Koggala with a private driver

Koggala sits on the coastal highway between Galle and Ahangama, straddling a long beach and a freshwater lagoon that feeds into the sea through a narrow channel. The village is historically significant as the birthplace of Martin Wickramasinghe, one of Sri Lanka's most beloved novelists, and his childhood home has been preserved as a folk museum with traditional fishing craft, Sinhalese household artefacts and Kolam dance masks. Koggala Lake — the largest natural freshwater lake in the southwest — is home to cinnamon islands where spice gardens survive from the Dutch colonial era, and a boat ride across the lake at dusk, with egrets and kingfishers roosting in the mangroves, is one of the quieter highlights of the south coast. Koggala beach itself is long and swimmable in season.