turtles are held forcibly by locals to make money by selling seaweed or snorkeling. They are surrounded by circles of people, they have nowhere and no way to escape. They are forced to surface by tourists, touched or children sit on them. no one controls this. an animal torture ground for human greed. I do not recommend, terrible experience.

Please don’t join into this ugly tourism. The way people treat turtles is disgusting. They touch them with their hands full of sunscreen, lift, jump on them poke their heads, drag them to the shore to take pictures. Every hour or less there will be tours coming where guides will give tourists the food and lure turtles in so that more people can abuse them for a picture… ugly and disgusting tourism practice, please don’t e a part of it.

What an amazing natural beach to spot massive sea turtles. Also You can buy packets of seaweed from there to feed turtles while supporting local businesses. Much recommended to visit this place if you are in hikka

Would be a nice place. Unfortunately it's a big SCAM PLACE!!! There are locals, performing as official staff, with nice orange and yellow shirts, saying "VOLUNTEER!!! turtle and beach keeper" If you don't pay these self called volunteers 5000! Rupees they will become angry and will not allow you to take pictures of the turtles or get closer. If you pay the "volunteers", it's no problem to get closer to the turtles. Otherwise they will block you.

Visit in the morning when tide is low and water is calm, you can but don't need to buy a bag of weed to feed them the turtles come up to you looking for food anyway, I believe the turtles are wild free turtles which hang around the area and beach between November and March. A wonderful experience.

I have got surreal experience by just looking at the turtles .. i have fed them, touched them ... I never thought going there was worth ...however after reaching there and touching and playing ....it just felt like a movie.. if u love animals and wana touch one of the most lived animal 200 years ..then come and enjoy... there will be people who will give you sea weed to feed the turtle... which u can buy if u want to feed ..we paid some 1000 LKR for this.. no tickets are required for this activity. Beach is super clean and we saw one LIVE sea urchin..so be little careful too.

The beach itself is small and cute, you can't really lie down here because of the strong tide. The turtles are very friendly and there are actually quite a few of them. But unfortunately the tourists are very rude. The animals are raised, hunted, ridden... And the turtles come back just for all the food. I really wasn't a fan of this place

When I arrived at the beach it was raining so the turtle point was empty once the rain stopped I went in to the water only up to my calf and the turtles came swimming close although I kept my distance, it started to get busy pretty quick once the rain stopped, I am pleased to say that I didn’t witness any abuse to the turtles while I was there

It is turtle conservation and hatchery place in Hikkaduwa near Bentota Srilanka. They have a variety of turtles who are sick or injured. They are brought here to heal and then sent back to ocean. They have a small aquarium featuring small sharks, sting rays, and cattle fish. It is a nice place to visit with family

Here you can actually see turtles that are not just artificially kept here for tourists. Come before 9, otherwise it is very crowded! The turtles are coming very close to the beach and you can feed them with seaweed. On other beaches we have always been asked to not touch the 🐢. So respect them and don’t touch them (even though many people on this beach do…)

Went for a evening stroll and it was mesmerizing. Boat rides snorkeling surfing activities are available on the site. If you're planning to go on coral reef watching rides best to go before noon early morning would be ideal. Boat owners might come up with heavy prices so beware not to get scammed. Place could get crowded so you might want to walk a few 100 yards to the left side so you can experience the beach peacefully. Evening sundown scene is picturesque to enjoy you must find a less crowded place. If you're lucky enough you'll find some interesting species right on the beach but very rare I must mention.

Here you can see the huge turtles that come to eat every day for free. However, a lot of tourists.

The turtles are amazing!!! The beach is small but not overcrowded. Only negative aspect is the place (even the entire Hikaduwa) is full of stupid Russians they have no respect for the animals and they behave like animals...what a shame!

Its a great place to see giant turtles. Unlike the other reviewers, we did not see any animal abuse. Most of the people were being gentle towards the turtles while feeding them and everyone was maintaining enough distance from the turtles.

We really saw turtles here, but unfortunately there were a lot of tourists there who wanted to touch the animals the whole time. There were also locals there who sold seaweed for a lot of money to feed the animals and keep them close to the beach. Had a bitter aftertaste. 😔

What a wonderful beach. Calm and quiet, sometimes sun is too strong to this beach. Perfect place for a good sunbath but have to be careful because wind is kinda strong. There are a turtles swimming around this place and the local beach boys help to bring them to the beach itself. Some of them charge for that but some don't. They have sea weed and we can feed these turtles with them.

The turtle beach is very beautiful beach to visit and enjoy the sunset. there are giant turtles and people feed them and play with them.Also the water is very clear therefore you can see small fishes in the water .In the evening, the sky view is soo amazing and memmorable. I recommend this beach to all who wants to relaxed your mind.

I would put 0 if I could, no preservation of natural space for turtles to lay their eggs is a disaster! Don't take part in this, the newborns are gathered in large buckets for several hours before being released under the flashes of dozens of tourists gathered around, the babies are put under stress, it's hell! Don't fuel this type of tourism!

Beautiful beach to visit and enjoy the evening sunset. There are huge turtles to see and feed them very closely. Perfect for swimming,diving and surfing as well.

Lovely place to watch giant turtles. I was there 2 times. You can just go there by 10 minutes walk from hikkaduwa beach. Please don’t touch them and disturb their visit.

You can see amazing turtles. They are beautiful creatures. BUT you can see them so close only because people are feeding them. Then touching them, pulling their tails, blocking them to get pictures etc...horibble human behaviour.

Avoid this place. Poor turtles flooded by the human tide who has no respect and takes them for toys.

An unforgettable experience for animal lovers ! You will have the opportunity to see and feed large sea turtles. The locals for money and offer the algae, which feed on turtles. Attention. No need to grab and be obtrusive with turtles, don 't waste their trust in people

This is one of the best place to watch turtles.. you dont have to buy ticket or pay to visit there.. turtles come to the beach and you can even feed them sea weeds and pet them. The beach is also very beautiful.. i highly suggest you to visit

Okay. So first off .. there are no turtles visible on a daily basis. Apparently you have to be "lucky" to see them. Okay and they advertised this as the glass beach which we assumed was some shiny glass pebble beach like you have in the US. What it turned out to be was a boat with glass bottom where you do see underwater because the water was very clear. We took a "glass boat" and after the first 3 minutes I felt sea sick. The guy kept on rocking the boat so bad that I almost choked on the diesel smell in water. It is a good place if you know swimming and would like to snorkel. Since the waters are not very deep for quite some kms, it is comparatively easy. Overall.. it's a no for me and I would not want my friends to have this experience.

The way tourists treat the animals is animal cruelty. Dirty and overcrowded. And less than 10 meters away, the sewer is drained into the sea. The fact that there are still animals here is really amazing.

Avoid this place!!! Already early at 7 it was overpopulated with people harassing a few (but still very beautiful, large) turtles. This goes on all day long - over time there are more and more disrespectful people. The turtles cannot move and are constantly touched, fed algae and held for photos.

You will have the opportunity to see and feed large sea turtles. The locals asked for money and offer the algae, which feed on turtles. Attention. No need to grab and be obtrusive with turtles, don 't waste money on this

The turtle beach 🏖️ is very beautiful there you can see real turtles people feed them and play with them.Also the water there is clean you can see small fishes in the water .In the evening the sky view is amazing when the sunset begin the sea water looks mesmerizing that time.I love this place I recommend to all who wants to visit hikkaduwa.

The beach is breathtaking and the atmosphere is great too. But please be aware of the locals who’re selling sea weed to feed the turtles. Let the animals live where they belong, do not entertain such acts ! Save animals, save earth !!

There are a lot of tourists, sometimes you just can’t get close to the turtles, at the beginning of the beach locals sell seaweed for 1000 rupees, which they immediately tear up for free 50 meters from the beach, on the reefs in shallow water you can see small sharks

Turtles are cool. It’s just a pity that everyone touches them, although it is written that they are not allowed

Nice beach without waves, you can swim with turtles, but there are a lot of people

Ordes of tourists surround the turtles at the point that they cannot swimm free, despite the bans tourists touch and feed the turtles,it is a sad circus to witness

🐢🐢Turtles come right in to the very shallow water. People were feeding the turtles seaweed (not sure that is aloud). 🐢🐢 We hired a guide to take us snorkelling well worth the $15 he took us to a different part of the beach where it was just us and the turtles.

Best place to see the turtles in their habitat. There are more than 15 turtles reaching this beach. However, their behaviour is totally random and, in some days, none of them reaches the beach. There are some guides at the beach who may provide see weeds to feed the turtles. Those guides know the way to get the turtles to the beach by throwing see weeds. You can even touch the turtles and feed them.

If you visit the place during turtle season, you can see a lot of them. You can go boating up to a certain distance. You will be frequently troubled by people who stand at the entrance promoting stuff like boating. If you go directly to the boating start place, you can negotiate a better rate with the boat owners

Nice place to see turtles and feed them.

Great place to hangout with friends.. saw some live turtles also and feds them.. baywatch is also in there if any case.. spectacular spot for snorkeling

The beach is very nice and warm. Unfortunately there were no turtles on the water when i visit here 26 Jan 2023. Anyhow the beach very crowd, busy with commercial activities, too much local selling stuffs. Suppose to be Sri Lankan Tourism Board need to monitor the situation here. Otherwise on coming years, young generation have nothing to see here.

This beach is so beautiful that once you go there you would not want to come back. It is clean, the sand is soft, no rocks on the beach, clean and all sort of facilities. It is a must visit beach if you are in Bentota.

Amazing to see the turtles. They swam right up to the beach, and ate seaweed from the hand. We went at 1:30pm, and we saw 3 large turtles. A must see whilst on your travels.

Lovely beach with possibilities to swim and see turtles just around the corner. Lovely warm water, slightly rocky inside the water so be careful. Well worth a visit.. beautiful!

There are lot of turtles coming to the shore and we can feed them. They will catch the sea weeds and its awesome. Be careful when feeding turtles. Also would be able to go closer to them and observe their behavior

Very nice experience they sell weed to feed Turtles. it seems they have done the farming they have adopted and they are taking care of turtles there just to attract customers which is very good. People enjoy feeding to Turtles especially kids. they sell weed and they charge around 1000LKR for one person. So it is overall Good deal for such experience. Enjoy!! All the best

We were surprised after seeing these huge turtles near the beach. They are very friendly. Be careful with the local guides, they are trying to get some money to see the turtles, no one needs to spend any money to see these amazing animals