The 2009 Sri Lanka Lonely Planet calls it “Baghdad at Sea”. We call it….paradise! Not that we don’t trust what Lonely Planet has to say…we definitely did our research before going. By research, we mean asking 100+ people if Nilaveli Beach was safe.
The answer was always the same. “Before, not ok. Now, it’s ok. Safe, safe.”
“Have you been”
“No, not yet. But beautiful beach. Very nice water!”
“But you’ve never been?”
“No, not safe before. But safe now.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes. Many tourist go now. Safe!”
Still unsure, we went to the Internet to read some blogs, hoping there’d be something more current than our outdated guidebook. Everything we found was dated, describing the beach as beautiful, but the area intensely scary: occupied by soldiers, streets strewn with rat poison, and shops boarded up only open to those who come knocking.
So, off to Nilaveli beach we went!
A little disappointed that we didn’t see any road blocks, rat poison, or boarded up shops, the beach itself was absolutely stunning! We’ll let the pictures below do the talking.
Apparently what the locals said were true. Nilaveli had definitely turned around, and was indeed safe. So long as you avoid the radioactive portion of the beach…
GATE20.com 
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