Kalkudah Beach House
Pasikuda

Hidden among swaying palms on Sri Lanka’s untouched east coast, Kalkudah Beach House is a quietly luxurious retreat where tropical ease meets thoughtful design. Opened in June 2025, this intimate property is Teardrop Hotels’ eighth opening, and a soulful addition to their growing collection of boutique escapes across the island.

Set directly on Kalkudah’s wide, powdery sands, the property offers a new frontier for barefoot luxury in Sri Lanka. At its heart is the Main House, a restored 1970s family home once known as Eastern Breeze Estate. Abandoned for years during the civil conflict and after the 2004 tsunami, it has been lovingly revived by Teardrop Hotels, who have layered contemporary simplicity over the charm of its Dutch-style arched windows and doors. Today, it blends family-home warmth with cool, modern elegance.

Designed with intimacy in mind, Kalkudah Beach House has just five bedrooms spread across two villas, creating both privacy and space for couples, families or groups of friends. Accommodation is divided between the three-bedroom Main House and the contemporary two-bedroom Palm Villa. In the Main House, the Kalkudah Suite spans 72 square metres, complete with a private balcony overlooking the ocean, whilst the Beachview Suite and Beachview Bedroom open onto shaded garden verandas. The Palm Villa houses two further Beachview Suites, with soaring ceilings and oversized windows. Altogether, the five rooms feel both secluded and connected, offering flexibility for exclusive-use stays or individual bookings.

The property is arranged around a 22-metre swimming pool, shaded by coconut palms and set within a 25-acre estate that flows seamlessly onto the sand. Interiors are calm and minimal - polished concrete, warm timber, handcrafted furniture - allowing the natural setting to take centre stage. Sustainability is central, with solar power providing most of the estate’s energy and an in-house water purification system supporting the gardens and pool.

Dining is equally considered. The kitchen celebrates the east coast’s bounty with ocean-to-table dishes such as reef fish grilled over coals, Batticaloa-style crab curries and tropical fruit salads. Meals are served in the open-sided dining pavilion, beside the pool or privately under the stars, with menus shifting daily depending on the catch and the season.

Days at Kalkudah can be as active or as restful as you like. The deserted beach is perfect for sunrise walks, while calm Pasikuda Bay nearby offers swimming, paddleboarding and kayaking. Boat safaris on nearby Batticaloa Lagoon reveal birdlife and traditional fishing life, and whale and dolphin watching between May and August makes for extraordinary sunrise sea safaris. Further inland, the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, part of Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle, also lies within easy reach, while Sigiriya and other archaeological treasures offer a deeper glimpse into the island’s layered history.

Kalkudah Beach House joins the wider Teardrop Hotels family, which includes Fort Bazaar in Galle Fort, Nine Skies in Ella, Camellia Hills in the tea country, Kumu Beach on the west coast, and the Wallawwa near Colombo. Each property offers its own personality but all are united by a sense of place, boutique scale, and warm, intuitive service.

Already, the new opening has attracted attention from the travel press. Condé Nast Traveller featured Kalkudah Beach House in its 2024 Hot List, praising its “laid-back design, eco-conscious credentials, and sense of being gloriously off the map.” Travel insiders have also celebrated its rebirth from a forgotten family estate into one of Sri Lanka’s most stylish new addresses.

Getting here is part of the adventure; around six hours by car from Colombo, or a short flight to Batticaloa followed by a one-hour drive. The reward is a Sri Lanka beach experience far from the crowds, a place of space, simplicity and easy luxury, where the beauty of the island’s east coast is revealed in its purest form.

I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad.
George Bernard Shaw