And yet, there are a lot of beachboys, it’s impossible to approach the ocean without running into them. Tip - politely but firmly refuse their services.
Promises to take cheaply on an excursion, to the market, to shops, etc.
nonsense, if you use the services of beachboys or tuk-tukers who speak Russian, you can be sure that you will pay one and a half to two times more, because they will take you to "their" store, which will pay them to fit the client. At your own expense.
Don't let them accompany you. Take a tuk tuk one way. In the shops they usually speak Russian, although it is bad. And do not pick up nonsense in the "garden of spices. "
We flew from Kyiv to Sharjah, then to Colombo. The transfer went quickly and there were no problems. We took an individual transfer, so we were met and taken to the hotel quickly and with a breeze, in a Toyota.
We were greeted in the lobby with a drink and some kind of local snack, settled in 10 minutes. The hotel is spacious, clean, the rooms are large, there is a mini-bar, complimentary water, tea, coffee. Balcony overlooking the ocean.
Food.
The hotel has several restaurants, two bars (snack and pool bar) and a main restaurant where breakfasts, lunches and dinners are served.
The usual Swedish line, like everywhere else: omelettes, scrambled eggs, hot and cold appetizers, milk, fruits, juices and hot drinks. We took only breakfasts, but today we went and bought dinners, as we realized that there was no place to eat besides the hotel. Local cafes are far away, and it is impossible to eat in them, dirty, flies, in general, slums. And constantly eating on the Ala carte menu at the hotel is expensive. For three days, lunches are 8-10 thousand rupees, dinner is 10-13 thousand for two, 13 thousand is 100 ? .
There are no complaints about the quality of food and service, they cook very tasty, they serve well, politely and unobtrusively.
Yesterday, after dinner, the chef clarified how dinner was for us and offered an excursion to the kitchen and to the local museum of chocolate masterpieces.
Entertainment.
The animator is engaged in children (coloring books, games on the beach, near the pool)
Milking adults, musicians play in the lobby in the evenings, there is a N. Club, it works on Saturdays, we have not been yet.
English-speaking staff, I want to single out the girl from the reception and accommodation department, she calls and comes to us every day, everyone asks how the rest is, is everything in the room, what are your wishes.
In general, and comparing previous reviews, I want to say this, you should not compare the hotel with hotels in Turkey and Thailand, these are different countries, cultures and mentalities. Different countries, different expectations....
I can’t say anything about scourge fights, we don’t communicate with them, from 15 to 17 Dili to Kandit, we bought an excursion tour in advance, so we looked at the plantations and temples with parks before arriving at the hotel, now we enjoy the sun and the ocean.
The only annoying thing is the local aunts with saris peeking out from behind the palm trees like maniacs....
I recommend to all vacationers to buy a tour with meals. Have a nice rest!
Gathered for a beach holiday in November (1-15.11. 14). We chose Sri Lanka. Departure from Samara. The tour was taken to Veditour, through the Togliatti company Makhaon-tour. Flight with Airarabia. Samara-Sharjah-Colombo. From Colombo transfer to the coast.
The flight was exhausting. Aircraft A320-214 turned out to be very compact, the distance between the seats is very small. In general, it was tight. We were not fed, although the travel agent sent us a letter that the tour operator had arranged to provide meals on board. The flight attendants went and gave food, in strict accordance with the list. We were not on the list. We bought food ourselves. Later we contacted the agent - she replied that apparently they agreed, but did not agree.
Departed from Samara on time. Although there were some minor computer problems at check-in, which were resolved within 30 minutes. We flew and landed in Sharjah normally. They told us where to go for transit.
They collected all the passengers in the drive and after about an hour, they put them on a plane flying to Colombo. In Colombo, the guide who met us put us on a bus (two of us and a girl from another hotel) and took us to the coast, to the village of Ahungalla. We almost slept all the way, as we arrived at night, and it was dark, we couldn’t see much of anything.
We were warmly welcomed at the Heritans Ahungalla Hotel. After checking the documents, we were sent to breakfast. After breakfast, without waiting for the check-in time, we were immediately settled in the 249th room. Which, we changed almost immediately, because we wanted a double bed (king-size bed), and there were two beds interconnected (twin-bed). We were moved to room 202. Ocean view, large pool, large terrace, vegetation all around, in general, we liked everything.
Receptionist:
All the guys speak good English, solve problems almost instantly, very friendly, polite.
The interior of the rooms, restaurants and bars was not impressive. Old furniture, dark upholstery - uncomfortable. Everything is shabby and dull. Curtains, furniture, cushions, battered chandeliers. Dirty bathroom and dim lighting. It was a little uncomfortable. For 3 days, tiny ants were taken out of our room. But still, until the end of the holiday, they periodically appeared either on the desk or in the bathroom. They climbed in my cosmetic bag (before leaving, I had to shake off all the things, wipe the bags with a disinfectant, the cleaners brought me a large bottle). We were offered to change the room, they gave us a choice of 6 rooms, but we did not like the location of these rooms and we stayed in ours. By the way, it is worth noting that they cleaned our room and changed bedding and towels 3 times a day. Tipping was given a couple of times, and then at the end.
The janitor is a prankster, very smiling and pleasant, at first he put flowers on the bed, but I asked them not to put them, suspecting that the ants were crawling with them, so he decorated the bed with my nightgown))). Special thanks to him for the cleanliness!
Nutrition:
The hotel's chefs are winners of numerous prizes and awards. I saw a lot of different certificates, cups and photos from the championships inside the restaurant when I went on an excursion to the chocolate factory. Factory, of course loudly said. A small room, with old chocolate paintings and panels, a few large frozen cakes, chocolate figurines and that's it. I asked the chef accompanying me why, with so many regalia, you have mediocre food? ! He was very surprised, asked what exactly he did not like. I say I don't like it. Rubber waffles, pancakes, tasteless sausages. Egg hoppers with an incomprehensible taste. He wrote down the room number and promised to sort it out.
And the next morning, I get fly in my tea (more on that in a bit).
We took only breakfast, but the rest of the time, we also ate at the hotel, since we couldn’t find anything better nearby. On the right side of the hotel (exit to the beach) there are two establishments. Restaurant White Villa, had dinner there, the prices are almost the same as at the hotel and the food does not differ much in taste. Eatery "Sunshine", really - a barn! Prices are also clearly overpriced, but it was tastier than White Villa. We went there and there once and decided to eat at the hotel. On a trip to Bentota, we once ate in Kulmis Kulmith - tasteless and in the Amal restaurant - we liked it. But wherever we ordered meat, it was tasteless. Either they don’t know how to cook it, or in their opinion it should taste like that, we didn’t understand. We are Kazakhs, the first consumers of meat (the second after us are wolves), we know what we are talking about))).
From everything we ate, we liked dinners (we went at our own expense and at the expense of the hotel) at the “Upper Room” restaurant at the hotel. Delicious salmon salad, seafood soup, just a huge portion of lobster and shrimp, dessert. We also ate at the hotel bar "Mustard Coffee shop", the food is as mediocre as in the main restaurant "Jute". In general, the food at the hotel is not tasty.
At the expense of the hotel went to dinner, because of the fly in the tea (see above). After I complained to the chef about the tasteless food, the next morning I got the shells in the eggs and the fly in the tea. I photographed the fly and called the senior in the restaurant and expressed my claims. She said that I would post a photo and write a post on Facebook and in general on the Internet. What a disgrace, etc. , etc. They poured fresh tea for me, apologized and, in order to smooth their guilt, offered dinner at a hotel restaurant of my choice. I chose the Appe Room and Donut and I had a nice dinner there that evening.
Plus, on Donut's birthday, there was a cake with candles from the hotel.
Free of charge)). thanks to them.
Animation:
You can say at the hotel it is not. 2 pm - trio singing, 1 pm - Sri Lankan dances, 2 pm - saxophonist, 3 pm - flute. The nightclub is only open on Saturdays. We never got there, the first Saturday we went on an excursion, on the second we left. Hours at 11 - water aerobics. Someone was playing beach volleyball.
Sri Lanka, you are far from Turkey, I tell you (thanks to Turkey for everything! ).
Ocean and beach:
The beach is sandy and clean. Warm, pleasant sand. The ocean is seething, not calm, but it was great to ride the waves and splash in the water (albeit deep in the sand). Sun loungers can only be used around the pools. And by the way, they were very lacking. I had to wait for half an hour until they find and roll you a deck chair.
Every day they hung out a red flag, but this did not stop anyone from splashing in the waves. The only thing is that the rescuers pointed out in which places, due to the surface current, it is unsafe to swim.
Tours:
Spice garden in Bentota, ride with the beach boy. Everyone told, did a massage of the hands and head. They gave me some money for it. But they didn't buy anything.
We went on the trail with a hotel guide.
Turtle nursery in Kosgod. Everyone showed and told, but the turtles were not allowed to be released into the ocean. Discuss this with your guide right away. We were told later that this could be done. Elephant nursery - with this, I think we were deceived. They just brought it to the farm, rode three elephants and that's it. The fact that it turns out there is a nursery with large and small elephants and there is much more interesting - we did not know. We went where we were taken. Specify when buying a tour.
I liked the river safari, we saw monitor lizards, monkeys, cormorants funny drying fish on their wings, reed or reed pens for catching shrimps, fish manicure, a small crocodile. We made a stop on the shore to watch how cinnamon is made.
The river ride was just refreshing in itself. You can go, in general.
Fort Galle - we saw the fortress, the Dutch church, we ate. On the way back we swam in the ocean in Hikkaduwa.
Kandy, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka. The city itself is the same as all the others. Dirty, noisy. The Temple of the Tooth of Buddha was not liked by the whole, only the hall, where the history of the tooth is told in the pictures. The tooth is not shown to anyone. They just talk about it. Be sure to take socks that you will throw away later. Everyone walks barefoot there, which is not very pleasant. We handed over our shoes to the shoe "dressing room" and everyone went barefoot. It’s good that we had wet wipes with us, we were able to wipe our heels and put on our slates later.
Tea plantation - they showed only how tea grows. We didn't see the factory. They brought it to the store, bought tea there for 22.000 rupees. We have already tasted it at home - it is weakly brewed.
Botanical garden "Peradeniya".
We advise you to visit - beautiful, huge, colorful, bright and interesting.
We went to the sari shop. We measured, took pictures and left. Expensive ...for a very dubious quality product.
Trip to Colombo. We ordered a taxi at the hotel, negotiate for $85. I asked the employee at the reception (Dinush) to write what to see, where to eat. We looked at the National Museum (stone idols, paintings, dishes, a panorama of plowing a field with cows and a drover) - quickly ran and left. Did not like. We drove past the Nelum Pokuna theater, didn’t go in, drove through the fashionable Galle Face area (ordinary elite houses, like ours), Pettah market (dirty, disgusting, cheap, smelly goods) - they didn’t take anything. Independence Square, Arcade - a gallery of shops and restaurants, in the courtyard there is a fountain with a glass base, colorful fish inside. The glass is cloudy, and the sun reflects, so the fish are hard to see.
Temple Gangaramaya - did not go in, photographed from afar. But this, it turns out, was one of the buildings (branches) of the temple. The main temple (interesting) was in a different place, the driver did not know, found out on arrival. It's a pity. So if you take a taxi from a hotel, make sure the driver knows where everything is.
In general, traveling around the country is tiring. The movement of cars - gas-brake-gas-brake. We were motion sick, one child even burped, right on the bus.
Summing up, I’ll say that we liked it - the ocean, the Botanical Garden, fried with curry leaves, cashew nuts, mangosteen (you must try it), friendly, calm people. Only one big BUT with the locals. A tourist for a local is a big bag of money, they will untwist out of the blue and literally for nothing. We compared prices for jewelry, ours are several times cheaper and at least the quality is guaranteed. And you don't know what's coming up. In general, prices everywhere are cosmic.
You won't find anything cheap there. Except in supermarkets. Alcohol is very expensive, everything is expensive. Prices fluctuate in different ways. In Bentota, a kilo of mangosteen was for 1800, and in Kalutara for 500. If you take, bargain for death, or leave.
Many people write that beachboys and other residents are intrusive - we didn’t feel it ourselves, either Donut looked menacing, or I bargained so zealously and lowered the price, they didn’t pester us, and if they pestered, they immediately lagged behind))).
Decide for yourself whether to go or not to go. Someone can go and be disappointed like us, and someone will fall in love with this country and will go to Sri Lanka more than once. Personally, with this money, we would go to Thailand again.
FOOD: Breakfast is standard, we especially liked the delicious fresh juices. Dinner is not bad, but in the end it didn’t get boring, the food is not very spicy, everything is delicious, but the desserts are beyond praise! Well done! For dinner, only water is poured, everything else is for an additional fee. There is nowhere else to eat at all, the cafe on the beach does not inspire confidence. The restaurant in the hotel is expensive, so you need to take HB and everything will be ok.
STAFF: the waiters very often offer something to drink, by the pool, in the restaurant, it seems that they are trying their best to extort money from you. Check-out only, but we agreed with one waiter by the pool that we would pay him in cash, so we avoided the 20% tax.
In general, the hotel can be recommended, you will have a great vacation!
The hotel is good overall. There are cons in the hotel, but they are fixable and the staff is trying? eliminate them? .
Many thanks to the hotel staff. friendly and well-coordinated team, smiling and sympathetic. Always at the right time in the right place. The hotel's cuisine deserves special praise, varied and very tasty.
Monkeys, jaguanas, and some small funny animals live in the hotel, which gives the hotel a special tenderness.
The staff has a special attitude towards small children, our one-year-old daughter was not left unattended for a minute.
Thanks to all the hotel for a wonderful holiday in Sri Lanka.
Special thanks to ? Kamal, whom we met at the exit of the hotel, we bought a jeep safari tour from him, at an affordable price for our family. Kamal organized everything, the minivan was personally delivered to the hotel at the appointed time, he himself and the driver accompanied the tour. ? The trip was bright colorful and unforgettable. Kamal showed us places not for tourists, throughout the trip he stopped the minivan where we asked, helped us choose fruits, advised food in local shops, showed rice plantations, mangoes, banana groves, ravens in the wild, fishing villages.
. ? Our nanny had a birthday in Sri Lanka, Kamal arranged a real holiday for us not for money but from the heart, he ordered a bouquet of flowers from himself, a reserved table was waiting for us in the restaurant, the nanny's chair was cutely decorated with balloons, and the musicians sang to her happy birthday song. Kamal kindly stayed to rock our sleeping daughter in the stroller while we had dinner. At the entrance to the restaurant, we chose lobsters, which the chefs of the restaurant kindly prepared for us, you will lick your fingers. The holiday turned out to be unforgettable.
Kamal also introduced us to his family with his wife and two daughters. If you meet this man, a huge request do not offend him, he is a very good person. In the attached photo for those who wish, I attach his business card, with this person it is reliable and verified by us. )
Words cannot convey the people who live in Sri Lanka, kind, smiling, unusually positive. Despite the tsunami that they experienced, the bitterness of loss that it brought them, losing a home, family, friends is scary, they remain people who rejoice every day in which they live and give warmth and a smile to the world around them.
And lastly, about delicious food, we had HB food, they fed it deliciously, varied and in large portions, I would always eat like that))