During the Summer Season from May – September, the East Coast Beaches of Sri Lanka can justifiably lay claim to being some of the best in the entire world.

The famous beach at Nilaveli lies about 10km to the north of Trincomalee, the legendary maritime base with a history spanning visits by the Duke Of Wellington and Horatio Nelson to an audacious attack by Japanese Zero fighters during the Second World War.

Nilaveli is the closest that Sri Lanka gets to the Maldives. The beach is composed of fine, powdery white coral sand where you can wade out to sea at waist height for hundreds of feet in places!

The long stretch of beach starts from the hamlet of Uppuveli, just to the north of Trincomalee and continues through Nilaveli to Kuchchaveli after which the jungles of the north of the island take over.

Nilaveli is not yet a ‘resort’; it is more a collection of hotels on a long stretch of beach that stretches northwards from Uppuveli to Nilaveli and Kuchchaveli. People wishing to go out in the evenings to bars and beachside restaurants will be disappointed. Going Half Board is therefore a good option for hotels at Nilaveli.

There is a fairly diverse collection of beach properties at Nilaveli. Nilaveli Beach Hotel (3 Star) and Chaaya Blu (3 Star +) were two of the original East Coast beach hotels. These have now been joined by the up-market Anilana Nilaveli and the unique eco-luxury of Jungle Beach at Kuchchaveli.

The East Coast has a feel that is very different from the rest of the island. The population is predominantly Tamil and the Palmyra palm replaces the Coconut. The landscape is arid and very dry, giving a somewhat ‘Arabic’ character to the countryside.

A boat trip to the uninhabited Pigeon Island is the most popular excursion at Nilaveli. The island gets over-crowded during weekends and holidays. Even at other times it is best to go there early in the morning before hoards of other visitors arrive.