Arugam Bay is a fishing village located 3 km south of the small town of Pottuvil at the remote southern end of the east coast. It probably offers the best surf in Sri Lanka. Those who visit the place can observe a wide, sweeping beach in front of the village itself which is good for swimming. To the south of the surf promontory is a long, deserted beach that leads down to ‘Crocodile Rock’, from where wild elephants can quite often be seen. The best period for surfing in this area is between April and September, when the place is crowded with surf enthusiasts. During the off season the place clears out with some guesthouses and restaurants even closing. However, owing to the ethnic tensions, Arugam Bay has been taken off the ‘safe’ list of destinations for tourists.

Arugam Bay is listed as one of the top ten surf points in the world. Owing to its situation on the south east side of Sri Lanka, the Arugam Bay receives the same Antarctic winter swell's that are experienced by Indonesia in the in the middle of the year. The time period between May and November is probably the best for surfing since the predominant wind is offshore for at least the first half of the day.

Owing to its location and the southerly breezes, Arugam Bay is dominated by right hand point breaks. One can observe a beach break in front of the Stardust Hotel, which provides an excellent location for body surfing. The three point breaks are "The Point", "Pottuvil Point" and "Crocodile Rock" Several other points exist that could be accessed by boat. Most members of the staff at the beach resorts Sri Lanka are able to surf and would be only too happy to help you plan surf trips to some of these lesser known breaks.

The Point is the main break at Arugam Bay and is a long right-hand point/reef break that breaks at the headland in front of Arugam Bay. The Point is also the best swell magnet of all the points and is a couple of feet bigger than any of the other breaks. It breaks from anything between 2 and 6 feet but tends to max out after 6 foot. Owing to its location it also attracts the biggest crowd from the beach resorts. On a good day the Point will provide a clean wall that will barrel in the sections and provide a 400-meter ride right through to the inside. When you ride all the way through the best option is to paddle a few yards to the beach and walk back out to the entry point.

Pottuvil Point is popularly regarded as every surfer’s dream tropical wave. A long deserted sandy beach doted with huge boulders at the waters edge make this wave a favourite with all surfers, including the seasoned veterans. Less crowded because of its distance from the Arugam Bay, Pottuvil point provides 800 meter rides from the outside section right through to the beach on the inside. The unique feature about this wave is that for most of it you can be working a four foot face and be only a few meters from the beach as the wave grinds down the sandy point. The outside section sucks up and throw's out as the swell raps into the point giving a 30 meter wall to work with before it fades as it hits deeper water for about 10 seconds. The wave then tends to double up as it hits a shallow sand bottom section that will have you hanging in there for all you worth just to try and make the next 40 to 80 meter section. Failure can leave you standing in knee deep water with a mouth full of sand if you manage not to get slammed into one of the boulder's first.

In ideal weather conditions, visitors are able to make it through this section and wait while the wave peels perfectly meters from the beach for an eternity until it closes out in the bay and you begin the long walk back. Pottuvil Point needs a decent size swell before it starts working at all and a large swell before the middle section is makeable.

Crocodile Rock is an hour’s drive to the south followed by a twenty minute walk along another beautiful beach. Visitors should not be put off by the large salt water crocodiles that live in the lagoon 50 meters from the break since this is a beautiful spot for a day surf mission. Crocodile Rock is the smallest of the three points which makes it imperative that surfers require a medium to large swell for Croc Rock to work at all. When the point is 6 foot then Croc Rock will be 3 foot and is, therefore, the ideal wave for the beginner/intermediate or long board enthusiastic. A suckey take-off section over sand leads on to a long wall that breaks right down the point for about 400 meters much like inside Pottuvil point.