Point Pedro

Is Point Pedro worth visiting?

Quick answer: Point Pedro is worth a half day from Jaffna if you want to stand at the far north-east tip of Sri Lanka. It is about 32 km and 41 minutes from central Jaffna by road with no traffic. The main sights are the 1916 lighthouse, the Vallipuram Vishnu temple about 5 km south and the Sivan temple at Valvettithurai about 7 km west. There is no weather station in the town, so we use the Jaffna station normals, which show October to December as the wet months.

Most visitors stay in Jaffna and come out for the day. Point Pedro sits on the Vadamarachchi coast, on the opposite side of the peninsula from Jaffna town, so it pairs well with a morning at the temples and an afternoon on the coast road.

What is there to see in Point Pedro?

The Northern Province tourism bureau lists these sights in and near the town. We did not visit them today, so the notes below are what the bureau says.

Road figures are OSRM samples taken on 29 October 2026 with no traffic. Short trips like these can take much longer behind buses and tractors.

What is the Point Pedro lighthouse?

The bureau says the topmost tip of Sri Lanka is where Point Pedro is located, and calls it the northernmost town of the island. Its lighthouse page says the light was built in 1916 at the north-eastern corner of Sri Lanka, at the southern entrance to the Palk Strait.

The tower is described as a 31 m white conical masonry tower with a beacon and a light gallery. The bureau says it shows one white flash every 5 seconds, visible up to 10 nautical miles, and that it guides ships and fishermen.

The bureau page gives no opening hours and does not say if visitors can climb it. Treat it as a sight to see from the outside unless staff on site tell you otherwise. It is a working navigation light, so do not walk into fenced areas.

What is the Vallipuram temple?

The bureau says the main deity of Vallipuram Aazhvaar temple is Maha Vishnu. It sits in the village of Thunnalai in Vadamarachchi, among palmyra groves on a sandy stretch, and the bureau calls it a very famous temple in the north.

Two dated details from the bureau page help with planning:

• The annual festival lasts 17 days.
• The Samudra Theertham, a water-cutting ceremony at the sea, is held on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Puraddathi, which falls in September or October.

Festival days are busy and roads near the temple can be slow. If you want a quiet visit, avoid them. If you want to see the festival, check the date with the temple or the bureau before you go, because Hindu calendar dates move each year.

What is the Sivan temple at Valvettithurai?

Valvettithurai is the next coastal town west of Point Pedro, about 7 km away by road. The bureau says its Sivan temple stands south of the Sri Muthumari Amman temple, beside the Valvettithurai to Kankesanthurai road.

According to the bureau page:

• The temple's lingam, called the Panalingam, was brought from Benares (Kasi) in north India with images of Lord Nadarajar and Lord Santhirasegar.
• The consecration ceremony took place on 8 June 1883. A newer consecration for Lord Vaitheeswarar and other deities was held on 4 February 2004.
• The annual festivals are in the Hindu month of Panguni, which falls in March or April. They include a Theertham at the Oorani seafront in Valvettithurai.

Dress as you would for any Hindu temple. Our Nallur temple guide explains the dress code used at the best-known temple in Jaffna, which is a useful guide to what to expect.

Is there a beach at Point Pedro?

The bureau lists Manalkadu beach on the northern coast. Its page is general: it talks about several kilometres of sandy coast and calm seas when the south-west monsoon blows from April to October. It gives no directions, no lifeguard details and no safety notes.

We could not place Manalkadu on OpenStreetMap today, so we give no road time for it. Ask in town for the way, and do not swim where local people are not swimming. For the wider picture of the region's beaches, see our Jaffna destination guide and the Mullaitivu guide further down the east coast.

How do you get to Point Pedro?

Point Pedro is reached by road. These are OSRM figures sampled on 29 October 2026, with no traffic. Real trips take longer.

Buses. The National Transport Commission (NTC) inter-provincial fare table in force from 6 July 2026 covers buses between provinces. We did not find a Jaffna to Point Pedro row in it, so we quote no fare. Local buses run inside the Northern Province, so ask at the Jaffna bus stand on the day.

From Colombo. Most people first get to Jaffna. Our Colombo airport to Jaffna guide and our Colombo to Jaffna road trip cover that leg.

From India. Kankesanthurai, where the ferry from Nagapattinam lands, is about 25 km away. Our India to Sri Lanka ferry guide has the details. Check the operator before you plan around it.

What is the weather like in Point Pedro?

Point Pedro has no station of its own in the WMO normals. The nearest is Jaffna, about 32 km away by road and at 3 m above sea level. These are its 1991 to 2020 normals.

The year totals 1,369.2 mm, and more than two thirds of it falls from October to December. March to September are hot: the station averages about 28 to 31 days a month at 30 C or more in those months, against 6.7 days in December.

Outlook. The Department of Meteorology's seasonal outlook issued on 2 October 2026 expects near-normal rainfall in the Northern Province during December 2026. That is a broad outlook, not a daily forecast.

How can you fit Point Pedro into a route?

Point Pedro works best as a day trip from Jaffna. One simple loop is Jaffna, then Vallipuram, Point Pedro lighthouse and Valvettithurai, then back to Jaffna by the coast road towards Kankesanthurai. Do the temples in the morning and the coast in the afternoon.

If you are spending a week in the north, our Jaffna and the north 7-day itinerary shows how a day like this fits around Jaffna town, the islands and the Vanni. If you are coming from the east coast, our Jaffna to Trincomalee guide covers the long road south.