Beaches of Jaffna and the north of Sri Lanka

What are the beaches of Jaffna and the north of Sri Lanka and is there a beach holiday

A long coastline does not mean kilometers of golden sand at all. Most of the coast of Jaffna and the north of the country is rocky, with steep descents into the water and strong currents. There are very few places where you can safely go into the water.

In the city of Jaffna there are no beaches at all – the coast here is occupied by the port and fishing villages. Those few places where you can swim are outside the city, the nearest one is 15 kilometers away. Among them there are quite good places equipped for a full-fledged beach holiday, but still tourists are not expected here yet.

You can get to the beaches from the center by rented transport, hire a tuk-tuk as a taxi (preferably via Grab or PickMe applications), or come to the bus station in the center and take the bus to the desired beach. Buses run very often, are inexpensive. To find the route you need, just tell any local resident or bus driver at the bus station where you need to get to, and they will tell you everything. For more information about Jaffna transport and how to get there, see separate instructions

Cultural features worth knowing about

Tourists are still a rarity here. During our trips, we have repeatedly become the object of close attention. Local residents, especially young people, can watch you for a long time, discuss and point fingers.

This is especially true for girls in swimsuits – local women bathe exclusively in clothes. Our experience shows that this attention is rarely angry or aggressive, rather naively curious, but no less intrusive.

We have experienced this for ourselves more than once. At first – just looks and giggles. Then – attempts to speak, to take a picture. In the most extreme cases, young people could sit on our towel or touch things without asking. There is almost never any bad intentions behind this, it's just that apparently the locals are so interested and friendly. But if you expect a secluded holiday, you can forget about it here.

We were even looking for secluded remote beaches without people, but even then, from somewhere in the village, kids came running to look. In one case, on the beach, a tipsy fisherman got attached to us with conversations, who did not leave us while we were there, and when we started to leave, he began to ask for money for "conversation and friendliness."

In general, if you dream of a relaxing beach holiday where you can sunbathe and swim without attracting attention, the north of Sri Lanka is not your choice. Here, the beach is more a place for a short visit than for a relaxing day off.

Nevertheless, the northern beaches have their own unique charm. If you:

• Looking for authentic, non-touristic places
• Do you want to see the real life of Sri Lanka without embellishments
• Are you not afraid to be the center of attention
• Appreciate privacy more than comfort

...then a few hours on the beaches of Jaffna can be an interesting experience.

But if you are planning a classic beach holiday with sun loungers, cocktails and a relaxing swim, it is better to choose the southern or western coast of the island.

An honest review of all the beaches

• Casuarina beach

  

  Casuarina beach is the best and only equipped beach that we managed to find in this part of Sri Lanka. It is paid, and now they have set a discriminatory price for foreigners:

  • Locals pay 40 rupees for admission / 0.12 USD
  • Foreigners pay 500 rupees per person + 500 rupees for parking / 3.07 USD

  It is located 22 kilometers from Jaffna on the island of Karaitivu. You can only get there by rented transport or taxi (Casuarina beach on the map).

  The beach itself is very wide and long, but only a strip with a tire of 50 meters is suitable for swimming. In this place, the bottom is cleared of rocks and corals, and rescuers are looking after the vacationers.

  

  The water is a little muddy, but incredibly warm, like in the bathroom. In other places along the shore, it is theoretically also possible to enter the water, but this is dangerous because of the sharp rocks and corals at the bottom. The depth here is small, children are safe.

  On the shore there are umbrellas, changing rooms, showers (paid, 40 rupees), cafes, a market with goods for relaxing on the beach.

  

• Chaddy or Charity

  

  Buddy or Charity Beach is the closest to Jaffna, so locals come here to relax, although it still can't be called crowded. To get to it, you will have to drive 15 kilometers from the city center along a good road through a very long bridge to Velanai Island, and then turn onto a narrow road directly to the shore (Buddy Beach on the map). You can also get there at least by buses No. 780 and No. 776, a 30-minute drive.

  

  The beach is sandy, narrow, not very clean. The bottom is without stones, but covered with algae, which, however, do not cause any particular inconvenience. The depth is small, suitable for children. There is no infrastructure and amenities on the shore, only a number of gazebos, and completely free of charge. But there is plenty of shade under the trees that grow almost at the water's edge.

  

• Kankesanthurai Beach

  

  Kankesanthurai Beach or the beach of the Thalsevana Holiday Resort & Restaurant Hotel, also known as the beach at the lighthouse, is maintained by the Thalsevana Military Hotel, but anyone can relax on it. To get to it, you can either go through the hotel grounds, or go from the shore on the left (there is parking there) or on the right.

  It is located in the north of Jaffna, 20 kilometers from the center (Kankesanthurai beach on the map). There is also at least bus number 769 coming here.

  There are like two beaches in total:

  One beach is located on the shore opposite the hotel and to the left of it. This is a clean sandy beach with a length of only a hundred meters. There is clean sand and very shallow depth, which is why a lot of local kids always swim, and in general, on weekends it is crowded with locals. But there is no infrastructure and entertainment here, not even sun loungers or umbrellas, so you will have to take everything with you. You can eat in the hotel restaurant overlooking the ocean, but the prices there are not cheap. You can walk along the shore further towards the lighthouse, but there is the territory of the military and they are not always welcome guests from the outside.

  

  Another wild beach is located to the right (east) of the hotel. It stretches for almost a kilometer, moderately clean, beautiful palm trees grow on it. But it is very poorly suited for swimming: the sand here is mixed with large fragments of shells and corals, and under the water immediately from the shore begins a strip of sharp stones and corals covered with slippery algae. Theoretically, you can swim here, but you need to go into the water very carefully. Of course, there are no amenities here, but there are no people either.

  

• Thumpalai East beach

  

  This beach is also sometimes called Moorkkam beach, and the Lonely Planet guidebook for some reason designates it as Munai Beach, although its correct name, reflected on road signs, is Thumpalai East. It is located 35 kilometers from Jaffna on the northeastern shore in the town of Thumpalai ( Thumpalai East beach on the map). You can get here only by rented transport or taxi, buses do not run to it.

  

  

  Once it was a well-equipped beach. There is a playground, showers, changing rooms and toilets. But either after the tsunami hit, or because of the lack of tourists, everything here was emptied and fell into disrepair.

  

  But the coastal strip itself is very good here. The beach is completely sandy and very wide, the bottom is clean. Everything is spoiled only by garbage on the shore, not particularly picturesque "ruins" of dilapidated infrastructure, and stray dogs. If all this does not frighten you, then it is quite possible to come here to rest during the day. Although, in our opinion, there are better places, for example, Manalkadu beach on the same coast, 8 kilometers from this place.

  

• Manalkadu beach

  

  Manalkadu Beach is the farthest beach from Jaffna. It is located on the northeast coast, 45 kilometers from the city center (Manalkadu Beach on the map). You can get here only by rented transport or taxi. The road from Jaffna takes a detour, but you can shorten almost 10 kilometers of the way if you drive directly along the old partially unpaved road through the fields. You will also drive directly to the beach via a dirt road through the village.

  

  Manalkadu Beach – very long, stretches for many kilometers along the eastern shore, passing into other even more distant beaches. It is wild, occupied by fishing boats, but there is enough space for recreation, especially since vacationers here are very rare guests. As on other fishing beaches, there is garbage on the shore, but there is not much of it, and if you move away from the boats, the shore becomes almost clean. The bottom is flat and sandy, without stones and algae.

  

• Dambakolapatuna Beach

  

  Dambakolapatuna is a small secluded stretch of coast with a length of 200 meters, sandwiched between the Naval base and the Buddhist temple. Located 20 kilometers from Jaffna, go only by rented transport or taxi (Dambakolapatuna Beach on the map).

  The beach is of controversial quality and attractiveness, but if you want to try to find a secluded place, you can come here. But we can't guarantee that no one will come here to look at you. When we were here, it was not clear from somewhere, perhaps from the nearest village, there were children who started asking for something. So it's like being lucky.

  The beach itself is sandy and moderately clean. The water is muddy, there are stones at the bottom, so it's better to go in slippers or in "corals".

• Delft Island beach

  

  Delft Island is an independent resort and the most remote island and resort in Sri Lanka, but it can be considered as a remote beach that can be visited within one day from Jaffna. It is located more than 30 kilometers from the center, and you need to go to it by boat (Delft Island beach on the map). It will take about 2 hours to travel one way, so we recommend visiting the island with a couple of overnight stays. We have already told all about this in our separate travel guide about the island of Delft.

• White Sandy beach

  

  White sandy beach or white sandy beach is located on the island of Kareytivu, this is where the famous Casuarina Beach is located, but even further beyond the villages (White Sandy beach on the map). It is almost 25 kilometers from the center of Jaffna, you can get there by bus number 782 from the central bus station of Jaffna, but they rarely go. It is better to go by rented transport or taxi.

  Despite such a sonorous name, the beach here is conditional and completely wild. When we were here, we found it not very clean, because there is a village nearby, fishing boats on the shore. The water is also very muddy, so I didn't even really want to go into it. But if you really want to retire, then perhaps you will be more lucky here than on other beaches.

• Kovalam Beach

  

  Kovalam is another beach on the island of Kareytivu, and it is located further beyond the villages, it cannot be reached at all except by rented transport or taxi (White Sandy beach on the map). Moreover, the road will leave very confusing through the narrow passages between the houses, so it will not be easy to get here by car, preferably by motorbike or tuk-tuk.

  We found him in a terrible state, so I didn't even want to stay on the shore. The whole coast is covered with seaweed and garbage, there are fishing boats. It may have been temporary, but look at the photo for yourself. In general, based on what we have seen, we do not recommend even going here.

🕒 17 April, 2026