Are you game for Arugam?

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From the ancient beauty of the central highlands to the rugged coastal bay of Arugam! A surfers paradise and a travellers refuge, this place was our first stop on our tour up the East coast. As a beginner surfer, I came here for the mellow left breaks that the bay is famous for and that landed me in a surf camp just outside of the main strip of Arugam on a derelict beach south of the main bay.



On first inspection, Arugam town itself seemed well developed, with plenty of cool restaurants, accommodation, surf shops, clothes shops and more. On my second day here I went for a full walk of the town and my first inspection synopsis was correct! There are loads of options for food, no matter what your budget. I saw signs for quirky guesthouses tucked down intriguing alleyways and larger, more luxurious options. Surf shops were scattered throughout the town. It is all based on one straight road that runs all the way to Pottuvil and then continues through that town on a single road as well. But the parallel between these 2 towns is stark. Arugam is geared just for the traveller, as soon as the tarmac hits Pottuvil, its local town.



So lets get to the surf! Arugam bay itself is a deep, sharp curve of a bay and what this creates at the shoulder of the bay is a point break that throws up very predictable waves, with a nice easy close out that break left along the line of the bay. Anyone can grab a board and head out to this point, on the outside of the break the waves can be quite large and this will be where the advanced surfers are bobbing around. On the inside there is plenty of room for beginners to enter the line and have a go. I didn’t actually manage to surf this point because there was a red bull competition on at the time but I was taken to another point that is very similar called Whisky Point. Organising a surf outing is very easy, most shops have a number of tuktuks with boards tied to the roof and they will come and pick you up from anywhere and take you to wherever you want to surf! It’s very chilled and put my nervous mind at rest straight away.



All I really did here was surf but I did feel like I got a full Arugam experience. There is really not much else to do here apart from enjoy the water, attempt a surf and eat good food! Just outside of town there is a national park with a small population of Elephants so this could be a nice day trip. We did actually see them from the road one evening when they came out of the bush to drink next to the lake.



What I liked about Arugam is that the point break is quite a distance away from the bathing part of the beach. So it is easy to have a relaxing swim and a bathe as well as surf. If you walk from the town along the beach, past the break and round the corner there is a stretch of empty rugged beach that NO ONE seems to go on! We had to walk along this beach back to our accommodation every day and it was such a nice place for a stroll.





Overall, I would recommend this place for anyone wanting to learn to surf or anyone who wants a couple of days chilling in a trendy Sri Lankan coastal town. Don’t expect to be busy and you will have a great time!

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