Sri Lanka, south coast

Our driver from the airport at Colombo took the motorway, new then and with little traffic on it, which did not stop him treating every other vehicle as one he was obliged to overtake. The run to Tangalle is about three and a half hours. He did it in three, at the end of a long flight, and we got no sleep. It is funny now.

It was late February into March, the dry season, and the heat was intense. The sea is what made it a pleasure: the wind came off it, and the water was cool enough to be a relief rather than a bonus. From May to September the south-west monsoon brings rain and rougher seas.

The week split in two, east then west, and much of it was spent at the table. Tangalle, in the east, is the rural end, long beaches and fishing villages. We stayed at Mawella, in a colonial house whose pool sits in the lawn and whose garden runs down to a beach that was windswept and almost deserted. That would have been enough. Then came dinner: sambals and curries, two of everything, and it overwhelmed us. We have not eaten better Sri Lankan food anywhere. The restaurant at Amanwella, also near Tangalle, was really good too, against stiff competition. Yala National Park is two hours and more by road, for leopards and elephants, and the safari we took from Mawella was one of the great days of the trip.

Thalpe, west towards Galle, is on a more built-up stretch, and the hotel we moved to was sleeker and a little more commercial: a pool scene and cocktails, and yoga at sunrise over the Indian Ocean. Dinner from there means Galle, fifteen or twenty minutes' drive to the fort. The Portuguese began it, the Dutch rebuilt and fortified it, and its coral-and-granite ramparts run about 3km round a grid of colonial streets. Walk the walls, then stay inside them to eat. Ours was at an upmarket place on the east side, near the Old Dutch Hospital, built round an inner courtyard with water in the middle, and the lobster curry was probably the best we have ever eaten. We have forgotten the restaurant's name, which is more than can be said for the curry.

Bring sun cream from home. The only kind we could find in Tangalle was a brand we did not recognise, and we burnt very badly under it.