Ahangama Beach, Sri Lanka

Ahangama is where the south coast got cool. Once a quiet fishing and surf stretch between Galle and Weligama, it has become one of the most fashionable parts of the coast, a run of reef and beach breaks lined with design conscious cafes, surf schools and boutique stays. Surfers come for the waves, the boho crowd comes for the scene, and the stilt fishermen along the shore tie it back to the south coast of the postcards.

For surfing it has genuine range. The coast around Ahangama and neighbouring Kabalana offers reef and beach breaks that suit everyone from improvers to confident surfers, with schools and board rentals to match, and the cafe culture behind the sand gives you somewhere stylish to land between sessions. It is a place to base for several days of waves, coffee and slow evenings rather than a single beach stop, and that lifestyle is exactly what has drawn the crowd.

The honest note is that this is a surf coast, not a swimming beach. The reef and rock that make the waves also make casual swimming awkward and in places unsafe, so families and nervous swimmers will find it frustrating compared with a reef lagoon. Prices and polish have risen with the popularity, too. Come to Ahangama to surf and to enjoy the scene, and when you simply want to float in calm water, drive the short distance to Polhena or Dalawella instead.