Overview
As of August 2018 there are 2 luxury night buses with ac and 3-4 regular non-ac buses operating between Colombo and Pottuvil. The road is bumpy and has many sharp bends so only the very tired will sleep. You can expect two 20 minute stops on the way for food, drink and to use a bathroom.
Cost
The price for a regular bus ticket is about 500LKR and double that for the luxury bus, about 1000LKR.
Bus Times
For the latest Colombo to Arugam Bay bus times and info on how to book tickets in advance see Latest News. This journey will take about 7 hours by night and 10 hours by day.
Luggage Storage
The luxury Colombo to Pottuvil buses have storage available for surfboards and luggage. However, the regular buses are limited in space. Small items of luggage can be stored overhead in the luggage racks. See the many comments below for first-hand experiences!
Day or Night
All direct buses travel through the night, but if you want to travel by day then there is an option to take the number 98-2 bus to Monaragala (some of these are ac), and then take the number 303-1 bus to Pottuvil or Panama. This journey will take considerably longer as there is much more traffic during the day. In addition it is possible to take any number 98 bus as they all route through Monaragala before turning north. In fact some will take you as far as Siyambalanduwa which is the next town from Monaragala. From here there are local buses to Pottuvil and Panama. The last bus from Monaragala to Pottuvil leaves at 17:30.
Pottuvil or Arugam Bay
If the bus goes to Panama then it will stop in Arugam Bay and you will not need to get off in Pottuvil. If you are unsure of this then when you arrive in Pottuvil simply wait to see if all the locals leave the bus. Many tuk tuk drivers will come on the bus and offer you an inflated price to Arugam Bay and tell you that the bus does not go there. If the conductor does not tell you to get off then the bus is going to Arugam Bay.
Arriving in Arugam Bay
There are four stops on the main road arriving in Arugam Bay from Pottuvil, shown on the map below.
After you cross the lagoon bridge from Pottuvil at the top of the map it will take the bus approximately 1 minute to reach Bus Stop 1, a distance of 1km. From there, the bus stops are about 30 seconds apart. The bus stops for taking the bus to Pottuvil or Monaragala are shown on the Leaving Here page.
If the Colombo to Arugam Bay bus stops in Pottuvil then a tuk tuk to Arugam Bay will be between 200 and 300LKR depending on which end of the town you need.
Quick Links
- Bandaranaike Airport to Colombo
- Colombo to Arugam Bay by Bus
- Colombo to Arugam Bay by Train and Bus via Ella or Badulla
- Colombo to Arugam Bay by Train and Bus via Batticaloa
- Colombo to Arugam Bay by Luxury Bus via Akkaraipattu
- South Coast to Arugam Bay by Bus
- Independent Taxi Share
- Request Taxi Quote
Please read this page, all comments and the page Updated Bus Times before asking a question. Thanks 🙂
Leave a Reply
Are these busses still running April 2022 please. Can’t find any information on this route now.
Can I get off at Buttala on this bus pls let me know I am a regular traveller who will use the service twice every week
Hey Dilshan, the bus passes through Buttala so you should be able to get off.
The way I used to come to arugam bay from colombo with a night bus in Nov 2017. So there are two websites that you can book a seat through online!
1. Busbooking.lk 2. Busseat.lk
I used the second one, reserved a seat through the website and went to pay cash at foodcity (anywhere) where they handle easycash. My journey was from colombo 10 bus stand at 9:30pm to akkaribatu (I arrived around 5:30?am) then a local bus to pottuvil which runs from 6 am. It takes about one hour to get and then one more 10 mins tuk tuk ride to arugam bay.
(Little tip, when you arrive in akkaribatu, some tuk tuk drivers will come to you and says there are no buses, but there are. Just ignore them and have a hot tea from a local restaurant right opposite to the bus stand)
Also, once you make a booking, you will be recieved a google map link for the bus stand in colombo 10, but when I arrived there as the map says it wasn’t the stand. Ask your tuk driver as mine knew where the actual loaction was! It was about 5 min more drive.
Hope it helps!
I wanted to share my latest experience how to get from Colombo airport to Arugambay with two surfboards by public transport and we payed in total ridiculous 620 Rupies per person, about 4 USD. (Please note that English is not my first language).
From the airport we took the public bus for 130 Rs, there we had to place our surfboard at hand luggage above the heads, it was half-safe but went fine. When we arrived at the bus central station, we went to something like an information desk in the middle of the area, there we got instructed to go to the ticket office. At the ticket office we payed 490 Rs for the 7pm nightbus. The stuff at the ticket office told us, it should be no problem to get the boards into the bus, that we could store them in the back of the bus, at the trunk. They also told us, it could be possible that we get charged extra for our boards at the bus. (Till that point we had no idea how much space is in such a bus trunk, but the office stuff saw the big size of our funboards and they were very optimistic). Amusingly, when the bus came in the evening, we saw there was no chance to get the boards into the trunk (maybe really small shortboards would fit in). But finally we could store our boards in the back door of the bus vertical, which was safe cause the door was closed anyway for the whole journey and we fixed them with a cord which prevented them falling over. Luckily we were not charged extra for the boards. After 8 hours of an insane drive with very loud music (my earplugs couldn’t help) and slightly sleep we arrived in Arugambay, happy and alive. Who wants to do the cheapest and most authentically journey through Sri Lanka, I could recommend to go by public transport and I would always do it the same way.
Hey Nele, thanks for the detailed account of your trip. The information is very helpful. It seems there is another bus at 7pm from Colombo. We did not know about this before. Thanks again!
You’re welcome! Yes, it was such a red government bus. But more important: I have to thank you, because without your website we would have never found our way like this to Arugambay 😉
Hello,
Can anybody please tell me if I can take a surfboard on the 10.15pm bus to A-Bay?
If it costs extra that is fine, I just want to know if it will fit?
Thank you 🙂
Hey Jemima, please see the previous comment and reply. Not sure if Mikaela has any more info or if she tried to take her board on this bus.
Hi there I want to take the bus from Colombo to Pottuvil at 10pm. I also want to take my 8ft surfboard. I noticed earlier in this forum that the bus is not a luxury bus. I emailed and asked if I could take my board and they replied with this “This bus does not have a separate luggage space. You can carry the surf board within the bus, but the bus staff might charge additionally for it if its limiting their space within the bus.
But in general, most of the international tourists use this bus to carry surf boards to Arugam bay”.
Do you think I risk it and take my board even though it is quite long?
Sorry for the long comment.
Hey Mikaela, If the 10pm bus is full then I do not see how it can fit in the bus, maybe they will let you keep it in the aisle? We would not recommend it but maybe someone else has managed it and can offer some other advice.
I would like to take the 7:30pm bus from the bismahlla lodge to arugam bay… I send them a email a couple of days ago to reserv a seat. I never got a answer from them. Do you know is it possible? You have said they have only 10 seats for passanger who are traveling to arugam bay. I`m afraid to get stuck in Colombo:)
Hi Myrta, we do not think they provide this service, but you can also try the Bunkyard Hostel in Colombo. We have recently discovered that they are selling tickets for the same bus at a higher price (1500LKR for guests and 2000LKR for non-guests).
I would like to book a bus from Colombo to Arugam bay for the 31st. I arrive at Colombo airport at 16:30. What is the best way to get to the bus from the airport?. I just have a short surfboard and a small backpack. Thank you
Hi Dylan, did you see the page Airport to Colombo? Some buses are larger than others so you have to wait for one with enough storage space for your surfboard.
Hello, does anyone know how much the bus costs from colombo to Arugam Bay
Hey Ella, luxury buses are about 1000-1200LKR and the regular buses about 600-700LKR. So the 5 minute tuk tuk from Pottuvil to Arugam Bay will be almost half the cost of the 8 hour bus ride!
Hi, we.re looking to get the overnight AC bus from Colombo to Pottuville and was hoping to book online in advance to reserve a seat, is this possible?
Thanks Emma
Hi Emma, the ac luxury bus from Colombo to Pottuvil cannot be booked online as far as we know. If you want to reserve an ac luxury bus you can try this page but the bus goes to Akkaraipattu not Pottuvil.
I’ll post my experience here. I wanted to go for the 10pm bus but since it was fully booked, I decided to go for the 7.30 pm bus. I found the bismallah lodge (nothing indicates that they sell bustickets) and bought a ticket for 1.000 rupies. Two german girls who joined the bus last minute paid 1.100 each from what they told me. We left at around the said time. During the trip they played a very long movie with a guy talking in arabic about islam. Probably because of ramadan. When the movie finished, after the first stop, they turned on indian music. Yes, it was loud but not exteme. Earplugs are advised though. I managed to get some sleep, but not much, before arriving in pottuvil at 3.00 am. The bus then turned around and went north. We had two tuktuk drivers offering to take us into arugam bay. Their price started at 500 rupies per tuktuk and we got them down to 350. The ride into arugam then took several minutes. Two of us, one of them being me, didnt book anything for the night so we decided to look for a place to stay (didnt feel like staying up until i could check in into my booked place). Because its low season, i managed to find a place to sleep. currently the season is starting here though. Good luck to anyone undertaking the trip 🙂
Hey Dennis, thanks for the information. It will be very valuable to future travellers. Loud music and movies on night buses is completely normal in Sri Lanka for some unknown reason. At least it helps to keep the driver awake!
Hi guys, first of all thanks heaps for all the information, very very helpful.
Just a question how about renting a car and self-driving? Would that be something that is possible as i haven’t seen any information in regards to that option. Would the traffic and roads be better or worse than in Bali and Indonesia general?
Thanks again!
Hey Jacob, the general advice is not to do it. The roads are not good and driving is stressful, even for the locals! There is not much cost difference between this option and hiring your own car and driver so most people do it the easy way. With specific reference to Arugam Bay it really is not worth it as you need a tuk tuk or 4×4 to visit most of the other beaches in the area. The roads leading off the main road are not really suitable for cars. That said if you have driven in other Asian countries you may find it ok…
Hello.
I am landing at 5:20 am morning at colombo airport.
I am considering to travel to arugam bay during the day.
Could you give me info from where i should take the first bus in colombo and how many transfers i have to make, in which cities?
Hey Sasa, the bus from the airport will drop you at the government central bus stand. Buses will start from there at 6am to Monaragala. From there you can take the bus to Panama or Pottuvil (you will need a tuk tuk for last 4km). There are some ac buses too from Colombo to Monaragala which will most likely leave from the Bastian Mawatha private bus stand on the other side of the road. This could be the best place to look for a more comfortable ride. Let us know how the journey goes!
thank you! i will let you know how it went 🙂 travelling in july
Hello!
We are two people arriving Colombo on the 21st not until 11.00 pm. Are there any options for us to take a bus that same night to arugam bay?
Hi Vetle, no sorry, the last one leaves at 10:15pm. All bus times are here. Taxi is the only option unless you wait until the next day.
Is it possible to get to Arugam Bay with a surfboard, but avoiding the expense of a taxi? I notice you say that there is not room in the luggage compartment of the bus for surfboards.
Hi Charlotte, most buses have a storage area in the back, so if that is empty and you have a shortboard it should be ok. No guarantee though. Let us know how it goes if you try. Good luck!
Update: As of May 2017 it is possible to take surfboards on the luxury buses operating between Colombo and Pottuvil.
How do I know I booked a luxury Bus ? I took tickets from the website busbooking
And my bus leave at 10:00pm (Colombo – ArugamBay)
Hi Arthur, I’m not sure what information busbooking.lk provide you with. The 10:15pm from Colombo to Arugam Bay is not a luxury bus. Here is the full timetable.
Ok, then it is not a luxury bus.
I asked for surfboards, and they replied :
“Reservation is only for passenger seat and a one hand luggage per seat. The bus staff will additionally charge you for the extra luggages as they dont have a dedicated space for other cargo”
Do you know what could be the price of additional charge ?
Most likely a few hundred LKR, please let us know how it goes.
I was travelling to A-Bay last weekend. There is a CTB leaving at 5am from Pettah to Syambalanduwa. From there another CTB can be taken directly to Arugam Bay and you reach there around 3:30pm.
The journey is however really exhausting.
For our return journey we took the CTB to Monaragala, and from Monaragala took the intercity bus (AC Bus) to Colombo.
Both journeys took about 8-9 hours.
So going through Monaragala using an intercity AC bus is probably the best option as it makes the longest part of the journeu quite comfortable.
Hope this helps all bus travellers 🙂 .
Hey Anushika, this is great information. Thanks for sharing! It is good that at least there is now an ac bus running between Monaragala and Colombo. Maybe next year it will go all the way to Arugam Bay once more!
Hey Anushika, where can I find the details for these buses, thanks Sam 🙂
Hi Sam, I think this website is currently the only place giving information on these buses. One day the Sri Lankan authorities will organise themselves and produce a website! What other information do you need?