Puttalam: Lagoon Salt Pans and the Way to Wilpattu
Puttalam sits at the top of a large lagoon on the north-west coast, a working town of fishing, salt production and prawn farms. It is most useful to travellers as a junction near the Kalpitiya peninsula and the wild Wilpattu National Park.
Lagoon and salt
The Puttalam lagoon and its salterns stretch along the coast, glittering with salt pans and busy with fishing boats. Birdlife gathers along the shallow water, especially in the migratory season.
Gateway to wild places
From Puttalam it is an easy run to the kitesurfing and dolphin lagoons of Kalpitiya, and the town is one of the approaches to Wilpattu, the island’s largest and least crowded national park.
Getting there
Puttalam is the northern end of the western coastal road and railway from Colombo via Chilaw, and a hub for buses heading to Anuradhapura and the north-west coast.
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