The quintessential requirements for a sun-drenched beach holiday? A mix of isolated beaches, abundant delicious seafood and perfect surfing conditions with just a twist of ancient archaeology.
Sri Lanka is one of the best countries in the tropics for saltwater activities such as snorkelling, diving and surfing. Sri Lanka posses over 1500 km of pristine coastline, which receives the consistent Indian Ocean swell, the Sea off Sri Lanka ready to provide year-round sea-bath for its visitors, the coast around Sri Lanka bathes in the near-endless desert sun.
Sri Lanka surf is a popular topic among travellers and they are always looking for Sri Lanka surf spots to engage in surfing, as the surfing is a popular activity on the island and on the other hand with such a large number of surfing spots the travellers have plenty of opportunities to appease their thirst for surfing adventures.
Surf and sunshine together with sparse beaches, stylish beach resorts to stay and delicious seafood, all the ingredients for a relaxing beach holiday is fulfilled, whether it involves catching any waves or not. And if you plan to keep yourself away from the beach lounger, there are plenty of other activities like visiting historical sites and exploring wildlife reserves. Here is a roundup of the Sri Lanka surf spots to visit in the island:
Weligama
Sri Lanka surf spots are popular among the surf enthusiasts for many decades, and probably some of the first places, where people ever surfed. Weligama is a laid-back Sri Lanka surf spot and you will not encounter hordes of beach holiday lovers on the palm-fringed beaches of Weligama, even during the main holiday season the number of travellers remains low compared most other beaches like Bentota, and Hikkaduwa.
A large number of travellers is glued to this popular Sri Lanka surf spot while many small guest houses take care of the requirement of these surf enthusiasts. However, recently few big names in the hospitality industry sat their foot in the beaches of Weligama, such as Marriott due to the high demand for luxury accommodation.
Have a stroll on this one day trip place, which is 145km south of Colombo, and the travellers can still see the one-man paddle boats driven by human power, which is known as caballitos de totora in countries like Peru. Recently opened southern highway made it possible to explore Weligama on a Sri Lanka trip from Colombo, however, earlier it had been not possible.
At the end of the day’s work, the fishermen surf home. Some of the fishermen are glad to help the travellers and take them out for surfing or a spot fishing-and then the travellers can try their catch in one of the beachside restaurants that dotted along the Weligama beach.
Ahangama the beginning of the Sri Lanka Surf Spots ring
Ahangama marks the beginning of the Sri Lanka surf spots ring that spreads further down along the coastal belt. This rowdy Sri Lanka surf spot lies on a strip of land just south of Galle, 138 km from Colombo. Galle is a popular city of south coast Sri Lanka, which harbours many interesting places to visit such as temples, beaches, museums, patches of forests, lakes, lagoons and beaches.
The beaches of Ahangama are narrow and flank by the main road, throughout its entire body, perhaps it is not a great hideaway, and however, there are few places in Ahangama that worth of considering as perfected places for a Sri Lanka beach holiday.
Unlike in Weligama, it is not possible to plenty of accommodation facilities in Ahangama due to the low demand for accommodation, and only few boutique hotels are the only option for interested parties, who like to explore this Sri Lanka surfing spot.
Mirissa surfing, whale watching and basking in the sun
Ten to 15 km further south of Ahangama is the stretch of another popular beach known as Mirissa; which a popular fishing village is too and Mirissa laid out between snow-white sandy beaches and mountain.
The surrounding of Mirissa is quieter than the other Sri Lanka surf spots mentioned earlier, therefore, it is one of the perfect family beach holiday spots on the west coast of Sri Lanka. There is a large number of boutique types of hotels and bungalows here and most of them are equipped with swimming pools, providing a safe way of mastering the art of swimming especially for kids, who are not yet ocean swimmers.
Mirissa marks the end of the Sri Lanka surfing spot ring that spread from Ahangama to the southern coast. Mirissa is popular as a whale-watching spot rather than a Sri Lanka surfing spot and daily thousands of travellers travel into the sea in search of giant blue whales.
Mirissa is a popular surfing spot in Sri Lanka and for some travellers, surf break is the main attraction here or there are many other water sport activities on offer, including diving, snorkelling, fishing, boating, and windsurfing. Off the water, the traveller can do bird watching, jungle trekking and village walking in the nearby countryside. Even wildlife safari can be done at Udawalawe national park, which is only a few hours away from Mirissa.