Pasikuda

Pasikuda is a wide horseshoe bay protected by a reef, and the water inside it is shallow and almost flat: it stays waist deep for a couple of hundred metres out, which makes it one of the safest swimming beaches in Sri Lanka and the reason a row of resorts was built along it after 2009. The season is the opposite of the west coast, so it fills when Bentota and Hikkaduwa are shut by the monsoon.

The main sights

• The shallow bay - waist-deep water for hundreds of metres out.
• The reef - the barrier that flattens the water inside the horseshoe.
• The opposite season - a beach that works when the west coast is closed.
• The resort strip - hotels built along the bay since 2009.

When to go

April to September is the season here, the reverse of the southwest coast. The northeast monsoon from November to February brings rough sea and rain. Sri Lankan holidays fill it.

Before you go

Development along the bay was rapid and has been criticised for how close it came to the water and how it affected access. The reef inside the bay has suffered. Outside the season most hotels are quiet or closed.

Nearby

Batticaloa is south, and Kalkudah is next door.