Blue waters of Unawatuna.....

Day 7: 5th Mar, 2015

It was time to say good bye to Nuwara Eliya and head on to our next destination which would be a beach destination, Unawatuna. It was a long journey and we decided to start early by 7:00 am. The route to Unawatuna is very scenic with lot of greenery and a river giving company for most of the journey. You get to see two waterfalls on the way - St. Clair falls and Devon falls. First comes the St. Clairs falls which is a very beautiful cascading falls with a viewpoint on the highway. The falls is also known as "Niagara of Sri Lanka" and is located along the Kotmale river. The falls look amazing from the viewpoint where you can also take some pictures with the backdrop of the falls. The next falls on route is the Devon falls which drops from approximately 97 meters and is also located along the Kotmale river. There is a viewpoint for this waterfall as well.

St. Clair falls

Devon falls

Some clicks and we were back in the car to continue the journey. Adam's peak also known as Sri Pada, is very famous for trekking in Sri Lanka and we wanted to at least have a glimpse of the peak in this trip. We were discussing the same with our driver and somewhere midway through the journey, we saw through binoculars what was supposedly Adam's peak. If what we saw was indeed Adam's peak, it looked quite inviting for a trek. A depression in the rocky summit represents a huge footprint which has been venerated as a sacred sign which is why it is known as Sri Pada.

We were yet to cover half of the distance and hence, we stopped at a beautiful resort which was on the banks of a river for a short break. We had some tea and were just lazing around the river for a while which was much needed during this long journey. There were also some vintage cars for exhibition at the resort which was very interesting. we also spotted some really beautiful birds on the way.

A short while after the break, we hit the southern express-way which is Sri Lanka's first E class highway. The highway connects Colombo to Galle and Matara, major cities in the south of the island. We traveled almost 90 kms in 1 hour and 15 mins. Wasn't that amazing!

Southern Expressway

It was 1:00 pm when we reached Unawatuna, a suburb of Galle. Unawatuna is a major tourist attraction famous for its beautiful beaches. It was very disheartening to listen about how this place was badly affected due to the tsunami back in 2004. We were told that all the beach lined hotels were flooded by sea water and the tsunami had a devastating effect. But it felt good to see the town back in action!

The small lane from the highway to the resort was lined with jewelry shops, restaurants and hotels. We had booked Thaproban Beach House located on the beach based on the reviews from TripAdvisor and Booking.com. The hotel is right on the beach with its superior rooms and suite facing the beach. Considering all the different hotels, we found this one to be better according to our budget and the views!

View from room

We had a warm welcome from the staff with a welcome drink and we were escorted to our rooms. We had booked a deluxe room and a suite. The suite was good for four adults as it had 2 bedrooms but the only problem with it was -  the only single bathroom. The suite had a sea facing sit-out with large ceiling to floor windows which opened directly to the sea view. The bathroom was spacious and extremely clean with a large shower area. Lunch was the usual veg fried rice and veg noodles (which being a vegetarian I had become very bored of). The blue waters reminded me of the beautiful Andaman islands in India and I was eager to have a stroll on the beach with my husband soaking my feet in the cool waters!

View from balcony at night

Beach restaurant

We relaxed in the sit-out until evening watching the waves with the soothing sound of water calming us. The clouds covered the sun and we knew it was time to hit the beach! We had a lot of fun in the waters, getting completely soaked and wishing it would never end! The beach at Unawatuna is considered to be very safe as the water is shallow. Be sure to hit this beach if you visit Unawatuna. It was a full moon day and the tides increased as the day progressed. We freshened up and had a family time in the balcony chatting up with the neighbors and discussing about our lovely trip so far. It was dinner time and we had dinner on the beautiful tables arranged right on the beach. It was a family dinner to be remembered forever! And thus the day was well spent relaxing in the cool sea breeze.