Pasikudah’s bay is enclosed by a reef that keeps the swell out and the water almost perfectly flat – calm, clear and shallow for hundreds of metres offshore. The resorts here are newer and more resort-oriented than the south coast options, which suits families and travellers who come specifically for private beach time, watersports and calm water. A genuinely different proposition to Mirissa or Tangalle.

Seven kilometres from Bandaranaike International Airport and consistently underestimated by travellers who pass through too quickly. The Dutch canal network, the lagoon fish market at dawn and the Portuguese Catholic church architecture give Negombo considerably more to offer than its transit-stop reputation suggests. Worth an evening, at minimum.

Hikkaduwa was the first stretch of Sri Lanka’s south coast to develop a surf and dive scene and it still carries that energy. The reef break is consistent and the coral sanctuary offshore has resident hawksbill turtles for snorkellers. Not the most refined destination on the coast, but reliable, well-equipped and with a character that hasn’t been entirely smoothed away.

Unawatuna’s coral reef sits just offshore in shallow water – the resident hawksbill turtles are easy to find and reliably present for snorkellers. The beach is a sheltered arc a short drive from Galle Fort, which makes it a natural afternoon extension of any fort day. Less dramatic than the open beaches further south, but well-equipped and genuinely good for underwater encounters.

Trincomalee has one of Asia’s finest natural harbours and Pigeon Island just offshore – a marine national park with blacktip reef sharks, sea turtles and coral in water shallow enough to snorkel from the surface. The clifftop Koneswaram Temple is the cultural anchor. From May to September, the ocean here is in completely different condition to the south coast, making it an excellent pairing for travellers catching both seasons.

Main Point delivers a long right-hander from May to October that works for complete beginners and rewards the more experienced. The village behind it is low-key in the way only places that haven’t been overly discovered can be – a few genuinely good restaurants, Pottuvil Lagoon five minutes away by boat, and a pace entirely unlike the south coast.

Tangalle is the wide, quiet, uncrowded alternative to the more commercial stretches of the south coast – long empty bays, the Rekawa sea turtle nesting beach and a coast where the loudest sound at night is the ocean. The resorts here have more space, more privacy and a pace that rewards travellers who have given themselves time.

Galle Fort is a UNESCO World Heritage site that is also a living town – boutique hotels, independent bookshops, art galleries, a Dutch Reformed Church from 1755, all of it inside 17th-century coral-stone ramparts above the Indian Ocean. Portuguese foundations, Dutch reconstruction, British additions: three layers of colonial history legible in a single afternoon walk. The rampart walk at golden hour is the thing most visitors remember longest.

Weligama Bay has a long, gentle right-hander that works for first-timers on day one and rewards more time in the water. The fishing village behind it is a working port – boats out before 5am, the catch laid out at the harbour by mid-morning. The restaurants that have opened here in recent years are genuinely good, particularly for seafood caught that day.

The deep-water canyon off Mirissa is one of the world’s most reliable blue whale migration routes. From November to April, boats go out before dawn and come back with photographs most people never get. A wide beach arc with a lighthouse on the headland and a relaxed strip behind it. Outside whale season, Polhena Reef has resident hawksbill turtles and consistent snorkelling all year.