Stardust Hotel

Stardust Hotel sits fifty metres from the main point break at Arugam Bay, one of the top ten surf destinations in the world and a place where the wave has been ridden by everyone from wandering backpackers to international circuit professionals. The hotel is exactly what the bay demands: relaxed without being careless, social without being loud, and designed around the rhythm of the tide rather than the clock. Wooden bungalows with hammock-strung verandahs sit behind a beach bar that serves cold Lion Lager and mango lassi to surfers calling the sets from their stools. The kitchen fires up fresh kottu roti and the catch of the day each evening, and on Fridays a local band takes the open-air stage. Board hire, repair, and lessons are arranged through the front desk. Between swells, the nearby Kumana National Park and Lahugala lagoon offer wildlife encounters of a very different kind.