G Abarajithan

PhD student @ UC San Diego. SoC Integration; Hardware Security & Verification; RTL for Edge AI

2 minute read

Jaffna has a lot to see and experience, and everything can be covered in 3 days on a tight schedule. I made a 3-day plan long ago, which I have used to take groups of friends on about 7 trips. I recently updated that plan for a friend.

The following includes unique highlights, things to see & do (grouped by region), transport (to/from and within Jaffna), and a Google map. Your suggestions/comments are welcome.

Unique Highlights

  • Delft Island - Australian outback of Sri Lanka. Desert island of corals (no soil). Odd-looking houses. Photogenic Dutch ruins. The best beach in Sri Lanka imho.
  • Fort Hammenheil - Portuguese-Dutch fort, in the middle of the sea. The Navy runs it as a hotel now, in great condition. Rohana Wijeweera was imprisoned here.

Food

  • Kool - Jaffna special, super spicy seafood soup on steroids
  • Kallu - Palmyrah toddy. Like 6% alcohol, tastes sweet
  • Milk hoppers, and other cheap authentic food from “Ammachchi Traditional Food Center, Thirunelveli”
  • Crab, prawns curries, pittu

Transport

  • Around Jaffna - The best way to see Jaffna is on motorbikes. There is only one rental shop. You can ask your friends, but Jaffna boys love their bikes more than their girlfriends. Else book a car/van. Public transport is quite shitty & things are far apart to walk/bicycle. Three-wheelers would bankrupt you. No PickMe/Uber.

  • From/to Colombo - Luxury bus (booking). Leaves around 8 from Wellawatte, and reaches Jaffna at 4 am. Train: Night mail will be super tiring (and not available now), day train is there, but will waste half a day.

To See & Do

Central Jaffna / Town Area

  • Fort
  • Nallur kovil
  • Rio ice cream
  • Sangilian’s Minister’s Palace - can skip
  • Library - can skip

North

  • KKS beach
  • Keerimalai pond & kovil
  • Dambakolapatuna

    Northwest

  • Fort Hammenheil
  • Casuarina beach - the route from Casuarina is beautiful at sunset

Islands

  • Delft - Leave the hotel at 6 am (take a lot of water, masks - it is dusty), take the ferry to Delft at Kurikattuvan at 7.30 am, hire a jeep (8-10 people per jeep), which will take you around the island till 12 noon, bathe at the beach, and take the ferry back to Jaffna or Nagadeepa around 2 pm.
  • Nainativu/Nagadeepa - ferry from Kurikattuvan. Easier if you do it on the same day as Delft

East Jaffna

  • Nilavarai Bottomless Well (on the way to Point Pedro)
  • Point Pedro
  • Manalkaadu Dutch Church, sunken in sand
  • Manalkadu, Nagarkovil beaches (lonely, beautiful beaches, but don’t swim without local help - deep after a point)
  • Ampan Mangrove Boating (in season)

South Jaffna

  • Sanguppiti bridge
  • Paddy fields on the way are beautiful if you go before harvest season
  • Elephant pass

Feel free to add your suggestions/modifications.

Google MyMap

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