I am trying to put together an itinerary for travel around Sri Lanka. So far I have;

Mount Lavinia 3 nights
Kandalama 2 nights
Galle Fort 2 nights
Beach 4 nights

For the beach I am thinking of either Beruwela (Eden), Bentota (Taj Exotica) or Kalutara (Blue Waters). What I specifically wanted was not to be hotel based and to be able to go out to bars and restaurants in the vicinity of the hotel in the evening. I can't seem to find that information even in my guide book which just implies that every beach resort is hotel based and half board, which I really don't want. Can anyone advise on staying either at one of the above 3 hotels/areas or indeed any other place where there would be some local life away from the hotels.
Thanks very much.

Anna, We used a lady named Lindsay at Boutique Sri Lanka, which I found on the web. She was incredibly helpful. My suggestion would be to check out their web site and, to the extent you need more information, contact them directly.

I know there is no night life around Taj Exotica. Blue Water is a gorgeous hotel but not sure re night life there either. Sri Lanka's beaches are not exactly like Goa with a thriving local beach scene. Actually, you will get great night life in Colombo and it is IMO a city worth spending a copuple of days in.

I should have said in my earlier post that Lindsay was able to steer us to some places that we would never have found on our own - some of which turned out to be highlights of our trip.

Kalutara was hit extremely hard by the tsunami and is still a bit of a mess, sorry to say. We were there last month, Sept 05.

Near the the Taj Exotica at Bentota is Wunderbar. Check out www.hotel-wunderbar.com. They do great fish dishes and the place rocks!

There are other little bars near the Taj, but it certainly is a quiet place compared to Colombo.

Everywhere we stayed most people were in bed by 10!!! Unless they were drinking arrack with the beach boys!

Also Galle Fort area is full of hotels, bars, cafes. Have fun!

How long do you have in Sri Lanka? Would your beach stop be your last 4 nights? Blue Water, I stayed at for our last three or four nights in Sri Lanka at the end of a longish holiday. It is a fine place but it is fairly self contained and I can't imagine wandering out of there at night to find any other night life. We stayed there on B&B basis and paid for any other meals seperately. It is in Waduwa which is about 8 km north of Kalutara and we only stayed there because it was fairly near to Colombo for our departure home. The other factor was that it is a Geoffrey Bawa designed hotel (the same architect who designed Kandalama). How lucky are you to be staying there? Take some time to see what an inspired design the hotel is and sit at Geoffrey Bawa's desk and imagine his vision. Main tip at Kandalama is don't be tempted to leave your balcony doors open even for a moment because of the monkeys and don't try to eat food out on your balcony for the same reason. There's quite a gang of them!
Unfortunately can't give you any other beach recommendations because the two places that we stayed in and really loved in Tangalle and Mirissa were devasted in the Tsunami.

Kippy
Yes, it would be at the end of the holiday, but I don't think I would like it if it is very self contained. I get bored being too hotel based (when by the beach) and would prefer to stay somewhere close to a village environment even if is further from the airport. Perhaps I need to stay further South?
Thanks for your advice.

Some thoughts. The two places on that coast that I thought probably had some beach type night life were Hikkadua and Unawatuna. Never stayed there so can't confirm. However, that coast - south of Galle in particular - was so badly hit by the tsunami and although many of the larger hotels have managed to get up and running again, I don't know about the smaller beach restaurants etc.

See my above post, all pre-tsunami info.

I have now booked through Red Dot Tours www.reddottours.com - very helpful and a good price. I tried Lyndsay at Boutique Sri Lanka from other reccomendations, but she wanted money in advance before even pricing my fixed itinerary. I wasn't willing to agree to this since their (excellent - seriously) website quoted several extortionate prices.

Anyway final itinerary is;
Mount Lavinia 3 nights (close to arrival airport)
Unawatuna 4 nights - some beach life and priximity to Galle
Centauria - evening and morning elephant safari
Boulder Garden - In the rain forest, a rainforest tour and some white water rafting included.
Negombo- The Beach - a fancy hotel to finish things off.

I've done quite a lot of research, so hopefully this will be a good mix of things to do and places to stay.

We're off in mid March so will post a report on our return.

Just a tip on Negombo. Don't expect great beaches! They are not good beaches on either side of the peninsula.

It's often used by travellers as an overnight stop either before or after their flights. Not as a destination in itself!

Hopefully your hotel will have a great pool! Have a great trip!