Most people who book a surf camp in Sri Lanka on their own spend the last week before the flight wondering whether they will be the only one. They will not be. At Soul Surfer, roughly half of guests arrive solo, and in the European winter a good share of those are women travelling alone. A surf camp is, honestly, the easiest way to travel solo in Sri Lanka, because the two hard parts of solo travel – logistics and company – are handled for you. Here is what it actually looks like.
Getting there
Colombo's Bandaranaike airport is about two and a half to three hours from Weligama by car on the Southern Expressway. The camp arranges an airport transfer with a known driver who meets you in arrivals with your name on a card, so the only decision you make after a long flight is whether to sleep in the car. If you would rather do it yourself, the train from Colombo Fort to Weligama is a beautiful three-hour coastal ride and costs a couple of euros, but it is not the thing to attempt at midnight after a red-eye.
The first evening
You arrive, someone shows you your room and the rooftop, and dinner is at a long shared table. This matters more than any other single thing: by the end of the first dinner you know the names of a dozen people you will be surfing with tomorrow at seven. Nobody eats alone at a surf camp unless they want to. The social programme runs every day, so the group re-forms constantly and a new arrival on a Wednesday is absorbed as easily as one on the Saturday changeover.
Rooms and dorms
At the boutique end you have a real choice. The mixed dormitory at Soul Surfer is small – five beds – with an ensuite bathroom, air-conditioning and lockers, and it is where most solo travellers start because it is the cheapest way to be in the middle of things. If you want a door that closes, the private single is exactly that, ensuite, with the same access to everything else. Many solo guests book the dorm for their first trip and the single for their second.
Rooms lock. Reception is staffed through the evening. The camp is a walled compound with its own entrance, which is worth knowing if you have read alarming things about guesthouses in Asia.
Weligama itself
Weligama is a working fishing town with a surf economy on top. It is not a resort. That is the charm and it also means normal town sense applies: the main road is busy with tuk-tuks and buses, and the beach road is quieter. Solo women walk around Weligama alone in the day without a second thought; at night the sensible practice is to walk with someone from the camp, which is easy because everyone is going the same way. Dress is relaxed on the beach and in the surf cafés; a light cover-up is appreciated in the town and essential at temples.
Harassment is rare and almost always limited to a comment. Sri Lankans are, overwhelmingly, warm and helpful to travellers, and the surf community in Weligama is small enough that the camp knows the tuk-tuk drivers by name.
The surf itself
Lessons are in small groups by level, not by gender, and coaches are in the water with you. If you are a complete beginner you will be in Weligama Bay, standing up in whitewater on your first morning, with a coach pushing you into waves and telling you what your feet are doing. The bay is sandy with no rocks, which takes away most of the fear. You do not need to be fit in any particular way; you need to be able to swim and be willing to fall off a lot.
Yoga is where a lot of solo guests find the second group. The surf-and-yoga package runs a session every day at sunrise or sunset on the rooftop, and the people at yoga are usually the ones organising the trip to Galle on the rest day.
Rest days and beyond
A week is enough time for one or two days off the board. Solo guests rarely do these alone either – whale watching from Mirissa, the fort at Galle, the tea country inland. The camp arranges all of it and there is always a group going.
If you are extending your trip after the camp, Sri Lanka is straightforward: trains and buses run everywhere, the south coast is dotted with guesthouses, and the friends you made at dinner on the first night are usually heading the same way.
Booking
The dorm at Soul Surfer starts at €390 for a week including six surf lessons, daily breakfast and dinner six nights. The rates page has the full table, and the FAQ answers the practical questions – including the one about whether the camp is suitable for solo female travellers, which is, in short, yes.
Ready to ride?