Meet Surfing Life: A Home-Turned Guest House for Surfers

Surfing Life began the way many good things on the south coast do: with a house, a garden, a few spare rooms and a lot of surfboards.

A house in Gurubebila

Gurubebila is a quiet village on Sri Lanka’s south coast. It sits between the famous Midigama left and the wide sweep of Weligama Bay. Surfing Life is about 50 metres from the turning into the village on Kadabaddagama Road. It’s close enough to walk to the reef. It’s also far enough from the main road that the evenings are filled with the sound of insects and conversation, not traffic.

The guest house is a family home that slowly turned into a place for travelling surfers. There’s a grassy garden with hammocks strung between the trees, and a veranda made for long breakfasts after the morning surf. There are also a few simple rooms where you can sleep well and wake up early.

Eric, your host

Surfing Life is run by Eric. Many surfers already know him from his years at Easy Beach in Midigama. Eric has spent most of his life around these waves. He knows which reef works on which tide and which wind ruins it. He can also tell when it’s worth getting up in the dark.

He also knows what surfers need from a place to stay:

• A safe spot for boards, standing upright, out of the sun.
• Boards to rent for anyone travelling light.
• Good food and plenty of it after a long session.
• A relaxed place to hang out with people who love the same thing you do.

Why “Surfing Life”?

Because that’s what a stay here is. You wake up, check the waves and surf, then eat. Maybe you surf again. You swing in a hammock, trade stories on the veranda, and do the same again tomorrow. Nothing is complicated, and everything moves at the pace of the tide.

A small place, by choice

We keep Surfing Life small on purpose. With only a handful of rooms, everyone knows everyone by the second evening. Our guests come from all over the world, but they tend to have the same open, easy-going attitude. That’s what makes the place work.

The flip side is that we fill up quickly in the main season. If you’re on the road and want to know whether there’s a room tonight, the best thing to do is call Eric directly on +94 777 401 667.

Coming up on the blog

We’ll be writing about the local surf breaks, the best seasons for waves, getting here, and life in the village. To start, read about Plantation and Coconut Point, the two reef breaks right on our doorstep.