Sri Lanka's reef town — sea turtles, surf, and the south coast's original beach strip
Hikkaduwa is the original Sri Lankan beach resort, a 3km strip of reef-fronted beach that attracted backpackers in the 1970s and has never entirely lost that freewheeling energy. Sea turtles come to feed on seagrass beds in water shallow enough to snorkel without fins, and the Hikkaduwa National Park protects the reef. Beach bars and surf rentals line the main beach alongside glass-bottomed boat operators.
Hikkaduwa became one of Asia's first significant backpacker beach destinations in the early 1970s alongside Bali's Kuta and Ko Samui. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami struck severely — the 'Tsunami Train' overwhelmed by the wave killed approximately 1,700 people near the town, one of the disaster's worst single incidents. The community rebuilt within two years.