Hikkaduwa: Best things to Do

Intro

So Called ‘Hikka’, Hikkaduwa is one of the active and lively beach cities in Sri Lanka‘s tourism among other tourist cities. 

Let’s explore the 10 top things to do in Hikkaduwa among a bunch of activities that its visitors have favourited. 

Located in the southern coastal line of Sri Lanka between another major city Galle and “Ambalangoda”, Hikkaduwa has pretty much everything to cater to almost all types of tourist needs from luxury travellers to ignorant backpackers.

There are luxury star hotels to budget hostels that accommodate guests with any type of budget. This small city gets busy with tourists during the peak months of December-February. Hikka has a vibrant nightlife. Several beach clubs are in town well prepared to entertain visitors with unique vibes.

Also see,

Bit of History

‘Hikka’ has been exposed and played a major role in Sri Lanka’s tourism since the 1970s. Undoubtedly this place offers a lot varied from a range of activities to cheap logging to have great fun in the sun.

Booming tourism over the past decades helped the locals to live life but also brought worse aspects by accepting to offer some of the Western cultural needs has impacted this small town with both negative and positive socio-cultural consequences such as smuggling, trafficking, prostitution and environmental degradation.

As a result of the growing younger generation in the area ready to serve the ever-changing needs of tourism started to develop a ‘hippie’ like teen generation over the decades with the idea of following tourists’ footsteps are the way to their success.

Statistics

Population ≈ 102000
District: Galle
Area: 10km2

Top 10 things to Do in Hikkaduwa

1. Visit Hikkaduwa National Park

Hikkaduwa National Park
Hikkaduwa marine national park

Declared as a marine national park in 2002, Hikkaduwa National Park is the first and one of the four marine national parks in Sri Lanka alongside Pigeon Island Marine National Park, Adam’s Bridge Marine National Park and Delft Island Marine National Park.

The island’s most famous marine national park is famous for its coral reefs and world-class snorkelling and surfing activities.

2. Make a wish at Seenigama Devol Vihara

Seenigama Devol
Seenigama Devol Hikkaduwa

Seenigama Sri devol maha viharaya is located besides the beach by the galle-colombo main road about 2km from Hikkaduwa main town area.

Seenigama devaya, which is dedicated to ‘devol deviyo ’ who is a god who is said to be given magical power to protect the Bus Drivers, local Fishermen and their boats. 

3. Save the turtles at Turtle Hatchery

Turtle Hachery Hikkaduwa
Turtle Hachery Hikkaduwa

Turtle Hatchery is situated about 2km from the main tourist beach.

The relatively small hatchery has some of the rare-to-find and extinction turtles such as Loggerheads, Leatherbacks, Green turtles etc. Some of the turtles brought here by fishermen can be found injured due to nylon fishing nets and boat propellers.

Those turtles are carefully adopted and later released back into the deep sea.

4. Visit Tsunami Museum: 2004 Tsunami train wreck

Tsunami Museum
Tsunami Museum: Train which the 2004 Tsunami train wreck happened in Paraliya, Sri Lanka

Hikkaduwa and surroundings are brutally affected due to Tsunami in 2004. This museum is located about 3km from Hikkaduwa town to preserve the touching everlasting memories of the Indian ocean disaster in 2004.

Community Tsunami museum and the Tsunami photo museum is located next to each other for anyone to enter for free, although photo and videography is not allowed.

5. Snorkelling & Scuba Diving in the main beach area

Snorkeling in Hikkaduwa
Snorkeling in Hikkaduwa Snorkel Bay

There’s a marine national park just off the shore of Hikkaduwa which is considered one of the best places for snorkeling in the country.

The coral reef attached to the shallow waters offers a great environment for the visitors to enjoy their snorkeling excursions, to see marine species such as rare fish and sea turtles etc. This area is specially reserved, therefore making a calm and safe environment for snorkel lovers and beach explorers.

The best time to snorkel can be around 9 am-11 am when visitors can see the large sea turtle close to the shore. Anyone who needs snorkel gear can rent out from the huts that are located by the beach. 

Hikkaduwa is a famous place among divers. Well-established diving schools across Hikkaduwa town offer good learning opportunities for any kind of Divers.

Various diving including wreck dives, night diving and diving sessions for novice divers are available to try out from November to April.

6. Surfing in Hikkaduwa or visiting nearby surf spots

Surfing in Hikkaduwa
Surf spots in the south coast of Sri Lanka

Hikkaduwa offers its visitors better surfing opportunities. If you need to enrich your surf experience I’d recommend you visit nearby surf spots on the southern coastline.

Midigama (53km), Weligama (57km), Mirissa (65km) and Hiriketiya (85km) to name a few. These are some of the renowned and well-known in the country. 

Also Read: Best Surf spots in Sri Lanka

7. Day trip to explore historic Galle town

Galle town Sri Lanka
Galle Town Sri Lanka

When you are in Hikka, you can easily reach Galle town within an hour via the Colombo-Matara main road.

Host to some of the scenic beaches, Galle is not only the capital city of the southern province of Sri Lanka.  It is also a city that has a few centuries of stories written on the historical walls of Galle Fort since the first European nation arrived there in the 16th century.

With the existence of the arrival of several European nations from the 16th century to the 19th century, Galle town can be a perfect example of a fortified city that has the existence of European architectural styles and has a greater influence on the blend of European and South Asian traditions.

 Galle has plenty of things to do and plenty of attractions to explore such as Unawatuna Beach, Galle Fort and the UNESCO World Heritage site in particular. 

Also Read: Best Things to do in Galle

Reaching there

Transportation

If you are looking for sightseeing and wildlife, adventure, honeymoon, cultural tour or pilgrimages, I can help you customize your tour according to individual wishes and requirements. Feel free to Contact Me mentioning your specific requirements.

Transportation in Sri Lanka

Finding Accommodation

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Agoda
HostelWorld
HostelCombined
Hostelz
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All major online booking portals still works in Sri Lanka as well to find short or long term accommodation. If you travel for short term, use your favorite booking platforms mentioned below. Choose the favourite platform according to your interest.

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