Sri Lanka | Mirissa Beaches – Sri Lanka’s Beach Paradise?

Mirissa is one of the major beach town in southern Sri Lanka. From beautiful beaches, surf waves, whale watching to great bars and restaurants, Mirissa has a lot to offer and has become one of the most visited beach town among foreign tourists. This makes Mirissa a fun-packed hub with many activities to fill your time although it is also quite crowded. If you don’t mind the crowd, there’s a lot of things to do and see here. Otherwise, head to Tangalle for a more quiet vibe.

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Getting To Mirissa 

From Tangalle main bus station, you can take any bus bound for Colombo and alight one hour later in Mirissa. Beware though as the Mirissa bus station is rather not obvious and is merely a bus stand along the main road. It is not a proper sheltered bus station with bus bay, so you will need to keep an eye on the road in case you miss the stop. From the this bus stand, the beaches are just a couple of minutes walk away.  

Mirissa Bus Station

Address: Mirissa, Sri Lanka 

Bus from Tangalle to Mirissa: 1 hour (bus bound for Colombo, ask to alight at Mirissa), LKR 150 per person 

Recommended time in Mirissa beaches: at least half a day 

What To Do in Mirissa 

Secret Beach 

I believe this placed was named secret beach as it was once a place only enjoyed by the locals before tourists sniffed it out. However, as it is still a distance away from the main beach strip, many tourist who just drop by Mirissa without doing any research would probably still miss this, hence it’s still a good choice to break away from the crowd.

Secret Beach

Quite secluded with no one around

Empty

Quiet but the sand was a bit rough

The beach strip is narrow and small

We spent less than half an hour there

It's located near Secret Beach Bar

It’s easy to get to Secret beach and there’s even a sign in the main road that point to its direction. You can easily find it on google map. Otherwise, you can hire a tuk tuk to get you there. Since we went to Dondra with a tuk tuk, we asked the driver to drop us at Secret Beach, so it was easy for us. However, on our way back, we walked from Secret Beach to the main Mirissa Beach, a bit of a walk, but walkable. Alternatively, you can also walk there from Mirissa Harbour after your whale watching, since it’s quite close.  

When we were there, the place was really empty with no sign of any other tourists, but the beach is quite small and we didn’t swim there at all since the wave here is quite rough to me. Besides, I can’t really swim, so I’m basically there to take a stroll. It wasn’t the most attractive beach I’ve seen, but if you want a little quiet corner, this would be it.  

Mirissa Beach

The Mirissa Beach is the main beach in town, and it was beautiful. This is where you would find the crowd, bars and restaurants but thankfully no trash. Despite being crowded, it is among the cleanest beach I have ever seen which is quite impressive. There’s a lot of activities going on here where you can see people surfing, swimming, snorkelling, sunbathing, drinking, and so on. It’s a big contrast against Secret Beach earlier. This is an ideal place for some people watching.  

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Along the beach are plenty of small restaurants and cafes, mainly shacks built from bamboo. After dark, most of them put out tables on the beach decorated with light lanterns, and candles. It reminded me a lot of my trip to Pulau Redang many years ago, and that night we had seafood dinner in one of the restaurant. It’s not as good as the one we had at Tangalle, but the ambience is more romantic, so it’s perfect for couples. 

Mirissa Beach

Restaurant huts lined up on the beach

People swimming in the water

I can't swim so all I do is watch

You can find many operator on the beach for whale watching

We had our dinner here

Beautiful restaurants near the Parrot Rock

Another part of the beach with black sand

See the colour of the sand?

Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Coconut Tree Hill

This is perhaps one of the most instagrammable place in the whole of Mirissa and I can understand why. It’s a unique cliff at the end of the beach and as you climb up, the whole place looks like a small island covered in coconut trees. It’s about 15-minutes walk from Mirissa Beach and is it said to offer stunning sunset view. It’s also a perfect spot to watch the infinite sea.

Coconut Tree Hill

It's a fair bit of walk from Mirissa Beach

Finally here!

Look at the coconut trees

A nice place to chill and look at the sea

Very instagrammable too

We took plenty of photos here

I ran out of pose

Beautiful

Right? Right?

Love this place

It's the best thing to do besides whale watching

We visited in the morning after our whale watching tour and surprising there was no one there. I reckon a visit in the evening for sunset will draw more crowd.  

Parrot Rock

Right on Mirissa Beach, located at the left of the main beach entrance is a small rock island where you can climb up and get an aerial view of Mirissa beach and the sea. To get up there, you need to walk through the water which can be waist high at times depending on the tide and time of day. Once you cross the water, there is a staircase leading you to the top of the rock.  

When we were on Mirissa Beach that day, the tide was high and it seems like one would need to swim over, so we gave up going there. If you happen to be there when the tide is low, I think it is worth climbing up. However, do make sure to stay safe as the wave can be quite tough here.

Parrot Rock

It's located just in front of Mirissa Beach

Parrot Rock

Mirissa Whale Watching

One of the must do thing while in Mirissa is whale watching, and the tour usually starts around 6 or 7 in the morning (you must book a tour the day before!) and the whole trip takes about 4 hours. 

If you have not seen a whale in the wild before, I highly recommend doing this tour.  

Check out more about Mirissa whale watching here

Side trip to Dondra

Not a fan of all the above beaches? Or simply having too much time in Mirissa that you needed to fill your time up with more activities? Then a side trip to Dondra would be perfect for you! 

Located just 30 minutes away from Mirissa, the main attraction in here is the famous Dondra Lighthouse which is Lanka’s tallest lighthouse. It is also the southernmost point of Sri Lanka, which makes it even cooler to visit. You can also slot in Dondra Temple which is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, which is five minutes away from the lighthouse. 

Check out more about Dondra here:  

Dondra Lighthouse

Dondra Temple

Getting out of Mirissa 

Our next destination after leaving Mirissa is Galle which is pretty near. It takes only 1 hour by bus and there are plenty of buses which you can board along the main road. Just stand in front of the many bus stop beside the main road and hop on to any buses that is headed to Galle.  

Mirissa Bus Station

Address: Mirissa, Sri Lanka 

Bus from Mirissa to Galle: 1 hour (bus bound for Galle), LKR 100 per person 

Final Words

Mirissa is perhaps my preferred beach town in Sri Lanka as I’m not quite a beach person, so having a lot of activities to do other than beach strolling and swimming caters more to my style. I love that I could do whale watching here and visit the nearby Dondra Lighthouse which is a lot more fun than hitting the beaches. Even if you are a beach person, the beaches here are beautiful and you will enjoy your time here.

For other places of attractions in Sri Lanka, read my travel guide with sample itinerary and cost breakdown ➢ 12 Days Sri Lanka In Less Than RM2.2K - Visa Application, Sample Itinerary & Cost Breakdown