Unawatuna ranked among best beaches

Sri Lanka is world renowned for it’s splendid beaches and tranquil shores and the In Flight entertainment guide of the Cathay Pacific airline, ‘Discovery’ officially seconded that statement by listing Unawatuna as one of the best beaches in the region in October.
Listed under the Best Beaches in the ‘Paradise Found’ section, Unawatuna joins the ranks of Siargao beach in Phillipines.
Being identified among the best by Cathay Pacific is a fillip for the location and a people poised to deliver and delight visitors. Cathay Pacific was voted the Airline of the Year 2009 in the Skytrax World Airline Awards – the third time in 10 years, and also named Best Airline in Asia.
Unawatuna is one among the many attractions in the island, all of which have been highlighted in the 11th researched and updated version of ‘The Lonely Planet’s guide to Sri Lanka.
Published once in four years, ‘The Lonely Planet’ is one of the most popular travel guides in the world and the new version of Sri Lanka has 72 detailed maps and gives a comprehensive account of places to visit with itineraries highlighting special places of interest.
October was also the month where beautiful women from Europe and across the world raided the dry zone of the country as a part of the ‘Raid Amazon’ race organized by France based ZBO network.
The only all women race in the world had teams of three running, trekking, canoing, cycling and climbing all over the Dambulla, Kandalama region and were filled with French beauty queens.
Experiencing Sri Lanka with Raid Amazons 2009, Rachel Legrain Trapani (Miss France 2007) said, “During the adventure-race we discovered the amazing sceneries of Sri Lanka; during the trek or while climbing the Lion’s Rock of Sigiriya, in particular. All the landscapes were wonderful and helped us forget the difficulties of the sport. The images of the country will remain engraved in my memory for all my life: the wild nature, the elephants, the paddy fields, all this is very typical and gave us a complete change of scene”   
For Rachel, “the best moment ever was on top of Sigiriya rock,” she said, adding “The warmth and sense of welcome of the people who greeted us spontaneously is also another great souvenir, they were applauding during and all the way. It was absolutely lovely”
The statuesque Corinne Coman, (Miss France 2003) also touring the country while competing in Raid Amazons 2009 was impressed by the greenery and lush Sri Lankan countryside. “This is an incredibly green country, it is wonderful.”
She added, “What made the biggest impression on me in Sri Lanka was the beauty of the landscape. A great serenity radiates from all the places. We had this nice quiet feeling in the country. In the elephant reserve [in Minneriya] and at the Lion’s Rock in Sigiriya, we were stunned by the calm and soothing atmosphere. The spontaneity of the people, the children who were encouraging us and who were throwing water at us on the way. We could feel that they are a very open-minded people, very spontaneous.”