boutiquesrilanka.com), Eden Villas (villasinsrilanka.com), Red Dot Tours (reddottours.com) and Sri Lanka in Style (srilankainstyle.com).Sri Lanka has an excellent range of accommodation in all price brackets, from basic beachside shacks to elegant colonial mansions and sumptuous five-star resorts – indeed staying in one of the country’s burgeoning number of luxury hotels and villas can be one of the principal pleasures of a visit to the island, if you can afford it.
Travellers on a budget will spend most of their time in guesthouses, usually family-run places either in or attached to the home of the owners. Some of the nicer guesthouses can be real homes from home, with good food and sociable hosts. Rooms at most places of these type of places cost in the region of $12–25.
Hotels come in all shapes, sizes and prices, from functional concrete boxes to luxurious establishments that are virtual tourist attractions in their own right. Some of the finest hotels (particularly in the hill country) are located in old colonial buildings, offering a wonderful taste of the lifestyle and ambience of yesteryear, while the island also boasts a number of stunning modern hotels, including many designed by Sri Lanka’s great twentieth-century architect Geoffrey Bawa. The coastal areas are also home to innumerable resort hotels, the majority of which – with a few honourable exceptions – are fairly bland, populated largely by European package tourists on full-board programmes and offering a diet of horrible buffet food and plenty of organized fun.
Sri Lanka is gradually waking up to its massive eco-tourism potential, and now boasts a few good eco-oriented hotels and lodges. You can also stay in bungalows or camp within most of the island’s national parks. The national parks are the only places in Sri Lanka with official campsites. Elsewhere camping is not a recognized activity, and pitching your tent unofficially in rural areas or on the beach is likely to lead to problems with local landowners and villagers.
Sri Lanka also boasts a huge (and continually increasing) number of villas and boutique hotels, many set in old colonial villas or old tea estate bungalows and offering stylish and luxurious accommodation, although they don’t come cheap. There’s a great selection online at numerous websites including Boutique Sri Lanka (boutiquesrilanka.com), Eden Villas (villasinsrilanka.com), Red Dot Tours (reddottours.com) and Sri Lanka in Style (srilankainstyle.com).
There’s also a growing number of hostels across the country (including several in Colombo, plus others in Kandy, Galle, Unawatuna, Arugam Bay and elsewhere) offering relatively inexpensive dormitory accommodation.
There’s heaps of accommodation in Sri Lanka, although despite the ever-increasing number of places to stay the growth in tourist numbers means that demand frequently outstrips supply, and it’s not unknown for entire towns to fill up during major holidays or festivals. Most places are now bookable online through major portals like booking.com, although note that many more upmarket places now offer a “best price” guarantee when booking directly through their own website, so compare rates before you commit. You may also pay less when booking directly at smaller places, while booking direct (although less convenient) also ensures that all the money you spend stays in Sri Lanka, where it belongs, rather than having parts of it diverted into the coffers of a few international online behemoths.
ACCOMMODATION PRICES
The accommodation prices quoted in this guide are based on the cost of the least expensive double room in high season (roughly Dec–April in most parts of the island except on the east coast, where it’s May–July). Outside these periods rates often fall considerably. All taxes and service charges have been included in the prices quoted. For more details, see “Room rates”.
Amanwella Tangalla.
Bar Reef Resort Kalpitiya.
Club Villa Bentota.
Galle Face Hotel Colombo.
Helga’s Folly Kandy.
Heritance Kandalama Dambulla.
Heritance Tea Factory Nuwara Eliya.
Jetwing Vil Uyana Sigiriya.
The Kandy House Kandy.
The Sun House Galle.
If you don’t have a reservation, be aware that Sri Lanka has its fair share of accommodation touts (or, more often, rickshaw drivers doubling as touts) who make money by demanding – often extortionate – commission from guesthouse owners. A few places are happy to pay to have customers brought to them, but the vast majority are not – and what makes it worse is that some touts expect to paid off even if they had no influence on your choice. One way of avoiding hassle both for you and your hosts is to ring ahead to your preferred guesthouse; many places will pick you up for free from the local bus or train station if given advance warning. If arriving by tuktuk and your driver asks if you have a booking, you might prefer to say you have (even if you haven’t), which should help discourage him from trying to rinse commission out of the place you’re going to.
What you’ll need from your room depends on where you are in the island. A fan or a/c is essential in the hot and humid lowlands, but redundant in the high hill country. Equally, hot water is a must-have in, say, lofty Nuwara Eliya, but a luxury you can possibly do without on the beach. And in a few places, like Kandy, you’ll probably want a fan and hot water (although a/c isn’t really needed unless you really suffer in the heat). Virtually all accommodation in Sri Lanka comes with private bathroom (we’ve mentioned any exceptions in the relevant listings).
In lowland areas, you should also always get a fan (usually a ceiling fan; floor-standing fans are much less common, and much less effective) – don’t stay anywhere without one, unless you’re happy to sleep in a puddle of sweat. It’s also worth checking that the fan works properly (both that it runs at a decent speed and doesn’t make a horrible noise). In lowland areas, room size and ceiling height are both important in determining how hot somewhere will be – rooms with low ceilings can become unbearably stuffy. In some areas (notably Arugam Bay) many places are built with their roofs raised slightly above the top of the walls, so that cool air can circulate freely through the gap (although, equally, it provides free access to insects). The majority of places now provide hot water (although in the humid lowlands, cold-water showers are no particular hardship). Mosquito nets are provided in many but not all places – it’s well worth carrying your own. Smarter places will also usually have air conditioning.
Hot water usually comes as standard in the cooler hill country, though you’re unlikely to get (or need) a fan anywhere higher than Kandy. In the highest parts of the island, particularly Nuwara Eliya, you’ll often need some form of heating and/or a good supply of blankets. Few hill-country establishments provide mosquito nets, which isn’t generally a problem since mozzies shouldn’t be able to survive at these altitudes, though in practice you might be unlucky enough to have an unusually hardy specimen buzzing in your ear anywhere in the island.
There are a few other things worth bearing in mind when choosing a room. Check how many lights there are and whether they work (some rooms can be decidedly gloomy), and if you’re staying in a family guesthouse, keep an eye out for loud children, dogs or television sets in the vicinity of your room; and make sure you get a room away from any noisy nearby roads.
Finally, remember that most Sri Lankans go to bed early. If you’re staying at a small guesthouse and you go out for dinner and a few beers, it’s not uncommon to find yourself locked out if you return any time after 9pm. Let your hosts know when to expect you back.
Room rates in lower-end places reflect Sri Lanka’s bargaining culture – exact rates are often somewhat notional, as owners will vary prices to reflect the season, levels of demand and how rich they think you look. It’s always worth bargaining, even in more upmarket places, especially if you’re planning to stay a few nights, or if business looks slow. If you’re travelling on your own, you’ll have to work harder to get a decent price since many establishments don’t have single rooms or rates (and where they exist, they’re still usually two-thirds to three-quarters of the price of a double). Try to establish what the price of a double would be, and bargain from there.
Prices in most coastal areas are also subject to seasonal variations. The most pronounced seasonal variation is along the west coast, where rates at almost all places rise (usually by between 25 and 40 percent) from December 1 through to mid- or late April. Some places along the south coast also put up their prices during this period. East coast places tend to raise rates by a similar level from around May through to July. Rates in particular towns also rise if there’s a big festival or other event going on locally – as during the Esala Perahera at Kandy – or over important holidays, as during the Sinhalese New Year in Nuwara Eliya, when accommodation prices can double or treble.
Room rates at mid- and top-end places are often quoted in dollars for convenience, but are payable in rupees only (a few places along the west coast quote prices in euros, again usually payable in rupees only). Make sure you clarify whether any additional taxes will be added to the bill or are already included in the quoted price (the so-called “nett” rate). Many places add a ten percent “service charge” while there are also several other government taxes which may or may not be figured into the quoted price, but which can potentially add up to 27 percent to the total bill – a nasty surprise when you come to check out, especially since these taxes will most likely also have been added to your food and drink bill. Cheaper hotels and guesthouses tend to quote nett rates; upmarket places are more likely to quote rates excluding taxes and service charge, although there’s no hard and fast rule.
Geoffrey Bawa hotels
Avani Bentota Bentota.
Avani Kalutara Resort and Spa Kalutara.
The Blue Water Wadduwa.
Club Villa Bentota.
Heritance Ahungalla Ahungalla.
Heritance Ayurveda Maha Gedara Beruwala.
Heritance Kandalama Dambulla.
Jetwing Beach Negombo.
Jetwing Lighthouse Galle.
Lunuganga Bentota.
Paradise Road The Villa Bentota.