A surf town with elephants
Arugam Bay
A long right-hand point break, and wild elephants walking past the lagoon at dusk.
Arugam Bay is one of the top surf points in Asia from May to September and stays sleepy the rest of the year. Beyond the surf there is Kumana National Park, the lagoons at Pottuvil where elephants come to drink, and a village pace that gets under people's skin.
What we do here
- Surf lessons or board hire on the main point
- Elephant watching at Pottuvil lagoon by canoe
- Kumana National Park safari
- Sunrise at Elephant Rock
Worth knowing
- Main Point is a right-hander that can run for 400 metres on a good swell
- Whiskey Point and Peanut Farm are the gentler learner breaks
- Kumana park has 200-plus bird species and far fewer jeeps than Yala
- Nearest airport is Colombo; it is a 7-hour drive, so we break the journey
