A surf trip to Sri Lanka’s East Coast has always been on the bucket list. The country has incredible nature, rich culture, delicious food and is blessed with some beautiful waves.
We did it as a family trip (kids 10 & 8), and was a fantastic experience for all of us. We surfed alot. We swam at night. We cruised by TukTuk. Ate alot of curries. Saw wild elephants, crocodiles and even a sloth bear. Paid respects at some magnificent temples, and met some really warm, happy Sri Lankan people. The place is epic.
Disclaimer: I’m writing this for experienced surfers… there is some generic/general info available online but written mostly for/by beginner surf travellers, or surfcamps promoting themselves. If you want to score, this guide is for you. Don’t hate the player, hate the game 😉 Be cool to the beginners, we were all there once.
General Info
I was expecting soft chest-high sand bottom points, which we got, but also had pumping , well-overhead waves that were seriously fun to surf.
Mornings are the best for the cleanest conditions, with the trade wind coming up cross to onshore at most breaks. They still work though in the ruffled conditions, Main Point especially.
Main Point has a mellow, rocky/coral bottom. Sharp in places but really, booties are unnecessary. Rest of the spots are basically sand with the odd rock.
Crowds here are through the roof, Ive never seen anything like it! A sea of kooks… It’s a beginner to low-intermediate Mecca, and the pilgrims are here in force from all over the globe. If you just surf in Arugam its nuts, all day long. Try not get too frustrated, it’s hard if you are used to lineup etiquette. But before you lose it, venture a bit further and follow a few of these tips, you can score pumping point breaks with a handful of surfers in the lineup.
Surf coaches. A contentious topic. Get to see the local surfings benefitting from the tourist influx, but very few have any ISA qualifications or knowledge of proper coaching. Mostly just cowboys kook farming. I heard some terrible coaching tips, dangerous lack of safety way too often. Expect them to push their poo-stance client in-front of you on a bomb set, a loud yell sometimes works.
If you do choose a coach/guide, make sure you use an Arugam Bay local like the guys from Krish Surf Shack. Most of the surf schools are guys from the South Coast poaching business from the real locals. SUPPORT LOCAL
If looking for an Irie vibe in town, there is an amazing little joint called Hippies. If you like reggae music, check it out… yes you are welcome.
Getting around
The Tuktuk system works really well for getting around. They will take you and your boards to a spot, wait for you to finish surfing, then bring you back. It’s fun too. We often crammed all four of us in.
Tip: Get a Tuktuk driver’s whatsapp number, then you can easily organise your missions. 3000lkr local spots, 6000lkr the further ones in 2025. Uddikka was our guy and he was amazing +94 77 616 7517
Other option is a scooter, which we got onto after awhile. Cheaper, more flexible and even more fun! At 2500 lkr/day it was better value. Just always keep well left, hoot when you overtake, and give way to any vehicle bigger than you (which is most)
Also watch out for elephants at dawn and dusk, amazing to see in the wild but should be seriously respected!
Where to stay?
Millions of surf camps and hostels, but location is key. All say Arugam Bay but many are far away from the surf spot. We stayed super close at Rupas, fully local run, very nice rooms with AC, and had a balcony with a view of the point. Walked to the waves.
Also don’t miss Thatha’s Tea Shop, a truly local joint next door that serves the most delicious tea, black coffee, egg hoppers with dal, freshly made banana sugar pancake rolls and veg rottis, cooked on a drum fire. Can sort your breakfast out for a few hundred rupees, as local as it gets.
Surfboards
There are plenty of board rental shops in Arugam, but almost entirely super used, dinged up random shapes. A handful of new boards for sale ($850!) Better to take your own boards. A shorter fish/swallow with a little volume, plus a regular shortboard would be ideal. Can rent a longboard if it’s tiny at one of the mellow spots.
I took just one board as I needed to fit the kids boards in my board bag too, and took a 5’4 Firewire Vanguard, quad setup, and it was perfect.
Arugam Bay Surfspots
Main Point
A beautiful setup that picks up swell and handles the trade winds well. Swells wrap in and rifle along a fairly shallow rock/coral shelf for 150m before hitting an inside very shallow section that can throw a few nice barrels, (if you can avoid the drop-ins and surf coaches pushing their ‘Intermediates’ in front of you) before mellowing into a ripple wall that wraps a full 90 degrees around the sandy headland, sometimes connecting all the way to Baby Point, a 500m ride! Super easy to get in and out, so runarounds are the way.
Wave works at any size, 2ft to 8ft, is fast and racy and offers crisp pockets and bowls sections. But the crowd! Insane. Has been described online as the Star Wars of the surf world. Expect to share waves with way too many inexperienced surfers, soft-toppers, goat bats, flapping Israelis, Russian chicks on designer mals, all sorts of Euro’s, hustling Saffas and Ozzie/Kiwis, plus a bunch of Sri Lankan surfers.
Mornings are glassy offshore and dreamy until the wind starts, sometimes doesn’t. Afternoons are often a great time to surf with alot less people, and the wave handles the cross shore very well, actually gives the way a little more push down the line. Evenings sometimes glass-off.
Forget thinking a dawnie will beat the crowd. I went at 5am everyday, and it was packed before the sun poked through.
There is zero lineup etiquette, total dog-eat-dog snake-fest, and helluva kooky for the most part. Watch out for flying boards and people paddling infront of you. It’s very hard for ladies and kids in that environment. Can be 100 people out. Wild. But the level is super low by international standards, and a savvy surfer will still get waves.
Shouldn’t have to be said but, If someone is already riding on the wave, do not go! Amazing how many unskilled surfers put themselves in harms way out here and ruin another person’s wave by spazzing infront of them. Don’t do it!
Tip: Don’t paddle back after a wave. Surf your way down to the inside and do the runaround. Save your arms and skip the queue. Work smart not hard! It’s a great wave but the crowd is fucked, if you just surf Main Point you are blowing it. There are other good waves and way less busy.
Baby Point
Baby Point could be the best beginner wave in the world. A running little right that peels for 300m right next to the sandy shore. Never closes out, never barrels. But it is absolutely rammed with coaches pushing first-timers into the lovely green walls, and loads of tourists on soft tops. Plus a handful of off-duty surf coaches who use soft tops and runaround snaking everyone and showing off with headstands on 1ft waves.
After getting horrendously snaked and me stressing too much about him getting ridden over by Shlumi or Katerina at Main Point, my son (10) fell in love with Baby Point. He could sit above all the beginners and get runner after runner, often 5-turn waves before running around and repeating. Great wave to longboard too, but bit small for an adult to shortboard.
If swell gets double overhead on the outside, then this wave turns into a proper wave in its own right and is really fun.
Clean all day long as the trade wind is offshore.
Peanut Farm
25 min drive South down some potholed dirt roads (keep an eye out for Ele’s in the peanut fields, Water Buffalo’s crossing the road and Croc’s by the bridge, amazing)
There are 2 bar/restaurants here, nice curry and shade. One surf rental.
The spot out front is a perfect beginner wave, utterly clogged from sunrise with soft-top warriors all dropping in on each other and riding the clean little rights that run inside the big granite boulders.
But this is not the wave!
Walk South around the rocks and another little bay opens up, with a fantastic quality right that starts outside the rocks infant of a very shallow slab. Critical takeoffs lead to barrels and vert sections before bending around the boulders and hitting a shallow sandbar that often barrels. If the outside is too sketchy, can takeoff on the inside and still have really nice waves. Bigger sets will stretch out and can be ridden all the way into the beginner bay, 400m ride and a walk back.
We had epic surfs here, on all sizes. Never more than 10 people out. Unfortunately there are a bunch of surf cowboys who will push their ‘Intermediate’ clients in here on the shoulder, infant of you and that can be pretty irritating. Saw a few get washed over the rocks, really not the spot unless you are a competent surfer.
If you cannot catch a wave yourself, you should not be out there in overhead waves! It’s dangerous and irresponsible.
Tip: the coaches finish their lessons at 0730, and can be empty lineups then while still super clean
Lighthouse
40 min drive North near the village of Komari is an oasis of peace and calm, 2 beaches watched over by a tiny old WW2 lighthouse. This place is everything Arugam is not, namely peaceful, uncrowded and friendly. We met so many nice people here. The enormous beach shack restaurant is awesome to hangout in the cool shade, with cheap, delicious food (1230 communal buffet curry daily is unreal).
There are 2 waves out front (plus a 3rd a little North). All are right points that start on a rocky outcrop then wrap along the ever shifting sandbanks. We loved the wave to the right. Never more than 5 people out, 100m long, powerful, super bowly and good from 2-6ft.
The wave to the left is bit more stretched out, and a little mellower, but still a totally fun rippable wave.
Wind does affect the waves as the day develops, but still very surf able. The no crowd factor makes it. Morning are glassy offshore.
Tip: There are some incredibly cute beach huts on stilts for rent here, with ensuite bathrooms. All under shade and spaced apart, dirt cheap compared to Arugam. Stay a couple nights and score the morning to yourself. There is a more fancy spot at the lower point called Hilltop Hideaway but if you want something memorable, stay in the huts.
Other waves
Elephant Rock and Crocodile Rock are beginner/longboard waves.
Pottuvil, Okanda, Panama, Secret Spot all cook on the right conditions but we didnt get to surf these sadly. Worth checking for sure, the more later in the season the better, as they need the sand to build up to really shine. Seek and ye shall find.
Fishing
If the waves are small there are tons of fish out here. Mahi Mahi, Barracuda, Skipjack Tuna, Trevally, King Fish, Spotted Grouper, Red Snapper, Mackerel plus big Tuna 20km out. We took some light rods and gear. Squid bait can be bought in town, we used lures mostly that we brought. There’s a dive company right on the beach that does fishing trips, super cool guys and we went out with them a few times. WhatsApp Nuwan on +94 74 118 3681
Hope you find this info useful, and that you score beautiful waves and adventures in Ceylon. If you wanna repay the favour, give us a follow on Insta @africansoulsurfer and if you ever do a surf trip to my country South Africa, welcome to hit me up for some local advice.
** PS. I’m not a travel blogger, and there’s no affiliate links here, just wanted to share some good intel with the core wave hunters out there, yeeoow!
