Beaches & Coast
Galle
Southern Province
A southern harbour town built around a Dutch walled fort that is still lived in — ramparts you can walk right round, and beaches a few minutes either side.
- How long
- 1 day is usually enough
- Best months
- November, December, January, February, March, April
Galle is the main town of the south coast, and the reason to stop is the Fort: a promontory the Portuguese fortified and the Dutch rebuilt properly in 1663.
What makes it unusual is that it is still a living town rather than a preserved one. People live in the merchant houses, children walk to school along the ramparts, and inside the walls there are Dutch Reformed churches, a working lighthouse, and a dense mix of Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim and Burgher families whose ancestors have all been here for centuries. Walking the walls takes about an hour and is best in the last hour of daylight, when the heat drops and the town comes out to do the same.
Beyond the Fort, Unawatuna and Jungle Beach are fifteen minutes east, Rumassala rises above them, and the whale boats leave from Mirissa down the coast. Most itineraries use Galle as the base for all of it.
