The south coast of Sri Lanka is the tropical-beach half of the island that most visitors come for — a long string of palm-fringed bays, fishing villages, and small Buddhist temples running from Galle in the west to Yala National Park in the south-east. The coast here escapes most of the monsoon rain that batters the rest of the island from May to September, which makes the south the country's high-season destination: the beaches are dry and the water clear when the rest of Sri Lanka is grey and flooded.
Galle, the 17th-century Dutch fort town at the western end, is the south's architectural set-piece — a walled historic city of cobbled lanes, colonial warehouses, and rampart walks that take you around the whole peninsula above the sea. From there, the coast road runs past a series of beach towns, each with its own character: Unawatuna with its sheltered bay and easy swimming, Hikkaduwa for surfers and budget travellers, Mirissa for whale-watching trips (blue whales pass close offshore between November and April), and Weligama where beginners learn to surf on the long easy waves at Weligama Bay. Further east, Tangalle and Rekawa are quieter, wilder beaches where leatherback turtles still come ashore to nest at night.
Inland and east, the landscape becomes drier and the focus shifts from beaches to wildlife and pilgrimage. Yala National Park has the highest density of leopards anywhere in the world, along with elephants, sloth bears, and crocodiles — it is one of the best places in Asia for a safari. The sacred town of Kataragama, set among the southern forests, draws Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim pilgrims to a shrine shared between the three religions. The annual Esala festival there, with its fire-walking devotees and nighttime processions of elephants, is one of the most striking religious gatherings in South Asia.
The coastal train from Colombo to Galle and Matara is one of the great train rides in the world — two hours of track running right along the beach, the Indian Ocean almost close enough to touch. The south was devastated by the 2004 tsunami and the scars are still visible in places, but the coast has largely rebuilt, and the villages have retained their easy-going rhythm.