Like most other tropical beach holiday destinations, and Sri Lanka water sports is a hot topic among the beach holiday lovers. The island offers many dozens of interesting saltwater-based activities and the island offers a large array of interesting activities based on inland resources.

8 places for Sri Lanka water sports

Sri Lanka is a popular holiday destination in the tropics and attracts a large number of travellers every year. Even though Sri Lanka is a multifaceted holiday destination, the tropical island is most popular for beach holidays. The island is surrounded by more than 1300 km of pristine sandy beaches while warm waters of Indian Ocean is the immediate neighbour of Sri Lanka.

Like in most other tropical beach holiday destinations, Sri Lanka water sports is a hot topic among the travellers, who spend their holiday on Sri Lankan beaches. The island offers many dozens of interesting saltwater-based activities and the island offers a large array of interesting activities based on inland resources.

If you love water sports or an adventure junkie, you will find Sri Lanka is a perfect holiday destination for you. In this blog post, we talk about the watersports available for you on the island. The island is primarily a leisure holiday destination but a number of adventure holiday lovers are on the rise over the last few decades. Some of the top water-based activities in Sri Lanka include Scuba Diving, snorkelling, River rafting, Kayaking, waterfall abseiling, and much more.

Kitulgala Water Rafting, water rafting one day tour, Sri Lanka water sports — Whitewater rafting is a popular activity among the adventure lovers of Sri Lanka. Most travellers that undertake adventure tours and multi-day Sri Lank trips such as 10 days Sri Lanka tour are venturing on the whale watching trip

Main categories of Sri Lanka water sports are,

Sea-based water sports
Inland water sports

Popular sea-based Sri Lanka water sports are,

Swimming
Fishing
Diving
Snorkelling
Surfing, kite surfing, paragliding etc
Boating

Popular watersports performed in inland water resources are,

Water rafting
Kayaking
Boating
Fishing
swimming

Here is a list of exciting water sports destinations in Sri Lanka to decide what matches your adrenaline level and make it your next vacation spot.

1. Unawatuna Beach

Unawatuna is a bay on the south coast and has the shape of a horseshoe. Unlike most other beach resorts on the west and south coast of Sri Lanka, Unawatuna is an all-year-round beach holiday destination. The beach and water sports are the main ingredients of this beach holiday destination. Unawatuna beach is to be found just south of Galle and the distance from Galle to Unawatuna beach is 10 km. Most tourists visit Unawatuna beach on their trip to Galle.

Unawatuna harbours some of the best surfing and diving spots in southern Sri Lanka they are teeming with exotic marine life. These diving and snorkelling spots make Unawatuna one of the most desired location for divers and surfers. The sea off the Unawatuna also harbours many shipwrecks and some of them perished many thousand years ago. November to April, parallel to the north-east monsoon is the best time to surf and dive in Unawatuna due to the clarity of the water.

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2. water skiing and canoeing at Bentota

Bentota beach has become a very popular destination for Sri Lanka day trips from Colombo. Because it is easy to reach from Colombo and takes less than 1-hour.

By far Bentota is the most popular beach holiday destination on the island and it is also coined as the “golden mile”. The gold-coloured palm-fringed beaches and shallow waters are the main features of Bentota beach. The Bentota and Beruwala beach resort bags the largest portion of beach holiday lovers that arrive on the island every year.

Bentota beach resort is a land protrude to the ocean from the mainland and it is surrounded by the sea and Bentota river from 3 directions. The pristine beaches of Bentota not only good for sun, sea and sand but there is a large array of exciting watersport available for watersport lovers.

Due to its unique location with direct access to the Bentota River and the Indian Ocean, the visitors of Bentota beach can engage in ocean-based water spots as well as watersports performed in inland water resources. Therefore, the possibilities for water sports in Bentota is endless, some of the popular water sports are, surfing, windsurfing, waterskiing, banana ride, wakeboarding, jet-skiing, sea diving, snorkelling, river boating, fishing, tube ride and surfing.

Due to its popularity as a destination for watersport, Bentota beach resort attracts a large number of water sports enthusiast every day and Same times there are a dozen of water sports centres along the beach providing guiding and gears required for adventures. Most activities can be performed throughout the year, however, sea-based activities are seasonal and the best time for saltwater based water sports is from November to April.

3. Surfing, Snorkeling in Weligama

Weligama is a fast-developing beach holiday destination on the south coast of Sri Lanka. It has been able to attract the attention of hotels investors over the last several years. Some of the investors are leading figures in the hospitality industry such as the Marriott hotel. Weligama is suitable for surfing, diving and snorkelling and most importantly Weligama is one of the best places to learn all of these water sports.

The two kilometres of pristine sandy beaches of Weligama also harbours some best diving sites on the south coast. These diving sites attract novices as well as experienced divers. There are many surf schools are established along the Weligama beach and early hours are considered being the best time to practice it. November to April is the best time to snorkel and dive in Weligama due to the effect of monsoon during the rest of the year.

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4. Arugam Bay

By far Arugam Bay is the most popular surf holiday destination of Sri Lanka. Arugam bay nestled 408 km from Colombo, in the eastern corner of Sri Lanka near Batticaloa. Arugam Bay is a world-renowned surf holiday destination and it is visited by most talented world surfers in the world. Arugam bay hosts the world surf championship every year in the month of September. The World Surf League (WSL) 2019 Men’s Event was held from 25-29 September 2019 and it contributes towards qualification for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

The visitors of Arugam bay are surf enthusiasts and the number of leisure travellers is comparatively lover. The best time to travel to Arugam Bay is from April to November, parallel to the south-west monsoon, during this period the eastern part of the island has the dry weather and free of the effect of monsoon.

5. Negombo Lagoon

Negombo is the closest beach holiday destination to travellers, who lands at the international airport of Colombo. The distance from Colombo international airport to Negombo is just 8 kilometres and it takes less than 30 minutes to drive between 2 places. Negombo is the most convenient places to reach for travellers, who arrive on the island for a short vacation.

Most travellers who spend a few hours in Sri Lanka on their transits travel to Negombo make use of that time to some leisure. This beach holiday destination offers many interesting watersports such as fishing, boating (boating in the lagoon, canal and in the sea), surfing, windsurfing, sailing, kitesurfing, fishing, jet skiing and banana boat rides. Negombo is considered as one of the best places for windsurfing, and it can be done here at anytime fo the year.

6. Water rafting at Kitulgala

Kitulgala nestled in the foothills of central range and nicknamed as the adventure playground of Sri Lanka. Kitulgala is dominated by rugged terrain and rainforests. Entire regions are covered Mountains, huge rocks, rainforests, tea plantations, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and small villages.

Kitulgala is a laid-back territory and very rich of natural wealth such as rainforest and rivers. Kitulgala offers opportunities for nature holidays and travellers find many interesting activities in Kitulgala like rock climbing, trekking, hiking, rainforest exploration, bird watching as well as water rafting and waterfall abseiling. Kitulgala is the most popular destination on the island for water rafting and canoeing.

The water rafting in Kitulgala is categorized under grade rapids and suitable for a thrilling experience for travellers who like a bit of adventure. Water rafting in Kitulgala I suitable for experienced as well as novices in water rafting. Water rafting and canoeing is a year-round activity here, however, it may not available on few days during rainy season due to the heavy rainfall.

7. Whales when in Mirissa

Sri Lanka has become one of the best places in the world over the last few decades. Whale watching is a novel experience for the visitors of Sri Lanka and it was first started in the 18s, today whale watching is one of the most popular activity among the visitors of Sri Lanka.

Whale watching tours are taking places in the south coast of Sri Lanka off Mirissa and the east coast off Trincomalee. However, Mirissa is the most popular place for whale and dolphin watching in Sri Lanka. Visitors can spot many whale species on a boat trip in Mirissa as well as spinner, striped, bottlenose or spotted dolphins. The whale watching trip available throughout the year, however march and April are the best time to go on a whale-watching tour.

8. Kalpitiya Lagoon

Kalpitiya is the fast emerging beach holiday destination of Sri Lanka. Kalpitiya tucked away from the hustle and bustle cities and towns. Kalpitiya is to be found 160km from Colombo hugging the north-west coastal belt of the island. Puttalam lagoon one of the biggest lagoons is a jewel of Kalpitiya. This massive lagoon has shallow water and heaven for watersports.

Kite-surfing is the most popular activity in Puttalam lagoon is one of the best places for kite-surfing on the island due to the wind and other optimal conditions for kite-surfing. Still, Kalpitiya is not explored to its full potential, the beaches are still empty and only a few tourists are coming here. However, many new luxury hotels have been set up here some more yet to start their operation. The tranquil waters around Kalpitiya also suitable for water skiing and windsurfing.

The sea off North-west coast of Sri Lanka is resided by a large number of dolphins. Many tour operators provide dolphin and whales watching trips from Kalpitiya. The best time to hit the Kalpitiya beach is from November to April during the north-east monsoons. During this period the sea off Kalpitiya is very suitable for saltwater activities such as swimming, snorkelling, diving due to the calm and quiet waters sans mighty, forceful waves.

The palms fringed stunning coastal belt of Sri Lanka is heaven for the water sports enthusiast and many places with thrilling adventures awaits you. This list of places for water sports keep growing and we add new destinations to this blog post as we discover new places. If you wish to explore any of the above-mentioned places and actively engaged in water sport you can ask Seerendipity tours to organize your one-day outing or multi-day Srilanka tours to various destination around the island at an affordable price.