Sri Lanka West Coast beach recommendation

[Taytocrisps101]

I'm off to Sri Lanka in the summer for a wildlife tour with Intrepid for 10 days and very excited! I've added an extra 5 nights before I fly home and am looking for recommendations for somewhere to stay for 3 nights on the beach. I'd like to be within a couple of hours of the airport, an interesting location with a beautiful beach for a bit of relaxation after a busy trip. I was then going to spend 2 nights close to Colombo to explore the city before I come home. I'm on my own so not sure if I'm happy navigating public transport - how easy is it to get a taxi / driver and is it safe? I was thinking of asking the hotels I'm staying in to arrange this for me. Tour ends in Colombo but I don't want to stay there for 5 nights.
Any recommendations for a suitable location please? Thank you! 🙂

You get get Uber but would recommend picking the more higher end options

Jetwings are nice and the Lagoon in Negombo is good, Jetwing Blue does good chili crab and is probably in a more “happening” place - both close to the airport

Bentota or Weligama

Bentota is ok (our hotel had fairly grim all-inclusive options so ended up eating out), coral was all dead when we snorkelled in area, we preferred the coast further south, much better snorkelling/ beaches, mainly surfers and small hotels. For a bit of luxury The Lighthouse hotel in Galle was a lovely 5 star right on beach- we went many years ago so may have changed.

@jampickles
We visit Galle as part of our tour, looking forward to it! I'm not sure if it's a bit too far from the airport but I'll check out your hotel recommendation, thank you.

If the tour ends in Colombo, there are trains down to Mirissa. It's far but a direct train and aircon carriage. If you Google it will tell you how long the trip is. That's my fav beach! I would just use Tuk Tuks for small trips, they will know all the names of hotels even if they don't speak much English.

I wouldn't bother with any time in Colombo to be honest, maybe one night if you have to. There's not much worth seeing in my opinion if you're already doing a tour of more interesting places!

Ps. I've never been to west coast so I'm not sure what it's like. If your do stay in Colombo, Mount Lavinia is a nice beach and a good hotel.