The Tangalle trail

Of all the towns near the Mahanda Rajapakasa Stadium, just west of Sooriyawewa, 28km inland from Hambantota, Tangalle has the best access to places to visit between cricket matches.

Tangalle is a scruffy town - no longer a quaint village on the coast, as its old houses have been replaced by concrete boxes - by the 198km post on the A2 highway that runs from Colombo via Galle to Hambantota and beyond.

The highlight for early risers is to witness the fishing boats unload the previous night's catch and the auctioning of it at dawn in the small harbour just below the Tangalle Rest House.

The town itself is unattractive with a busy covered vegetable market and some stalls selling fish behind it. There is an ATM in the HNB building next to the market and the parking spot for the town's sole Nano mini taxi (Tel: 94-071-381-6381), which can be hired for Rs 45 per metered kilometre. The town's playing field, where kids practise cricket all day, is behind the market and a local bar (buy drinks from the "cage" downstairs and consume them in the "Chinese" restaurant upstairs) overlooks it.

The Tangalle Rest House was originally built in 1774, and an old colonial bungalow, with a bar, remains on the site, but the guest rooms are in a bleak adjoining block, next to the police station. Its redeeming feature is the view of a small cove and beach where locals enjoy sea bathing.

There are some beachside cafés to the west of the town, on the way to the best hotel in the area, the genuinely retro 1970s-feel Tangalle Bay Hotel, with rooms straddling the sides of the cliff that runs down to the shore. The bar and pool terrace are good for spending the day doing nothing very much.

For the energetic, a trip up the B55 and B56 side roads can be made to Mulgirigala, 16km inland from Tangalle, a place of great importance in the religious fabric of Sri Lanka. It is a gaunt, grey, natural rock monolith soaring 106m from jungle vegetation into the sky. A cave retreat of Buddhist monks, possibly dating back to 130BC, its importance stems from a chance discovery there in 1826 of a document that enabled translation of an ancient chronicle detailing Sri Lanka's early history. Today there is a post office at the base of the rock, and visitors have to climb barefoot past the caves with paintings and images to see the dagoba (domed shrine) at the summit. There is an admission fee, and guides lurk, eager to elaborate on the rock's history.

To the east of Tangalle, by the A2 road running towards Ranna, are a couple of cottage-style cafés with a pronounced laidback ambience. Suna Garden Restaurant is open from 11am to 10.30pm (Tel: 94-71-4341551) and displays a notice board offering "Chop Sue". Next to it, with windows made of cart wheels, is the Saliya Restaurant at 78 Tissa Road.

Before you get to the bright green paddy fields around Ranna, there is a signpost on the A2 pointing seawards to the Rekawa Lagoon and Turtle Conservation Project. This involves the local fishing community in its efforts to conserve turtles in their natural habitat and employs as nest protectors those who were formerly dependent on the illegal collection of turtle eggs. Visitors can pay to release baby turtles into the sea.

In Ranna itself, there is a new resort called Ranna212 (the 212 stands for the distance in kilometres from Colombo). The management claims the resort's vehicle drivers know a shortcut inland to the cricket stadium that takes only 45 minutes. Tony Grieg and other commentators have stayed there in the past. With 54 rooms, all meals as buffets, a BBQ terrace beside its swimming pool, and a canoe serving as a beach-bar counter, the place is popular with cricket fans.

At the other end of the vast, deserted beach, on a promontory beside the small fishing cove of Kalametiya, is the Turtle Bay Hotel, which has seven rustically decorated rooms, a relaxed atmosphere (breakfast is served all day), a discreet bar with television, and a swimming pool with a view of miles of beach. It adjoins the Kalametiya Bird Sanctuary, which is open to independent explorers.

At Bata Atha on the A2 after Ranna are some curious moulded concrete gates indicating the entrance to the Agro Technology Park ("Agriculture Technology for Fruitful Future"). This is a park (admission Rs 200) with displays of cultivation, a crop museum and a floriculture unit.

In Ambalantota, near the 225km post, the road crosses the Walawe Ganga, where a boat trip can be arranged for a river safari. The river stems from the heights of Adam's Peak, watering the Hambantota hinterland and winding through jungle where birds soar and monkeys romp.

In Hambantota itself, by the main turn off from the new road into town, overlooking a salt pan, is the kind of discovery that makes venturing independently around Sri Lanka worthwhile. Mr Lu's Chinese restaurant (108/1 Siribopuya, Hambantota, luzhengsan@163.com; Tel: 94-77-4893368) has its sign in Chinese because its clientele is mainly resident Chinese working on Hambantota's port and airport projects. No phony "Chinese" food here. In a modern house hung with a few Chinese lanterns to give it atmosphere, Mr Lu cooks dishes from a long menu that includes Beef Tripe in Five Spices, Osmanthus Meat, Dry Pot Pig Stomach and Hot Iron Plate Squid, all at Rs 500 a generous portion. Cold beers too. Definitely worth the trip to enjoy great food on a non-playing day.