6 camps published
The Arugam Bay guideCompared on what a week actually includes, not on the photographs.
| Camp | From | Included | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean Surf Camp Arugam Bay | – | Wi-Fi · Lessons | See the sheet |
| SAFA Arugam Bay | – | Wi-Fi · Yoga · Lessons | See the sheet |
| Surf N Yoga Arugam Bay | 66 €/ night | Wi-Fi · Yoga · Pool · Coworking · Lessons | See the sheet |
| Arugambay Surf Center | – | Wi-Fi · Yoga · Lessons | See the sheet |
| Wanderlust Surf Camp | – | Wi-Fi · Lessons | See the sheet |
| Banana Surf Camp | – | Yoga · Pool · Lessons | See the sheet |
Published means a price the operator shows on its own site. Rooms follow when it publishes a grid of them, and the sheet says so when it does not. The rest of our inventory is unread, not rejected.
Arugam Bay only surfs from May to September, with April and October at the edges, while the south coast sits flat. Every camp here is selling a European summer week, six to seven hours by road from Colombo, and every one moves its groups by tuk-tuk, because the points are spread over twelve kilometres. The Main Point breaks over coral and is crowded in August; Whiskey Point and Elephant Rock are where beginners go.
If you want to actually get better, SAFA belongs to the general secretary of the Sri Lankan surfing federation: five students per coach at most, usually three, a sunrise session, and nine breaks to choose from depending on the wind. The single-sex dorm is US$500 for six nights; get it confirmed whether dinner is served daily or every other day. Banana, behind Main Street and twenty metres from the beach, gives you two sessions a day and only three dinners, on purpose, so you go out.
Alone, with company at dinner and early nights: Surf N Yoga takes sixteen guests at most, looks out over the paddy fields, cooks only vegetarian, never mixes its five levels, and says plainly it is not a party hostel. Book early for summer.
For a family, Wanderlust rents a room for four at US$2,000 a week with lessons for everyone, and names the points where its beginners learn. Only breakfast is served; the shared kitchen does the rest. To fit three nights into a trip round the island, Arugambay Surf Center and Ocean Surf Camp both sell short stays, but neither names the spots its lessons use, so ask before you pay if you are starting out.
In the evening Main Street is a row of bars full of surfers in July and August, half shuttered by October. Do not come in January: that is the south coast's season.