Surf camps in Weligama

Every camp in Weligama surfs the same bay, and for a first week that is good news: sand under the inside, a left that peels at every stage of the tide, and a crowd at your level rather than locals on a reef. So the choice comes down to how many students share a coach, how many dinners are included, and how loud the evenings get.

If the lesson is what you are paying for, Be Cool caps groups at three per coach and runs two lessons a day, but serves no dinner and does not describe the room. Layback sells a Sunday-to-Sunday group week with two or three beginners per coach, and on nights without dinner the team takes everyone out to eat. Lucky's, run by a former national champion, sticks to one lesson a morning and leaves the afternoons free; its private rooms have king beds only, which makes it a couple's house. The Green Rooms fits ten lessons into five days and lets you choose between a fan-cooled mango-wood cabana and an air-conditioned room with the sea from the upper floors.

Travelling alone and want company from the first dinner? Elsewhere takes adults only, serves three meals and three drinks a day, and throws a rooftop party every Friday. The Surfer Beach Camp is under a minute from the water, runs quizzes and karaoke, and goes quiet at ten. PURE's beach house has the pool, the rooftop and the bus to Mirissa's beach parties.

On a budget, TS2, The Surfer's annexe, charges €290 a week per person even in a double. As a pair you get a door of your own for a dorm price, and you cross the bay every morning and night. PURE's Surfhouse starts at €300 in the dorm, in flats with kitchens. Kuma sells six nights in the dorm with ten lessons for 245 USD.

Already standing? Kima, and Solid Surf House for its upper levels, guide rather than teach, twice a day, to wherever the swell is working, Midigama's reefs included. Come between November and April. From May to mid-October the south-west monsoon can take a whole week of sessions, and The Surfer shuts from May to September.