Reggae Zone Beach Resort

The beach is only a few feet from the resort, and the sunrise there was beautiful. The waves were wild, at least 6 or 7 ft when we visited at the end of November, and we had fun wrestling with them. I spotted a few surfers, though I'm not sure the waves suited what they needed, since they rose and broke close to shore. You can also help the fishermen pull in their nets, or “madela.” We joined a crew, and they thanked us by offering about 3kg of fish. We ate half as bites on our first evening. A few friends who'd been here recommended the place, and it lived up to what they'd said. The host Prageeth was friendly and helpful, going out of his way to check that everything was right for us. His staff were nice and helpful as well. The sea view rooms are recommended, they have a tree house feel and look out over the ocean. Ask the host how to get to mulkirigala and rekawa turtle hatcheries, which are cool places to check out too.

The concrete rooms felt bare, with no furnishings, and for the price the cleanliness wasn't up to scratch. The restaurant and drinks were expensive too. On the good side, it's right on the beach in a beautiful spot, with friendly staff and decent WiFi. If the network shows up with the default dialog 4g name, delete it on your phone.

The balcony view was nice, but it's shared by four rooms, and people walk behind you to get to their rooms. The four “deluxe rooms” are only separated by wooden panels, so there was no privacy and we could hear everything from the other guests. It was really dirty and noisy. The water stopped working in our room on the second day. The sheets and mosquito nets were covered in blood stains, and there were ants everywhere.

Good location, free breakfast, and not expensive. The walls are very thin wood, so you can hear everything from the other rooms. There were also lots of insects in the evening.