the water, as well as the opportunity to observe the leisurely Sri Lankan life.
On numerous islands located throughout the lake, locals grow coconut, cinnamon, ginger, bananas, etc.
Nets are installed in the dams on the channels of the lake; river shrimp grow in them. On one of the islands of Lake Hikkaduwa there is a museum that displays exhibits of the art of the local population to tourists. The lake itself is a bird sanctuary.
Coral reef in Hikkaduwa
(Coral reef)
There is a large coral reef along the coast of the city. This place is historically called the “Coral Gardens” because previously, not far from the shore, there were countless corals surrounded by bright tropical fish, starfish, urchins and other oceanic life.
Previously, the Hikkaduwa reef could easily compete with the beauty of the Red Sea with its natural resources. Unfortunately, all this splendor could not survive the notorious tsunami of 2004, and what can now be seen are only remnants of its former splendor, mercilessly exploited by tourist businessmen.
Sinigama Muhudu Viharaya Temple
(Seenigama Muhudu Viharaya)
At the entrance to Hikkaduwa, in the village of Sinigama, there is a temple, the Sinigama Temple (Seenigama Muhudu Viharaya or Seenigama Devol Devalaya), in honor of the deity Devol Deviyo. Sinigama - translated from Sinhala as “sugar village” (“sini” - sugar, “gama” - village).
The temple attracts not only tourists but also local residents; it is believed that Devol Deviyo, or god Deviyo, is the protector of the southwestern province and all fishermen and drivers. Every month, the offering site on Galle Road at the entrance of the temple collects about 50 kg of coins, and a puja, a worship ceremony, is also held at the temple every month.
According to local beliefs, the Shinigama Temple is a place where an unjustly injured person can ask for retribution for their offenders, and they will certainly be punished. Some people use this place to cast curses. In order to ask Devol Deviyo for retribution for the offenders, you need to reach the island on foot and turn to the deity there. It is believed that in this way, the territory in which the act of cursing is performed is outside the Buddhist world, without denigrating it. After the petition, it is necessary to carry out a certain ritual, which consists of grinding chili pepper on a special stone.
Honganji Vihara Tsunami Monument
(Honganji Vihara)
Not far from the Shinigama Temple is the Tsunami Honganji Vihara memorial complex, which was erected after the tsunami in December 2004, when about 35,000 people died in Sri Lanka.
The location of the monument was chosen in connection with the tragedy that occurred a few meters from it on December 26, 2004. At this point, a train was washed away from the railway tracks by a tsunami wave; there were 1,700 passengers in the carriages, including tourists from around the world.
The statue of Buddha, 18.5 meters high, looking into the ocean, was donated to Sri Lanka by Japan. In the neighboring village of Tellwatta there is a Tsunami Museum with a voluminous photographic exhibition. This museum is not recommended for visiting by impressionable people, as the photographs of the museum evoke strong emotions.
Nightlife in Hikkaduwa
Due to the developed package tourism, nightlife, by Sri Lankan standards, is present at the resort. However, when going to Hikkaduwa, lovers of nightlife must remember that you should not expect the scale of Pattaya there. The city has several nightclubs with different reputations: “Mambo”s”, “Blue Moon”, “Funky de Bar”, “The Vibration Music Bar”, open until one in the morning.
We strongly advise young travelers not to fall into a tourist trance and periodically subject the surrounding reality to critical reflection - just as if the scene were an unfamiliar nightclub in their hometown, since conflict situations with the local population in such establishments are not at all uncommon.
Weather in Hikkaduwa
The climate in Hikkaduwa is very humid, but warm: the average annual temperature practically does not change its values throughout the year and fluctuates in the range of +28C - +31C. The water temperature in the ocean also changes slightly throughout the year, within the range of +27C - +29C.
The tourist season in Hikkaduwa lasts from November to April - this is the best time to visit the city; during this period the weather is coolest, the average daily temperature drops to +28C, and the amount of precipitation is significantly reduced.
The rainy season in Hikkaduwa lasts from May to October inclusive, during these months there is a large amount of rainfall, mainly in the form of tropical thunderstorms. May and October are the wettest months, precipitation at this time can fall in the afternoon, in the remaining summer months the amount of precipitation is less, rains begin in the afternoon.
Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka is a beach resort located about 100 kilometers from the city of Colombo to the south of the island. Hikkaduwa is one of the best beach resorts in Sri Lanka. Here you can swim to your heart's content, because the bottom is sandy, the water is clean, and huge turtles swim very close to the shore, yes, yes, huge ones! There is also a reef not far from the shore, which makes for great snorkeling! You can rent a mask here on the beach; we rented it for 300 rupees for an hour and a half. And when the waves come one after another, surfers appear here :) Hikkaduwa beach is so diverse - it will please everyone! Perhaps only those traveling with children will find it not very comfortable to swim here due to the choppy ocean. But even for them there is a small place with virtually no waves - on the left side of the beach there is a small reef that blocks Hikkaduwa beach from the waves, and this is where you can comfortably swim with small children.
1. By bus
If you are traveling to Hikkaduwa Beach from the airport, you will first need to get to the bus station in Colombo. The bus you need should go to Galle, Matara or Tangalle. These points are located even further south of Hikkaduwa beach and all buses in this direction go through Hikkaduwa. There are air-conditioned buses and they travel along the highway; they reach Hikkaduwa in about an hour and a half. If you take a regular bus, you will spend about 3 hours on the road, since the bus goes along the coast and stops often.
2. By train
One interesting way to get to Hikkaduwa is by train. Tell me, how often do you travel by train in other countries, especially on the islands? That's what I'm talking about. Of all the methods, I like this one the most. It was by train that we got to Unawatuna, which is located a little further south of Hikkaduwa. You need to buy a ticket from the Colombo railway station to Hikkaduwa. They sell only 2nd and 3rd class carriages and be prepared to travel while standing. Since the train arrives in Colombo already full. We weren’t really prepared for this, but we had to actually ride while standing, although I sat on my suitcase most of the way. The air flows well, the doors are all open, the windows too, and most importantly, the whole road goes along the ocean! This is why you can be patient :) The journey by train from Colombo to Hikkaduwa takes only 2 hours. The train schedule can be viewed.
3. By taxi
Taxi is the simplest and most convenient solution. A taxi from Colombo-Hikkaduwa airport costs approximately $80-90 per car. You can also order a taxi in advance.
Flights to Sri Lanka
We arrived at Hikkaduwa Beach on our own by bike from Unawatuna from our hotel Kumara Guest House. The very first time we arrived here in the evening, around 4 pm, first we swam in approximately the place that you see in the photo above, I really liked the choppy ocean, I really love waves! The water is clean, the waves are not big, although 2 locals taught two girls how to surf! In my opinion, on that day it was absolutely pointless, since the waves were ragged and not at all suitable for surfing. But I saw in photos on the Internet that this Hikkaduwa beach has excellent waves for surfing. Perhaps this is because we vacationed here in April, and as you know, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, the surfing season is from November-April.
Hikkaduwa and swimming with big turtles
But we purposefully went to this beach for something completely different - there is snorkeling not far from the shore, and even, as it turned out, there are a lot of colored fish swimming right off the shore! And one more thing - in Hikkaduwa you can swim with large turtles absolutely free. Often, turtles swim to the shore themselves; you can stand knee-deep in the water and feed them algae and, of course, take photos. In our case, the turtles did not want to swim to the shore, we swam around and near the shore with a mask for 2 hours in the hope of seeing them, but they were not there. But there is a small reef near the shore and a lot of colorful fish swim there, mostly with yellow stripes, but sometimes you can see more interesting fish in the rocks. I swam there for about an hour, saw enough fish, but didn’t see a turtle. Then a local Sri Lankan swam up to me and said that there are turtles further ahead, we need to swim deeper! I, with an action camera in one hand, with a mask and snorkel, into which water was constantly flowing, since there were small waves in the ocean, decided to swim after him. It was necessary to swim 20-30 meters in total and then the reef began. Everything would be fine, but I was not able to quickly swim after the Sri Lankan, as the wave was constantly carrying me back to the shore, I began to run out of steam, put away the snorkel and simply swam in the mask after him, I still had an action camera in one hand. I have already regretted many times that I took her with me, since it was inconvenient to swim, but I didn’t want to go back to the shore and then swim here again.
My husband was waiting for me in the water near the shore, since we only had 1 mask. As a result, the Sri Lankan took my hand and dragged me deeper, he also had fins, so we swam faster. I periodically, wearing a mask, looked at what was under the water - it was already quite deep, about 4 meters, along the way sometimes there were such large stones under the water, you could stand on tiptoe on them for a few seconds to catch your breath a little. To be honest, I was a little scared; I don’t really like snorkeling at such a depth, and even with waves. And then the Sri Lankan shows me under the water and says - turtle, turtle! I dive after him and see a very large turtle! It was the first time in my life that I had seen such a big turtle; it was as tall as me! I wasn’t at all scared, although I read reviews from other guys that the first time they saw a turtle under water, they were scared, after all, it’s not small. But I purposefully swam to see them and was prepared for the fact that it would turn out to be really big! I surface, take in more air and dive back in! My tube was just hanging loose, I didn’t have time to reattach it to the mask, and water often got into it. I felt more comfortable holding my breath on my own. I emerge again, breathe again, at this time the Sri Lankan dives and lifts another, equally large turtle from the bottom by its shell and shows me under the water so that I can hug it by the shell too! Of course, I do just that, my delight knows no bounds, the turtles are so cute, big and move so slowly in the water. At the same time, I tried to photograph them with my underwater camera, it turns out that it was not in vain that I dragged it in my hand here, to the depths.
I’m happy, I also saw a third turtle, it was a little smaller than those two. A couple more times I hugged the turtle by the shell and decided to swim to the shore, a lot of energy was spent, I swallowed a little salt water and I just wanted to breathe normally and calmly. Just so you understand, here we were rocked by the waves all the time, not weakly. But we had to spend energy on them. I shouted a big thank you to the Sri Lankan and swam to the shore. He tried to persuade me to stay here for another 10 minutes, saying that now large turtles would swim here. But I decided to swim to the shore myself because I was tired. It’s much easier to swim to the shore, the waves help :) I went ashore and painted to my husband what big turtles I saw! After that, we rested for half an hour on the shore, met the Belarusian guys and they lent us a second mask, and my husband and I swam to the depths again to look at the turtles. I remember perfectly the place where I saw them. Of course, we found them, but the waves became stronger and the water became muddier. We saw turtles several times, and then swam to the reef, climbed out onto it and rested. You need to be very careful there, as the reef is very sharp, I hurt my leg a little while I was climbing on it and my butt while I was sitting on it :) Dear readers, if you are in Sri Lanka, be sure to go to Hikkaduwa beach and swim with turtles ! These are simply indescribable emotions of childhood happiness!
There are even entire turtle farms in Hikkaduwa, but you already have to pay an entrance fee. Here, on Hikkaduwa beach, you can see and swim with turtles absolutely free.
There are many different cafes near the shore where you can eat delicious seafood. And in the evening, watch a wonderful sunset. Hikkaduwa is great for a beach holiday!
Helpful information
- On the shore of Hikkaduwa beach there is a rental of snorkeling masks. The cost is 300 rupees for an hour and a half.
- You can see turtles if you swim deep into the water so that in front of you there is a booth where you can rent swimming masks. There is also a rock there, on which many people climb out and stand looking at other people swimming.
As everyone knows, there are 5 species of sea turtles. These giant animals can be found off the coast of Sri Lanka. We went this morning to look at their habitat in nature. At the Hikkaduwa resort you can see them every morning (from 7am to 10am) near the Citrus Hotel, behind the pier. One man has been feeding these turtles for 8 years. These huge animals, similar to stones, climb ashore to eat algae from the hands of the owner, and in the morning people gather to see, stroke and even feed the turtles.
There are no barriers or nets in the ocean. They really live on their own. And the man earns money on this, so to speak.
I think they were olive turtles. The olive turtle is a preserved species of sea turtle with a shell length in adults of 60-70 cm. Weight up to 45 kg. At the beginning of the day, turtles feed, and during the rest of the day they rest on the surface of the ocean. But to avoid hypothermia, animals gather in large groups. Olive turtles tend to swim away from shore when a predator appears. On land, their enemies are opossums, wild pigs and snakes that destroy masonry. Olive turtles are predatory animals that hunt in shallow water areas with muddy or sandy bottoms on a variety of invertebrates: jellyfish, snails, shrimp and crabs, although in the absence of other food they can switch to feeding on algae.
We were surprised when 3 large turtles swam to the smell of algae. I'm sure no one can resist touching and petting a turtle! Even we couldn't resist :)
But you need to be careful when being around a turtle. When caught by a wave, the turtle is unable to control its movement and may hit your legs. They say the blow is like being hit by a stone, its shell is hard. It’s good that we didn’t try this on ourselves, we were extremely careful. When feeding the turtle, do not expose your fingers, it can easily bite you or break them.
In water these creatures are very nimble. It’s impossible to keep up with them, but on land they are ugly - they move with difficulty and from the outside it looks funny.
A turtle's shell feels like a stone slab, and its flippers, which it does not hide, are like linoleum with different layers - some are soft, some are hard. This turtle doesn’t hide its head either; it has a beak like a parrot’s. Her neck is soft, even a little pleasant.
One of the turtles had an iron tag attached to its flipper. I asked: “What is this?” The male breadwinner replied that this turtle used to be blind and that a doctor came and gave her some injections, and this tag is an identification mark to understand who to give the injection. That's it!
