Why You'll Love Bentota Bentota built Sri Lanka's beach tourism industry in the 1960s and 70s, and it still shows: a long resort strip between the Indian Ocean and the Bentota River, known for watersports, river safaris through mangroves, and some of the island's best-known Ayurveda spas.
Boat trips up the river pass mangrove forests, a bird sanctuary and Cinnamon Island, where you can see how cinnamon bark is processed.
Jet-skiing, banana boats, windsurfing and diving schools cluster along Bentota beach, more developed than most other coastal towns.
Several long-established Ayurveda retreats offer multi-day treatment programmes alongside standard beach-resort stays.
Bentota is easy to combine with an Ayurveda spa retreat, the river safari, or a short drive south to Beruwala and Hikkaduwa.
