9 days / 8 nights · Private tour
The trip for May to September, when the south is wet and the east is perfect: Arugam Bay's point break, Trincomalee's reefs, and almost nobody around.
Trip highlights
Half the guidebooks about Sri Lanka barely mention the east coast, which is exactly why it is worth going. Between May and September, while the south-west is under monsoon, the east is dry, hot and calm — and considerably emptier than Mirissa in February.
A single sandy street, a scattering of surf lodges, and one of the finest right-hand point breaks in Asia. In July and August it is busy with surfers and genuinely excellent. Outside the season it more or less closes.
One of the world’s great natural harbours, a Hindu temple on a cliff above it, and the best accessible reef snorkelling in Sri Lanka at Pigeon Island. Whale watching runs here too, from March to August, with sperm whales and blue whales both possible.
Day by day
This is a starting point. Every day can be swapped, slowed down or extended — just tell us what you would rather do.
Break the journey east with a night in Ella rather than a nine-hour drive.
Overnight: Ella
Down through Buttala and Monaragala — around four hours, with wild elephants often on the roadside near Lahugala at dusk.
Overnight: Arugam Bay
Main Point at dawn, breakfast, sleep, Whiskey Point in the afternoon. Lessons for beginners are easy to arrange on the beach. Elephant Rock at sunset is worth the walk.
Overnight: Arugam Bay
An early jeep into the neighbouring park — mangroves, lagoons, painted storks and a very good chance of elephants without a queue of vehicles.
Overnight: Arugam Bay
A long coastal drive through Batticaloa and Pasikuda. Arrive at Nilaveli in the afternoon.
Overnight: Nilaveli / Trincomalee
Snorkelling over live coral in the morning, the clifftop temple at Swami Rock in the late afternoon.
Overnight: Nilaveli / Trincomalee
The drive back to Colombo takes around six hours, so either an evening flight or an overnight near the airport.
Overnight: Departure
The small print, plainly
Questions
Main Point is not — it breaks over rock and gets crowded. Baby Point, Whiskey Point and Peanut Farm are all beginner-friendly, and there are good local instructors. Between November and March there are essentially no waves at all.
Because of the monsoons. From May to September the south-west is wet and rough while the east is dry, calm and sunny. Going south in July is the single most common mistake first-time visitors make.
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