Travel Guide To Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka

Are you counting down the days until your trip or are you just day dreaming about the beautiful country Sri Lanka? And want to know more about the area of Hikkaduwa? Me and my family visited Hikkaduwa in the beginning of January and here’s the things I want to enlighten from our visit.

The reputation of Hikkaduwa and what we had in mind before visiting was simply that it’s the most touristic place in the south of Sri Lanka. Which is not entirely our experience. It wasn’t that insanely much tourist, but still it wasn’t hard to notice that Hikkaduwa must be the Russians favorite vacation spot. At some places the signs and menus were only in Russian and the Sinhalese language. I would not say it’s a problem though since Sri Lanka was a English colony and the people are therefore very skilled at English. English is also a important subject in school that the kids get to learn very early. So there will always be someone who can translate for you if needed.

Amazing Places To Eat At

All restaurants are located along Galle Road in Hikkaduwa.

Salty Swamis

Salty Swamis was in my opinion one of the best places we ate at on the entire trip. Super fresh surfer beach shack with so much good vibes!! We ate here twice and I just have to recommend their smoothie bowls, they taste like heaven.

Sorry Mom – Cute restaurant with the theme of only fried food, and I don’t complain! I tried their fried calamari, fried sweet potato and fried shrimps and it was just amazing. Just a advice: if you plan to eat at Sorry Mom remember to be out in time since there’s literally only two tables in their restaurant in Hikkaduwa. It’s also not a beach shack so don’t expect a view of the beach.

Nordic House Luxury Burgers – A Really good menu with nice coffee, sandwiches and of course burgers! And I mean quality burgers!! You’ll find this restaurant on the other side of Galle road, in other words not a beach shack either but so worth visiting!

Sea Salt Society – Imagine sitting on the beach listening the sound of waves crashing into the beach mixed with SO GOOD live music. I’m not joking!! The guy who performed covers of big artists at Sea Salt Society was so ridiculously talented. The whole feeling was so relaxed and enjoyable since their food also very much delivered. I tried their tropic smoothie bowl and also a tuna bowl with soya sauce. Both tasted incredible, I highly recommend this restaurant.

Tsunami 2004 Memorial Buddha Statue

If you read my recent post Releasing Baby Turtles Into The Ocean | Malawenna, Sri Lanka you then know that me and my family (as the title says) released baby sea turtles. Which was a really special moment. This happened while we stayed in Hikkaduwa. Hikkaduwa and Malawenna are like 30 minutes away from each other.

On our way to Malawenna we stopped along the road to visit this beautiful but so heartbreaking memorial of the 2004 Tsunami. The statue is built as high as the tsunami wave actually was when it hit right here in Sri Lanka. Just beside the statue two old men have a small house filled with horrible photographs of dead people, the train that got hit right here in Hikkaduwa and of their mass grave.

If you’d by any chance take your time to visit this memorial while being in Sri Lanka, please pay your respect. It’s signed very clear that it’s disrespectful to turn your back against the statue. Still we of course saw two tourists posing in front of the statue as if it were some cool background for their Instagram photo. I even tried to tell them about the tsunami and pointed to the sign, but they did not care at all. There will always be people who choose to be ignorant, please don’t be one of them.

Shopping and Spa

Along the very long Galle Road you’ll find shops everywhere. Plenty of souvenirs, beach and bikini shops. And I wouldn’t say souvenirs are that expensive. So much to see and so much to buy. It’s just the size of your suitcase that will stop you.

There is also plenty of spa facilities and nail salons to choose from if your after some extra relaxation. For me and my family, massage is one of our most important things to do multiple times when on vacation.

Sunsets To Die For

You know how much I’m a sucker of sunsets and Hikkaduwa really showed off some stunning ones. Second picture is from one of our last days before going back home to Sweden. Such a great way to end our time in the south. A fruit juice in my hand watching the sunset and the surfers out on the waves, god I miss this place so much.

I hope this post was helpful in some way. Maybe with your planning? Or just simply made you interested in this stunning place? Let’s chat in the comments down below.

Happy Travels,

XO, TUVA

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