Trincomalee

Trincomalee is on the north-east coast, and its whole appeal is a matter of timing: it is at its best from May to September, exactly when the south and west of the island are under the south-west monsoon. If you are travelling in the European summer, this is where the good weather is.

The town sits on one of the finest natural deep-water harbours in the world, which is why every colonial power in the region fought over it. Most visitors, though, stay north of town at Nilaveli or Uppuveli, where the beaches are.

The beaches

Nilaveli is a long, straight, pale-sand beach about fifteen kilometres north of Trincomalee, and in season the water is flat and clear in a way the south coast rarely manages. Uppuveli, closer to town, is smaller and has more places to eat within walking distance. Both are quiet compared with anywhere on the south coast — the east was cut off for decades by the civil war and the tourism infrastructure is thinner, which is either the drawback or the point depending on what you are after.

Pigeon Island

Pigeon Island National Park is a short boat ride from Nilaveli and it is the best easily reached snorkelling in Sri Lanka: reef sharks, turtles and live coral in shallow water. Entry is around USD 10 per adult plus the boat.

Go early. The island is small, the numbers are not tightly controlled and the reef nearest the landing beach has taken a beating from people standing on it. Ask your boatman to drop you at the far side and do not touch the coral.

Koneswaram temple

Koneswaram sits on Swami Rock, a cliff above the harbour at the end of the headland. It is one of the five historic Shiva temples of Sri Lanka, destroyed by the Portuguese in 1622 and rebuilt in the twentieth century. The setting — a painted temple on a cliff with the Indian Ocean on three sides — is the reason to go rather than the architecture. Shoes off, shoulders covered.

Whales and dolphins

The deep water offshore brings blue whales and sperm whales close in between May and October, and the pods of spinner dolphins here can run into the hundreds. It is the same animals seen off Mirissa in the opposite season, and the boats are considerably less crowded.

Getting there and how long

Trincomalee is around six hours from Colombo, and two and a half from Anuradhapura, which is the sensible way to arrange it: Cultural Triangle first, then east. Three nights lets you have a slow day on the sand, a morning at Pigeon Island and a whale trip without stacking early starts back to back.