Nilaveli Beach

Nilaveli beach is tucked away at a distance of 271 km from Colombo, it is one of the prime beach resorts on the east coast of Sri Lanka. The Nilaveli beach is remotely located, away from the hustle and bustle of Trincomalee, making it one of the best places for a calm and quiet leisurely beach holiday.

When is the best time to travel to Nilaveli, Sri Lanka?

When is the best time to travel to Sri Lanka? is a popular question for most travellers. If you have the same question with regards to Nilaveli, the best time to travel to Nilaveli is from May to October.

If you are aiming at a mesmerizing beach holiday, Nilaveli beach is a good option. But, Nilaveli is suitable for a beach holiday from May to October during the south-west monsoon. During this period Nilaveli has very sunny and dry weather and sea are also suitable for saltwater activities.

However, if you plan your Sri Lanka beach stay from November to April, Nilaveli is not a viable option for your beach holiday and your beach holiday should be in the southern and western coast of Sri Lanka.

If you need to know more about Sri Lanka weather patter and choose the best places to travel accordingly, please check my article on “Sri Lanka weather pattern and choosing the best place to travel“.

Visiting Nilaveli beach resort

Visiting beaches are one of the most interesting activities in Sri Lanka. All beach resorts provide plenty of interesting activities for travellers to enjoy their beach tour packages. Diving, snorkelling, fishing, swimming, whale watching, sunbath…the list of activities goes on. No exception with Nilaveli beach resort, Nilaveli is a prime spot for beach holidays with many dozens of interesting things to do.

Visiting Nilaveli on a day trip from Colombo can be a very daunting task due to the long journey, and I don’t think it is worthwhile. Nilaveli is not the one-day trip location in Sri Lanka, especially for travellers on the west coast and Colombo. If you looking for a nice beach to visit on a Sri Lanka one day trip, your best bet is Bentota beach, Hikkaduwa beach, Kalutara or any other beach resort on the west coast.

A large number of travellers that arrive in Sri Lanka from May to October, heading to east coast for their beach holiday. Most of them do few sightseeing tours in the hill country, Kandy, and the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka and ultimately anchoring in a beach resort on the east coast for leisure.

Places to visit in Nilaveli

A few meters from the coast is a small rocky island good for snorkelling. Nilaveli is surrounded by many important historical and religious sites such as Thiriyaya Buddhist temple, Kinniya hot wells, Lowers leap, Trincomalee harbour and fort and Thirukoneswaram Hindu temple.

The tourists have started to flock to the beaches of Nilaveli since the improved security in the area. Several large-scale hotels are being built to accommodate high-end holidaymakers in the area.

There are plenty of accommodation facilities for tourists in Nilaveli. Large numbers of guest houses, rest houses, dormitories and hotels have set up their branches in Nilaveli at the backdrop of increasing demand for accommodation facilities.

Nilaveli is a severely affected area by the 30 years war and it was severely damaged by the Tsunami in 2004. Today most of the people are in utter poverty and most of them are lack of basic facilities.

The area is dominated by Hindu Tamil and catholic Tamil communities. There is also a sizable population representing Sinhalese and Muslim ethnic groups.

Weather in Nilaveli

Being a beach resort at the tip of the east coast Nilaveli categorized as an area with hard climate conditions. The heat of the area is very high compared to the west or south coast of Sri Lanka. The dryness prevails during most part of the year and monsoon rain pours the water during the months of November, December and January.

Agriculture and fishing are the most important income-generating industries for the people in the area. Both income methods are highly seasonal and the people are lack of activities out of the season.

The fishing industry in Nilaveli

Fishing industry comes to live in April with the ending of Monsoon and fisherfolk from other parts of the country are also migrating to this part of the country. During the monsoon the sea is rough and the fisherfolk stay away from the sea. Vegetables such as manioc, onion, ladies fingers and coconut are the most important crops for the people here. Especially the onion is grown here far better than anywhere else in the country.

One major setback for the development in the area is recognized as the lack of job opportunities for the people. Therefore the jobless rate among people tends to be high. The upcoming giant hotels along the coast of Nilaveli believed to be a good solution for the jobless people here.

The infrastructure facilities such as schools, hospitals, childcare services believed to be inadequate here. But the government of Sri Lanka and various other non-governmental organizations have spent a large amount of money to improve the living standard of the community and various other projects are underway.

Most important infrastructure facilities such as roads, bridges, electricity and water supply are back to normal in many parts of Nilaweli with the “Negenahira Udanaya” program launched by the government.

After several years of the last face of the war, a sizable improvement of civil life can be witnessed in Nilaveli. People who fled the area during the troubled period are returning to their traditional homelands. A large number of construction activities can be seen in the area and which is a sign of fast recovery from the destruction.