After any long-haul flight, making a decision of where to stop for the first few days can sometimes be tricky.

In Sri Lanka, many opt for Negombo after a flight, as this is close to Bandaranaike International Airport. Personally apart from one night to catch up on some sleep I’d suggest moving swiftly on!

Negombo does offer a range of accommodation, but it’s quite a bland location. It caters mostly for those who are making short stops before or after flying and package holidays.

If you want to get on with seeing the ‘real’ Sri Lanka hop on a bus or train and travel down the coast a few hours...

Bentota

If you’re heading to the south coast but don’t want to travel too far straight away, Bentota is far enough from the hectic, hot, carbon monoxide bath of Colombo but only a couple of hours travel by bus or train.

It gives you that first peek of Sri Lanka’s renowned beaches and varied landscape that you’ve probably spent months on the internet eyeing up.

The beaches here are surprisingly quiet and with a tranquil lagoon teaming with wildlife it’s a good location for a little rest and recuperation, before travelling onwards.

On the surface Bentota seems to offer little more than a popular destination for package deals and large resort style hotels. However, dig a little deeper and this area is a treasure for small boutique hotels and luxurious villas.

The Classic Club Villa

Designed by the renowned Sri-Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa, heralded to be the father of tropical modernist design I couldn’t resist a stay at the beautiful Club Villa.

It provides seductive opulence, classic design, privacy, serenity and a little quirkiness. Each room is individually designed and furnished to a high standard.

The service at Club Villa is impeccable from the moment you arrive, when a garland of fresh flowers is placed around your neck, until the moment you reluctantly leave.

The small pool offers a space of perfect relaxation, with access down to a secluded beach through sweet scented frangipani trees.

To top it off, the food here is absolutely divine! It was so good that we had all our meals at the hotel during our stay.

I stayed at the Club Villa on my third trip to Sri Lanka, with my son, who was 18 at the time. We had a gorgeous room with bedrooms split over a mezzanine. Thankfully, being an artist he appreciates good design and insanely good curry!

This was the perfect hideaway retreat for a few days after our long flight and before heading on to our decidedly less opulent accommodation at Volunteer Sri Lanka near Galle. I do love to juggle different types of accommodation when I travel as I think a bit of luxury feels all the more special when balanced with the very basic (and helps the budget!)

If you get a chance, I’d recommend a stay at a Geoffrey Bawa designed villa or hotel. They are designed with the natural environment in mind and he is famously quoted as saying that ‘you must run with the site; after all, you don’t want to push nature out with the building’.

Much of the fabulous contemporary architecture seen throughout South East Asia today is greatly influenced by Bawa’s work.

Brief Garden

They say good things come in twos, brother to Geoffrey, Bevis Bawa, an imaginative landscape artist commenced transforming an inherited rubber plantation into a creative jungle of a garden in the 1920s and continued until his death in 1992.

Brief Garden is 10 km inland from Bentota, accessible by tuk tuk, this wilderness of a garden is an enchanting delight of colour, creaking bamboo, narrow pathways leading to cool pools, arches masked with trailing green vines and hidden sculptural gems.

At the end of the visit to the garden, Bevis’ beautiful villa which holds an eclectic range of art from the homoerotic to everyday Sri Lankan life, is also worth popping into.

Tip: remember to put on mosquito repellent and cover up, the gardens are popular with mosquitoes.

River Safari

River Safari on the Bentota river is a pleasant way to spend a few hours and spot local wildlife including an array of reptiles and birds.

Tours usually include gliding between mangroves and stops at a traditional cinnamon farm, a monastery and for me the highlight – having a fish pedicure!

However, do not mistake this pedicure for those teeny tiny red garra, doctor fish, found in small tanks popular for a time in the UK! No no – not in Sri Lanka – here we have three separate pools each containing doctor fish of increasing size, with the third being really quite large and very nibbly! I wasn’t at all sure about the large size, far too ticklish for my liking but I’ll admit my feet did feel lovely and soft afterwards.

Other attractions in Bentota include year-round water sports in the calm waters of the lagoon and ayurvedic treatment spas and retreats.

Getting to Bentota and the south of the island

Regular buses and trains mean that travelling to Bentota and beyond is straightforward and very cheap.

Train

From Colombo Fort train station, trains run regularly in the direction of Matara on the southern coastal route. The best option is to get off at Althugama, next to Bentota as trains stop here more frequently.

The journey takes about 1 ½ hours and through the coconut palms, low-rise homes and the scattered buildings that line the rails you are bestowed with glimpses of the majestic Indian ocean.

Depending on the time of day, this route can get very busy and boarding at Colombo can be quite a push and shove, with standing room only squeezed up close to fellow passengers. However, I have also travelled when the carriages have been pretty quiet with ample room for sitting and baggage.

Like all trains in Sri Lanka, you can sit in the open doorway as life clatters by, it’s a great feeling and enables your senses to take in the sea air and watch first hand as hawkers sell their wares through open windows.

If you travel at night, the scent of the topics wafts through the pitch black night, and as the fans let out their gentle hum circulating warm air through the florescent glow of the carriage, a mysterious quality of the unknown unfolds (especially if you’ve only just arrived in the country!).

Bus

Buses run throughout the day and night every 30 minutes from Colombo Bastian Mawatha Bus Terminal station to Bentota or Aluthgama, and to the rest of the south coast.

It should take about 2 ½ hours but this depends a lot on the traffic especially as you emerge out of the frequently traffic jammed Colombo.

However, as Sri Lankan bus drivers are not in the least bit afraid to step on the accelerator, blast their horns every few seconds and swerve around any slow-moving obstacles you usually reach your destination reasonably on time.

If you’ve not been on a Sri Lankan bus before, they are an ‘enriching’ experience and a way to really get up close to your fellow passengers, whether that be standing under someone’s armpit, squashed into the window (on seats which seem decidedly smaller than seats on European buses) or hanging on tightly next to an open door….!

You’ll be amazed when the it lurches to a stop and more people squash into a bus that already appears to have no more floor space. If you do get some space to yourself, sit back and relax! Admire the LED lit sparkling buddhas and other religious icons above the dashboard, sway along to the latest Sri Lankan hits usually blaring from the stereo and watch the world pass by as you nip along.

Oh, and remember that the seats directly behind the driver are reserved for the clergy, so if a monk gets on and you’re sat there you must move.

If you have luggage this is usually placed in a section near the driver and if there’s no room, you’ll squash in it by your legs somehow. Don’t worry about not being able to get on a busy bus because of luggage, they seem to have a Mary Poppins carpet bag ability!

With regards to payment, you don’t pay the driver, each bus has a conductor whose job it is to collect money and give tickets as the bus is moving – don’t ask me how they do this when the bus is full to bursting but they do! The conductor also spends much of the ride shouting the next location, so you don’t need to worry about missing a stop.

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