A serendipitous escape
Sri Lanka's southern coastline, stretching from the old fort of Galle to the wild beauty of Tangalle and Bentota, remains a much-loved destination.
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WHEN Lonely Planet anointed Sri Lanka as the world's top travel destination in 2013, the news hardly caused a stir among travel veterans who had long been inducted into the island's mythic charm. The presence of two Aman resorts along its southern coastline was already a dead giveaway that Sri Lanka had stunning vistas and historical charm in equal measure. Which also explains the 1.5 million tourists that arrived in 2014.
It's been a relatively short recovery for a nation that until 2009 had been engaged in a brutal 26-year civil war that killed around 100,000 people. The psychological scars of the 2004 tsunami notwithstanding, all over the island tourism is booming, a phenomenon helped in large part by the relatively low cost of living, and the general strength of foreign currencies against the local rupee.
But while all eyes are peeled on the new three new tourist developments at Kuchchaveli, Passikudah and Kalpitiya in the north and east of the island, the southern coastline stretching from the old fort of Galle to the wild beauty of Tangalle and Bentota remains a much-loved destination.
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