PURE Surfcamps: Surfhouse Weligama

The camp

The Surfhouse is PURE's second address in Weligama, a hundred metres from the beach, and it works more like a flatshare than a camp. Two apartments stacked on two floors, three bedrooms each, every one with its own bathroom, and a living room and small kitchen in each flat. Dinner is served on the roof, at the house restaurant.

Lessons are the same as at the beach house: four students per instructor at most, level one to get you standing, level two to take off on green waves before they break, and guiding for people who already surf alone, to about ten nearby breaks by tuk-tuk or scooter. The first two levels surf the bay, a hundred metres on foot: sand, a left that starts far out, and every stage of the tide.

What this house lacks is the pool and the evenings. Both are at the beach house, at the other end of the bay, five minutes by tuk-tuk or half an hour walking along the sand, and Surfhouse guests are welcome there: films on the roof, pool volleyball, boat trips, the bus to Mirissa.

Room for room, a week here costs at least €200 less than over there. You sleep away from the noise with a kitchen of your own, and cross the bay when you want company. For three friends it works well, not least because the triple can only be booked by three. Alone, on a first trip, the beach house is easier.