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| Review by Margaret Wilkinson from Abu Dhabi
We loved Hikkaduwa out of season & restaurants & people are great. Just hope visitors return to Sri Lanka very soon as the locals need them.
Review by Mark Brindley from Tenby
Hikkaduwa is a well-established surf resort which is beginning to look a little run-down at the old part of town. However the adjoining Narigama district now has the better hotels, restaurants and bars. The beach is superb, uncrowded and there is very little hastle from hawkers - certainly less than similar resorts in Kenya or the Gambia.
The people are very friendly and courteous and genuinely enjoy interacting with the tourists. They appreciate it when you patronise their little stores, if only to buy some tea or some vegetables. In 2 weeks we did not suffer any Delhi Belly symptoms just by following simple precautions such as using bottled water for cleaning teeth etc.
The food is excellent, fresh fish straight off the boat, delicious curries and Rottis and prices are very low when compared to the UK. The weather at the end of Jan / early Feb was superb. Be aware that the transfer time from Colombo can be anything up to 5 hrs depending on what time of day you arrive.
Review by Peter Booth from Woolacombe
Hikkaduwa, if you are a surfer, it's ok to begin with before heading onto other locations in Sri Lanka. From a surfing point of view it is crowded and aggressive, but a consistant and sometimes fun wave. There are other options around Hikkaduwa away from crowds!it depends what you are looking for though, there are plenty of options to buy things, lots of restaurants and bars and parties going on. Head south to other beach locations, Mirissa is nice!
Review by visitor
Every Xmas we travel to a different part of the world to Scuba dive, we are a family of 3. My wife and I are in our early 40’s with a 14-year-old son.
Jen and Wes were great hosts and were very friendly and made us feel welcome with plenty of tips on the area. The Cabana is spacious and cleaned by the housekeeper 3 times a week including linen and towels being changed. The cabana is basic with a small kitchen area which has a kettle, toaster, fridge and small sink, the bathroom/wet room has hot water. We could also have access to a kitchen in the main house to do our own cooking. However we chose not to use this as we felt that we were intruding on Jen and Wesley’s personal space, so we chose to have Jen to cook for us when we had a day in, and the food was very good. The location of the cabana was ideal as it is located only 10 minutes by tuk-tuk from Hikkadua in a jungle village. Cinnamon lodge was relaxing and I enjoyed being surrounded by all the nature and could sit on the veranda in the morning watching the Chipmunks playing in the trees, King fisher taking a dip in the pool and in the evening sitting with a beer and admiring the fire flies. We could walk into the village to buy produce and alcohol without any hassle, the locals were very friendly and always said hello. We were buying bananas for 1pence and pineapples for 40p and avocado pears were only 20 pence.
We had a great time in this area of Sri Lanka and Hikkadua was a great area for us as an active family. We could snorkel in the morning by the reef in calm waters or go surfing on the southern and livelier beach area. Snorkelling was five star and the fish we saw on the reef were Trigger, Angel, Butterfly, Unicorn and Puffer I also saw 2 Moray eels a giant and a honeycomb. There are also plenty of turtles especially around the surfing area near Mambo’s bar. We used to watch them swimming around the surfers and in the surf. 1 hours surfing lesson cost £10 and 1 full days board hire cost £5.
We used Poseidon for our Scuba diving and found them to be very professional and we did 30 relaxing dives at a total cost of £550.
We also travelled by train to Kandy and can only say it was an eye opener as we had to push and shove to get a seat. The whole journey took 6 hours on 2 trains, the first we had to stand for 2 and a half hours but the total cost was only £8 and we can recommend visiting Sigiriya rock and the tea plantations in Nuwara Eliya.
Regards
Mark, Julie & Wynston
Review by LISA TRICKEY from COLCHESTER
Hikkaduwa - very busy main Galle Road but this should become quieter with building of motorway further inland. Mixture of very pretty and Tsunami damaged areas. A great deal of re-building still being undertaken.
Excellent beach with good surf, not ideal for swimming but good fun. Many local 'traders' on the beach but they normally respond to a firm 'NO', unless you want to buy of course. Bus rides an experience and not for the faint hearted, drivers seem to be on a mission to make difficult and impossile overtaking manouvres the norm, normally with livestock in the road! Locals very friendly, cheerful and helpful, excellent value for money regarding food, drink, souveniers and tuk-tuk rides.
Review by MOGS BRAZINGTON from BIDEFORD
We love Hikkaduwa, and the Sri Lankans are the most friendliest & helpful people you could meet. So much to do, fantastic weather, beautiful beaches, amazing sights, and the cost of living is so cheap you will be amazed.
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