Southern Province - 10 Attractions You Must Visit

45 Minutes away from Colombo near the Southern expressway, Bentota Beach area is recognized as a premier resort town with at least 15 Star class Hotels and many small boutique style hotels. The beach has many activities like speed boats and jet ski riding, windsurfing, boogie boarding, water skiing, kite surfing, to the rides on a banana boat.

It is two hours away from Colombo and is a place popular for water sports. The Bentota River is the third largest river in Sri Lanka. On this spectacular river safari, you can see crocodiles, snakes, bats, and lizards and you can ride the boat under the canopy of the mangroves.

A famous wintering ground for migratory waterbirds in Sri Lanka. Bundala shelter 197 kinds of birds, highlighting the greater flamingo, which migrates in large flocks. The Park designated as a wildlife sanctuary in 1969 and got a redesign to a national park in January 1993 and become a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 2005.

Galle Fort in the Bay of Galle was built first in 1588 by the Portuguese, then widely fortified by the Dutch in the 17th century. It is a historical, archaeological and architectural heritage monument. The fort has recognized as a cultural heritage by UNESCO.

It is reputed as the second best-surfing spot in Sri Lanka. The beach is known for its Coral Reef that visitors can access.

It is the best places to see one of the only recorded resident blue whale colonies in their natural habitat. You could also see dolphins on whale the watching trips from Mirissa and Dondra head on the south coast.

This is forest reserve is a biodiversity hotspot in Sri Lanka. It has been designated as a Biosphere Reserve in 1978 and World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. The reserve's name means the Lion Kingdom.

Tangalle Beach is a perfect breathtaking place to go for a quiet and calm vacation. The beautiful white sand beach is like paradise, which goes on for kilometers. Originally, Tallanga was a fishing village but suffered hugely in the tsunami in 2004, and they have been rebuilding ever since.

You will see fishers on the beach with fishing rods in hand seated on stilts without moving, a unique fishing method in this area. This is a great place to learn surfing.

The park is the most visited and second-largest national park in the country. It is a vast forest, grassland, and lagoons bordering the Indian Ocean in southeast Sri Lanka. It is home for leopards, elephants, and crocodiles, as well as hundreds of bird species.