Galle Fort is a UNESCO World Heritage site that happens to also be a functioning town - boutique hotels, independent bookshops, art galleries and a Dutch Reformed Church from 1755, all inside 17th-century coral-stone ramparts above the Indian Ocean. Three colonial layers, Portuguese, Dutch and British, are legible in a single afternoon walk.
Weligama
Warm waves, fishing boats and the most forgiving surf break in the country
Weligama Bay has a long gentle right-hander that works for complete beginners on day one and keeps improving the more time you spend in the water. The fishing village behind the bay is still a working port - boats out before 5am, the morning catch laid out at the harbour by mid-morning. The restaurants that have opened here are genuinely good.
