Top 6 Things To Do in Pasikuda - A Tropical Holiday Filled with Fun and Adventure 

You can’t spend a few days in Pasikuda and not visit Pasikuda Beach! It’s the top pick for anyone visiting the town. In fact, it’s the pin-up of Sri Lankan beaches, with waters featuring incredible blue hues and soft sand. It’s perfect whether you want to take a swim in a quiet lagoon, lie down on the beach and let the tropical sun work on you, take a stroll in the evening, or get adventurous with water sports. The best time to visit this stunning Sri Lankan beach is from May to September when the weather is mostly sunny. Diving, snorkelling, and sailing are among the most popular activities. The curved bay of Pasikuda means that you can enjoy a dip in the warm water pretty much any time of the year. The beach now has more of a polished feel, with luxury resorts and elegant restaurants. In between the modern-day conveniences, you’ll find traces of the old days too, kept alive by small shacks selling fish and boats.

If you don’t mind driving about five minutes to find fun and adventure, you have Kalkudah Beach. It’s an easy drive from Amethyst Resort, for example, which is a popular Pasikuda beach hotel. With its coconut palm and cashew groves, this beach is quite different from Pasikuda. How is it different? Well, apart from a few small-scale establishments, Kalkudah Beach is underdeveloped. This adds to its appeal for tourists looking for a quiet place to spend an hour or two. You can walk or run along the soft sand for miles with local fishermen for company. Swimming here is not recommended for a newbie, as you won’t find any lifeguards. But the beach is a complete blast for those seeking serenity.

Rent a cycle to explore the quiet corners of Pasikuda at a slow pace, particularly around Batticaloa. You’ll cycle past local fishermen going about their day, through the hidden pathways of undiscovered small villages. During your cycling adventure, you might have to make way for herds of buffalo – they’re used for farming activities in the villages. An ornithologist will be thrilled to see the diversity of birds that this region of Sri Lanka attracts too.

An hour’s drive will get you to Batticaloa, the closest town to Pasikuda. It’s a small, serene backwater surrounded by the water on three sides. This is where the Dutch first landed in 1602. The town is home to several colonial-era buildings and a fort that dates back to 1628. Offering scenic panoramic views, the fort is among the best attractions in town. Be sure to visit the Bridge Street Market too. It’s a community initiative – much like a farmers' market – where you can buy locally produced curd, kitul, and bee honey, in addition to local heirloom products and many other traditional handicrafts.

Nestled between Ampara and Batticaloa, the lagoon stretches over 50 kilometres. It’s a nestling ground for an array of migratory and native birds. Located beside Batticaloa Lagoon are Vakari and Valaichchenai. Together, these three lagoons form a diverse estuarine ecosystem, which sustains the villagers who make a living through rice and coconut farming and fishing.

If you’re here between May and September, there’s a long list of water sports you can try. Diving and snorkelling are particularly good at this time, as are sailing and kayaking. Some tour operators offer motorised activities like jet skiing too. Wreck diving is a popular activity with both local and foreign divers. Diving the HMS Hermes wreck is the ultimate diving experience – it was the first purpose-built aircraft carrier, which was bombed by the Japanese until it plunged to the bottom of the ocean. That’s not the only treasure you’ll find underneath the waves; the waters fringing Pasikuda are also home to a diversity of fish and coral reefs.