Arugam Bay is a city in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.
. . . Arugam Bay . . .
Arugam Bay is a bay situated on the Indian Ocean in the dry zone of Sri Lanka’s southeast coast. The bay is located 320 km due east of Colombo. It is a popular surfing and tourist destination. Many of the buildings were destroyed in the 2004 tsunami.
Frequent buses from Colombo to nearby Pottuvil (4 km). Most are via Ratnapura, Welawaya, Buttala, Monaragala.
A luxury aircon bus (Rs.1100, new Yutong buses, ~8 hr) leaves to Colombo Airport and Fort at 8:15PM from nearby Akkaraipattu. A tuktuk to there from Arugam Bay costs around Rs.2000 an takes 1½ hr. Tickets are sold by “Al-Rasith Travel (Pvt) Ltd.”). Galaxy Lounge can reserve seats.
From Batticaloa: two daily direct buses at 6AM and 10AM. Rs.135, 5-6 hours. Stops for 1 hour in the town of Akuraivili. Tuk-tuks offer to take travelers directly from there to Arugam Bay for Rs.1500, but you could just wait for an hour for the bus to continue and not spend any additional money. The bus ride ends in town of Putuveli, which is about 3-5 km to most guesthouses in Arugam Bay. Tuk-tuks ask for Rs.200-300, but Rs.150 is a fair price. Or you could walk if no luggage; it’s pleasant and flat.
Nearest train stations are Ella or Badulla on the Mountain line and Batticaloa using the inland line via Polunaruwa. All three stations are about 135 km from Arugam Bay.
Sri Lankan Airlines operates Air Taxi services on demand landing directly on the Arugam Bay lagoon.
Private taxi services can be arranged at any time of day or night. The transit time from the main international airport to Arugam Bay is 7 hours for the 350 km trip
Since the 1960s Arugam Bay’s main surf point has been the main attraction. It is a righthand reef break, famous for long, constituent runs up to 750 m.
- Surfing. Arugam Bay is Sri Lanka’s most popular surf spot and one of the best in Asia. Many points exists, e.g. main point and baby point in Arugam Bay, Crocodile Rock, Panama, Okanda in the south, Whiskey Point in the north. Crocodile Rock is mainly used by beginners from sunrise on. Boards can be rented virtually everywhere, tuktuks are readily available to transport surfer and board to the points nearby. Board from Rs.500/half day, course Rs.4500/2 hr/2people. (updated Aug 2017)
- Tuk Tuk safari, e-mail: info@arugambay.org. Arugambay Tours offer tuk tuk safaris. They will drive through Yala East National Park, but not into the boundaries of the park. Along the street down to Panama and further on into the park you might spot monkey, elephants, crocodiles and many other animals. As with any game drive, spotting animals is based on luck, the season, time of the day, etc. Rs.3900 per tuk tuk. (updated Aug 2017)
. . . Arugam Bay . . .
This article is issued from web site Wikivoyage. The original article may be a bit shortened or modified. Some links may have been modified. The text is licensed under “Creative Commons – Attribution – Sharealike” [1] and some of the text can also be licensed under the terms of the “GNU Free Documentation License” [2]. Additional terms may apply for the media files. By using this site, you agree to our Legal pages . Web links: [1] [2]