A near deserted beach with blue skies, palm trees and the sound of the sea drifting through our bedroom window. We thoroughly enjoyed our three-night stop here and could have stayed for another three months. While not luxurious, the rooms are more than adequate, with spacious balconies that face either towards the sea (preferable) or the lagoon.

The helpful team run a small cafe on site that serves food and drinks throughout the day, and there are several other options along the beach. There’s no pressure from anyone here (much like the rest of Sri Lanka). When we visited, a small floating pontoon was operating while the access bridge was being repaired. This isn’t manned overnight, so if you are planning to arrive or depart at an odd hour, it’s worth checking in advance that you will be able to cross.

Note the sea here can frequently be unsafe to swim in. Please seek advice before going for a dip.

We stayed at Lonely Beach for 6 nights and would have stayed much longer in this beautiful and tranquil spot perched on the edge of a lagoon on the seafront. Our sea view room was simple but had everything you need for a relaxing stay. The lack of a/c was not a problem; with the windows open and the fan on it was lovely to fall asleep to the sound of the waves. Don’t come expecting luxury- the towels are small and scratchy, the breakfasts are pretty basic and the rooms don’t get serviced unless you ask them but I think this is quite common in Sri Lanka. With a myriad of beach front bars and restaurants just a stone’s throw away, there’s plenty of places to eat and drink, all of which are very quiet. We found that the little Sri Lankan places with hand written menus had the best food and were incredibly cheap. Go into Tangalle if you want to be somewhere a bit more lively. The staff at Lonely Beach were extremely helpful, helping organise tuk tuks and any trips we wanted to do. One of the guys happily ran us up the bridge to meet our taxi driver at 5am and magically being there to pick us up when we returned. Unlike further round at Mirissa, the stunning beach here is deserted. Be warned: only swim further along where the platform of rocks shelters you from the very dangerous waves that can sweep you away. Even in the ‘natural swimming pool’ area the currents can be quite strong. The bridge over the lagoon was washed away in the flood earlier in 2017 and work is underway to build a new one. For the mean time you get ferried across on a makeshift pontoon which just added to the feeling of going to a desert island.