Sri Lanka 7- Unawatuna and Galle

We spent six nights at a great guest house called Kahuna Club in Unawatuna. It's quiet- and this is the buzziest of any place on the whole West or South coast! Most of the coast is not very beachy and a lot of the shore is not that great for swimming. The beaches that are sandy are often very small. There are hundreds of resort hotels ranging from cheap to ultra luxurious along the coast. It's worth popping in at one of the Geoffry Bawa creations. ( Sri Lanka's most famous architect ) Unawatuna was once rated in the Top Ten Beaches in the World, but some of the sand has been eroded away during monsoon season over the last few years, leaving the beach quite narrow in places. It's still a great place for swimming with beautiful, warm, turquoise ocean and still far better than anything on the Med I've ever seen. Every evening all the bars and restaurants put tables on the sand, a very chilled way to while away the evening .We went diving on two days. We did a day trip to Galle and I would recommend staying a night. The whole Galle Fort area is enclosed in ramparts built by the Portugese and the Dutch, which has prevented urban sprawl from encroaching and also saved the town from the Tsunami in 2004. There are loads of renovated colonial buildings and plenty of hotels, restaurants and shops. The Fort Printers Hotel and the Galle Fort Hotel are wonderful places to stay and eat, but if you want a cheaper guesthouse try the Frangipani. We spent two weeks in Sri Lanka; a good length of time for a first visit. My advice would be not to linger too long in any one spot and don't plan on a whole week at the beach- unless you really need to chill.