Kalkuda beach & Passekudah beach

Kalkuda beach is located 282km east of Colombo in the eastern coast of Sri Lanka. Passekudah beach is located just south of Kalkuda beach. The Eastern coast extending from Yala National Park (South East) spreads right up to the beautiful beaches of Nilaveli and Uppuveli at Trincomalee in the North-eastern coast.

Kalkuda beach & Passekudah beach

Passekudah and Kalkudah beaches adorned with coconut palms set up an ideal stretch for bathing, Windsurfing and water skiing. Kalkudah Bay is a 2km long wide stretch of beach well protected by the off shore reef. Passekuda beach is wide and long. It spread along for 4km long just south of Kalkudah. The beach also houses a varied number of tropical fishes and exotic coral reefs. The combined beaches of Kalkudah and Passekudah are ideal for bathing as the sea is clear, calm and reef-protected: perfect setting for sun bathing, windsurfing, and skiing.

The combined area of Kalkuda beach and Kalkuda beach was declared as the National Holiday resort in 1973. Kalkudah & Passekudah are emerging as a popular tourist centre with many modern hotel facilities. May to September is considered as the best time to visit east coast, as it is dry during this period and the surfers can go for sun bathing, wind surfing as they please.

Passikudah Bay

Passikudah Bay contains a shallow coral reef towards the outer bay with scattered groups of corals within the bay, and is connected to similar reef systems further south towards Kalkudah. It is one of the best-known reef systems in the east and has been proposed as a Marine Sanctuary by NARA. Passikudah is very popular among visitors due to the calm clear waters which are ideal for swimming.

The Passikudah-Kalkudah reef system

The Passikudah-Kalkudah reef system was proposed as a Marine Sanctuary by NARA in the 1980s. Kalkudah Bay and Passikudah Bay has been proposed as a SAM site by the CCD. Passikudah Bay contains a shallow fringing coral reef towards the outer bay with scattered coral communities within the bay, and is connected to similar reef systems further south towards Kalkudah. It is one of the best-known reef systems in the east and has been proposed as a Marine Sanctuary by NARA.

Passikudah is very popular among visitors in view of the calm clear waters with coral reef, yet Coral mining is a major threat to the reef and has degraded large areas of reef around Kalkuda beach. At present, Kalkudah-Passikudah is much in favor of the budget travelers in contrast with Trincomalee-Nillaveli, Uppaveli beaches with high-end beach hotels. But then the matters are likely to be overhauled with the Passikudah Resort Development Project.

Passikudah Resort Development Project

The combined area of Kalkuda beach and Passekudah was declared as the National Holiday resort in 1973 and was popular for tourism in the 1970s and early 1980s but since then tourist activities had come to a halt till May 2009. With the total elimination of terrorism, the tourism having begun to boom in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (S.L.T.D.A.) has drawn up a blue-print of a Master Plan for a beach Resort with association of Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (SLIA. Initial action have taken to prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the whole resort to ensure the construction of a state of the art resort while protecting of the natural resource base.