A busy fishing town roughly half-way between Galle and Matara, Ahangama has an intermittent stretch of beach that opens out properly to the east at Midigama where the surf is considered to be some of the best in the south. The beach often skirts towards the road, but when it finds its own path away from the traffic beneath swaying coconut palms it feels unspoilt and is often deserted except for the fishermen who can be seen hauling their wooden catamarans onto the soft golden sand. This stretch of beach is not only famous for its surf, but also for the stilt fishermen whose characteristic pose atop a stick stuck deeply into the sea bed is often seen on postcards and gracing the covers of guidebooks, such is its uniqueness to the island of Sri Lanka. Best photographed in the early morning and evenings as they cluster in favourite fishing spots close to the shore, the fishermen and their sturdy sticks, passed down through the generations, are often absent during the heat of midday. Inland from Ahangama’s beaches is a verdant wonderland of paddy fields and jungle that hug an amazing collection of antique houses whose pretty fretwork adorned eaves, inspiring stucco columns and delicate detailing hark back to the time of the colonials and make for an interesting walking tour. Also in this area is the Handunugoda Tea Factory where you can tour the estate and taste the tea to your heart’s content. There are no western-standard restaurants in Ahangama; they get better the closer you get to Galle (20km).