Sunbeds and day passes in Sri Lanka, how they work

On Sri Lanka's south coast a sunbed is paid for in one of three ways: by ordering food and drink, by a fee for the hour or the day, or inside a hotel's day pass. Ask which one applies before you put your towel down.

How do sunbeds usually work on this coast?

The beach itself is free. What you pay for is the furniture and the service that somebody has put on it.

You order, and the sunbed is yours. This is the common way at surf cafes and small beach restaurants. Order a drink or a meal and nobody asks for more. Some places set a minimum spend, and it is not always written anywhere. In the busy months, and in the front row, it tends to be higher.

You pay for the sunbed. In the busiest bays some loungers are simply rented, by the hour or for the day, with or without an umbrella. The price moves with the season.

You buy a day pass. Beach clubs and some hotels sell a day: a sunbed, the pool, and often a meal and a drink for one price. Many hotels keep their sunbeds and pools for their own guests, most of all around Tangalle, so a day pass there is something you ask about, not something you assume.

None of the three is a trick. They are different ways to pay for the same shade. The trouble comes only when you learn which one it was at the end of the day.

What should you ask before you sit down?

Five questions, asked with a smile, save every misunderstanding:

• Is there a charge for the sunbed, or a minimum spend? And how much.
• Is it for each sunbed, each person or the table?
• Does it count for the whole day, or only some hours?
• Is a service charge added to the bill? Ours is 10%, and it is written on the menu.
• Can I leave and come back? For a swim along the beach, or lunch somewhere else.

If there is a pool, ask whether it is open to day visitors. If you have children, ask whether they are welcome all day. Some clubs turn to music and a grown-up crowd in the late afternoon.

How does it work at Ohana?

Our rule fits in one line. A sunbed is free for the whole day when you spend 10,000 LKR per person on food and drinks, one sunbed for each person; otherwise it costs 1,000 LKR an hour for each sunbed. The 10,000 LKR is counted for each person, not for the table, and one of our towels comes with every sunbed.

Here is what that means on a real day, for one person. Breakfast is an Avo Toast, 2,900 LKR, and a Flat White, 1,100 LKR. Lunch is a Tuna Poke Bowl, 4,500 LKR, with a Ceylon Cinnamon Iced Tea, 1,200 LKR. Add a Fresh Watermelon Juice, 1,500 LKR, in the afternoon, and the day is at 11,200 LKR before anybody has thought about dinner.

If you only want an hour in the shade with a coconut after a swim, pay for the hour. Both are fine with us.

Filtered water is on the house all day, and we lend snorkel masks free. The hammocks and the swings are free for our guests, and so, for now, is the cabana, with mattresses to sit on and three or four tables. Every sunbed comes with one of our towels, and there are a shower and a changing room, with toilets close by.

We serve no alcohol, so a day here is a quiet one. You can see the garden on the page of our beach club and its sunbeds in Dikwella.

What do our passes hold?

A pass is a day we have already put together, so that you do not have to count. There are five. Their prices and the way to reserve are on the passes page.

• The Ohana Day, from 08:00 to 21:00, for each person. Your sunbed for the whole day, breakfast with a coffee and a smoothie bowl of your choice, lunch with a fresh juice, a house iced tea and Papadam Nachos in the afternoon, dinner with a main course from a short list, one of them vegan, and a dessert, a snorkel mask and filtered water all day. A massage as an extra is coming soon.
• Sunset & Dinner on the Beach, from 16:00, for two. Two sunbeds for the golden hour, two mocktails with Papadam Nachos and two Baja fish tacos while the sun goes down, then a candlelit table in the first row on the sand, with the Red Snapper for Two and Grilled Pineapple to share.
• Snorkel & Lunch, late morning, for each person. A mask and where to walk in, the rules of the turtles told in two minutes, a sunbed for two hours after your swim, the Grilled Catch of the Day with its sides, and a fresh juice.
• The Work Day, from 08:00 to 17:00, for each person. A seat at the work table in the shade, Wi-Fi and a power socket, two coffees or teas, a fresh juice, lunch brought to you, and a swim when you close the laptop.
• Move & Brunch, in the morning, for each person. One regular class in the shala, then breakfast, with a coffee or a matcha.

Is a pass or a sunbed the better choice?

Take a pass when you know you will stay and eat: it saves the arithmetic and keeps your place. Take the sunbed alone, by the hour, when you do not know how the day will go.

The coast is at its busiest from about December to March, and the front row goes first everywhere. Our sunbeds can be reserved: write to us on WhatsApp, +94 76 016 4768, with the day and how many you are.

If you are still choosing where to spend the day, we wrote a fair list of the beach clubs on the south coast, from calm to lively, and a guide to the beaches near Hiriketiya.

Good to know

• Sunbeds at Ohana are free for the whole day, one for each person, when each person spends 10,000 LKR on food and drinks; otherwise they cost 1,000 LKR an hour each. A towel comes with every sunbed.
• Prices are in LKR, plus a 10% service charge.
• Breakfast is served from 08:00 to 11:00, lunch and dinner from 11:00 to 21:00, every day.
• No alcohol is served. Filtered water is on the house, and snorkel masks are lent free.
• Ohana is at Turtle Beach, Dikwella, less than five minutes by road from Hiriketiya.