A long golden-sand beach nicknamed the 'Golden Mile', lined with resorts, seafood restaurants and swaying coconut palms.

Overview

Negombo's wide beach stretches for several kilometres north of the town along the palm-fringed coast, its main resort strip backed by hotels, guesthouses, cafes and seafood restaurants. The sand is broad and golden, and the sea is calm and swimmable through the northern-hemisphere winter. Fishermen still launch traditional outrigger craft from the southern end near the fish market, and sunset over the Indian Ocean is a nightly draw.

History

Negombo has been a fishing settlement for centuries, and the beach remains a working shoreline where the day's catch is landed and dried. Tourism grew from the 1970s onwards thanks to the beach's proximity to the newly opened international airport, turning the coconut-lined coast into one of the island's first resort strips.