A Kite Surfers Paradise – Kalpitiya

Kalpitiya is a small town in the middle of nowhere, on the northwest side of Sri Lanka. It sits on the finger of land that separates Dutch Bay from the Indian Ocean. After we had taken a beginner kite surfing course in Mui Ne, Vietnam, we wanted to take our kite surfing a bit further. We had heard that Kalpitiya was THE place to go kite surfing in Sri Lanka! So we headed up north to Kalpitiya for some more lessons. And we did not regret it, the place turned out to be perfect for beginners!

We arrived in Kalpitiya late in the evening after a long and exhausting seven-hour train trip from Polonnaruwa to Colombo, followed by a three-hour taxi ride. Our original plan was to stay one night in Colombo after the train trip and head up to Kalpitiya the next morning. But when we arrived in Colombo, it felt like such a hassle to find a place to stay, only to get up the next morning and continue our journey, better to just finish it in one day.

We had made bookings with The Rascals Kite Resort in Kalpitiya, and on our way from Colombo we tried to call them several times to tell them we were coming one day earlier, but no answer. So we were a bit concerned when driving up north late at night, further and further out into the middle of nowhere, uncertain if they had room available for us. Luckily it turned out that they had a bungalow available, and we were warmly welcomed by the sweet Johanna and Mondy. We even got dinner, which tasted great after a whole day of just eating snacks and junk food on the train. We also met three people from Germany, Alex, Felix, and Alexander who also stayed at the Rascals. We became friends straight away, being fellow kite surfers! We were so tired after our exhausting day, that we had an early night and fell asleep as soon as we put our heads on the pillows in our bungalow.

Since we arrived after dark, we didn`t get to see much of our surroundings at the Rascals the evening we came. When we woke up the next morning, we were so pleased with our pick of accommodation! The Rascals turned out to be such a nice and lovely place!

We had a delicious breakfast at the “restaurant house” at the Rascals. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner was included in the accommodation price. We got delicious Sri Lankan food, much of it seafood and fish.

The Rascals Kite Resort is such a lovely place to stay, peaceful and original. It is owned by Johanna, from Sweden, and Mondy, from Italy – such great people! Mondy is a kite instructor. They have really done a good job setting up this place, everything is so neat and clean. Outside the bungalows, Johanna has made a beautiful garden with flowers and small trees in pots:

And the Rascal`s bungalows are so cool! Look at the lovely bed and the cool shower in our open-air bathroom:

We even had a pet in our bungalow one evening, a frog swimming in our toilet-bowl in the bathroom!

We were told by Mondy, the kite instructor at the Rascals, that the wind picks up around 2 p.m. at this time a year (March). So while waiting for the wind, we headed to the beach.

Kalpitiya Beach is a fantastic stretch of sand, really long. It`s golden soft sand as far as your eyes can see, it just never ends! And there are hardly any tourists, only local fishermen and a few Sri Lankan kids playing around and swimming. Yep, beach paradise! The swimming was also great!

Then, after lunch, it was time for some kite surfing action! Yeah! 🙂

Sadly we don`t have any pictures of us actually kite surfing, as we were too busy kiting and doing as our instructor told us. The lagoon was however perfect for beginner kite surfers, like ourselves, with flat (no waves at all!) and shallow water.

We got two days of excellent kite surfing in Kalpitiya! The original plan was to do kiting for three days, but the last day there was no wind so it got canceled.

Instead, we went snorkeling and dolphin watching that day. You can read, see photos and watch a video from our Dolphin watching trip here. The snorkeling trip was also amazing! Sadly we don`t have any photos from the snorkeling, as we did not bring our camera. We highly recommend going snorkeling or diving outside of Kalpitiya, the offshore reefs are spectacular! The Bar Reef is located several kilometers off the northwest tip of the peninsula and is said to be one of the finest dive and snorkeling sites in Sri Lanka. The trip out to the reef took about one hour each way, but it was so worth it! So our last day at Kalpitiya turned out to be great, despite the fact that we didn`t have wind to go kite surfing.

Well, home we were welcomed by the cutie dog Heidi, and her owner Johanna.

We totally fell in love with Kalpitiya and the Rascals Kite Resort! What a lovely place, and great kite surfing spot for us beginners! A million thanks to Johanna and Mondy for being such great hosts and making us feel so welcomed! We definitely want to come back! If you want to learn how to kitesurf, we recommend kitesurfing in Sri Lanka.

At the moment Kalpitiya is a rural backwater, with hardly any guesthouses, restaurants, or much to see or do for tourists. The future for this undeveloped paradise is uncertain, as the government is engaged in a huge project that wants to turn the peninsula and offshore islands into one of Sri Lanka`s prime beach tourism destinations. They have plans for big luxury hotels with beds for 10 000 people, a domestic airport, theme parks and an underwater amusement park, golf courses, high-speed boat safaris and so on. Yep, it sounds crazy! Environmentalists are concerned about the populations of dolphins, whales, dugongs, and other animals that use the waters around Dutch Bay. Maybe even more of a concern is all the local people that will be affected by this, as their main income, fishing, will disappear. The locals have even gone so far as to stage protests in Colombo, but sadly many of the projects are already on its way. I hope that the government`s plans fade away in the wind and that Kalpitiya stays like this forever!

Click here to find the latest price at The Rascals Kite Resort

If you want to see a video of pros kite surfing in Kalpitiya, here are two that give you an impression of how it`s like kite surfing at Kalpitiya:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HN_r0yNSHhE

Here is a video starring our kite instructor Aya:

Have you ever tried Kite Surfing? If not, is kiting something that you can picture yourself trying someday? Please leave a comment in the comment area below! If you like this blog post or find it useful, please share on social media! Thanks! 🙂