Kalpitiya

I wish, wish I had gone to Kalpitiya earlier in my time in Sri Lanka.  It is one of my favorite places in Sri Lanka and it’s only a short drive from Colombo.  To be fair, Kalpitiya has only recently become a tourist spot so it was not as well-known when I first arrived.  But I think it’s been discovered now.

My first trip there we stayed at Dolphin Beach, which I would HIGHLY recommend.  How awesome is it to stay in a fancy tent!  We also didn’t wear shoes the entire time we were there (except when the sand was too hot to walk on!) and they have brick oven pizza.  What more could you want?  The oversized swings mean your able to laze about or read or simply relax.  Love.

Kalpitiya Sunset

Kalpitiya is located in Sri Lanka’s Puttalam District, which has a large Muslim population, but also lots of Christians and Hindus.  We drove the 40 km to Kalpitiya town and the number of mosques, Hindu temples, and churches along the way is remarkable.  Surprisingly, almost no Buddhist temples.  The Kalpitiya fort looked so interesting, but it’s used by the Sri Lankan Navy so unfortunately we couldn’t go inside….maybe in a few years?

Family Day at the Beach

Kalpitiya is home to a few wind farms so giant windmills dot the landscape.  Some people think they’re an eyesore, but I find them kind of peaceful and beautiful.

Kalpitiya Windmills

Two big draws of Kalpitiya are dolphins and kite surfing.  We did go dolphin watching, but it just wasn’t our day as we only saw a handful of pods.  As we say in Sri Lanka, what to do?  Kite surfing is typically done on the lagoon and while we didn’t go, it looks fun.

Kite Surfing in Kalpitiya Lagoon

We also stayed at Divyaa Lagoon, which was a bit of an interesting experience thanks to the Sri Lankan mafiaso who were also staying and the fact that our room wasn’t quite finished.  To be fair though, we stopped to see if they had room and told us the room wasn’t finished.  I’m sure it’s quite nice now.  It was fun to have such two contrasting experiences–Kalpitiya beach and Kalpitia lagoon.  We walked around the lagoon to watch the kite surfers and also encountered these beauties.

Shells

I ended up going to Kalpitiya for one more visit and stayed at Bar Reef, part of the Alankuda resorts (the website is very cool).  Bar Reef was also fun, especially because they were able to accommodate a big group of us in one villa, but I did prefer Dolphin Beach.  Fortunately, Dolphin Beach and the Alankuda hotels generally cooperate with each other and even though Dolphin Beach doesn’t have a pool you can often use the pools at Bar Reef, Udekki, or Palagama Beach (which had my favorite pool).

But really, go to Kalpitiya!  It’s beautiful!

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