Hi All,

Were looking at a few weeks in Sri Lanka Jan/Feb next year on our way home from Cambodia so seeing if any breezers have been and enjoyed and can pass on any advice/tips/day trips/must do's (donts)...

At this stage we'll probably train it inland from Colombo to Kandy to Nuware Eliya to Ella to Udawalawa over about 2 weeks before heading to the South coast to finish up maybe at Mirissa for 10 days (ish), Hoping for easy access, non crowded waves for a morning cruise but Mirissa sounds like it might get a bit crowded...

Things to note:
Its a family trip with 3 ratbags and my wife
Wanting to keep transit to a minimum
Yes, i know, its peak season
Yes Arugam Bay sounds amazing but too far with the Family.

Appreciate any advice...

Cheers

Ted's your man

Winds are dodgy that time of year for Arugam anyway mate. South is the place that time of year, pretty much smack bang middle & google maps search for hotels will have you sorted. Transit down to there is still a very long trip. Best bet is organising a lift from the airport to your chosen hotel. You will want airconditing, it gets very very hot, especially for a Tasmanian haha

My 2c worth though & considering you have 3 kids & a wife. Personally I'd consider somewhere else...I was keen as until a friend returned from his 3rd trip in a row last March. The place is fully on the radar of people from all over the world these days & apparrently the crowds have sky rocketed from the year before. Bare in mind these are pretty average waves most of the time. It used to be pretty cool coz of the empty'ness of the place. On one hand most of the crowds are Euro kooks, but on the other they have no idea & will dropin in droves lol

My friend is the most patient bloke I know & will wait it out until they've all tired themselves out or got a face full of urchins like one poor chick in the sweet little bay to the right of the middle with the super expensive accomodation. Easy to find via maps.

My opinion is if your super keen, better to tick it off the list now before it gets even busier or go somewhere else like good old family friendly Bali. Some of the Sri Lanken hotels right on the beach do have great food & cheap beer, so if your happy with average waves & I'm sure some hot temperatures sound great right now, I'd base myself on the East end of Matara beach & do searches to the East.

Like I said Mick's your guy

Best holiday we have ever had. Would be back their in flash. There are heaps of waves around the South Coast. I mostly surfed by myself - Dec / Jan. There are loads of people at the main places but they are pretty average surfer types from what I saw - more your excited Euro / Brit / learner types. So getting waves is not hard - also finding waves to surf by yourself is pretty easy as they do not tend to be very adventurous. Yes the waves have nothing on Indo but when its warm, clean and beautiful its pretty nice - especially when you come in and have a $3 curry - that is actually 5 different curries all served up with an ice cold delicious beer that never seemed to give me hangovers - I found it pretty special ! Most important is that you take booties - heaps of the waves I was surfing were full of urchins and / or required lot of reef walking (escaping the crowds )

Lets put this on the agenda for our next beer Andy

I hear what you are saying Mick - but there are so many waves there its silly on that coast. Everyone surfs at about 5 places. If you are a single bloke its a great place to meet foreign ladies in holiday mode

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Macaha said..
Like I said Mick's your guy

Turncoat.

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Ted the Kiwi said..

I hear what you are saying Mick - but there are so many waves there its silly on that coast. Everyone surfs at about 5 places. If you are a single bloke its a great place to meet foreign ladies in holiday mode

For sure mate, I was just talking from a surf quality & ease of access pov with a wife & 3 kids. Your trip was like 3 years ago & you like Indian food way-way more than me. It would be interesting hearing your comparison story if you do return. Of course even a holiday without any waves at all can be awesome, our Euro holiday was great. No work, biggest effort is deciding what restraunt your gonna eat at & will you begin with rose, shiraz or beer. Add a nice warm beach to do it on & its pretty bloody good. The $100 a night hotels are pretty basic though, you gotta pay a lot more to get the same level of hotel as Bali...just saying. But hey, according to my wife every holiday can't be to Bali. So yeah, its a different place with some different waves. It does have that going for it. I'd be there in a heartbeat too if I could be there in 3.5 hours + 10 to 20 mins to my hotel

Funny enough missus & I are considering NZ or Tassie for our next holiday this January. Leaning towards Tassie