Your rating of this hotel:
10.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms:
10.0
Service:
9.0
Cleanliness:
10.0
Food:
10.0
Amenities:
9.0
Now that Sri Lanka tours are increasingly being offered bundled with budget accommodation in an attempt to lure in the “bargain price”, hotels like this resort oasis called “Haridra Resort & Spa by Jetwing” seem like the most pleasant surprise in a package tour.
And even though this is a publicity stunt at the stage of introducing the hotel (the so-called 'preopening'), we liked it. Since the hotel is quite new and little known among us, I will make a brief review of it.
About style/design.
------------------
Simple pleasures in the spirit of elegant minimalism:
- elegant suites with huge windows and spacious balconies, with a tree in the hallway (living, freely growing in a giant glass cube),
- Absolutely fascinated by the size of the rooms and the ocean-facing baths.
Territory / space.
------------------------
- a linear and clearly planned compact area, as if open to the ocean.
The mirror of the long pool is cut into the lawn carefully "trimmed" by the gardener, and it is set off by the house-teremok of the Ayurveda center. The lobby illuminated by the sun and refreshed by the breeze seems to flow from the lawn under the roof of the hotel building - that's all the space. At the same time, it does not seem cramped or aesthetically cold, despite the long galleries and passages reduced to perspective rectangles...
It is easy to see in this apparent simplicity the exact calculation of the architect and landscape designer. Clarity and the play of light and shadow are in the best traditions of maestro Deffrey Bawa, the guru of Sri Lankan architecture of the 20th century and the founder of the tropical modernism style.
Catering / Hotel kitchen
---------------------
Quite definitely, without cunning, it can be called the author's. In each of the dishes one can feel the ability of the cook to combine tastes, emphasizing the merits of the components.
The classic recipes are played up by the chef, who is a connoisseur of the nuances of oriental spices and tropical fruits, so guests like a la carte food much more than a buffet, it looks quite harmonious for the average European, who fearfully expects a high degree of spiciness in everything, up to desserts.
What to take: breakfast or half board?
No noteworthy cafes/restaurants were found around the hotel, so half board is definitely preferable to breakfast only.
Things to do?
-------------
Relax-relax, swim in the pool, go for massages and wraps in the Ayurveda center, jump on the waves in the ocean, walk along the endless beach, read books (take it with you or read online on the Internet (Wi Fi is free and “takes” even on sun loungers under the magras, at the very edge of the beach).
At the same time, no one is engaged in your entertainment as such - only you yourself.
Health / sports
----------------
There is a fitness room with modern gadgets, but is it worth it to warm up if it is more pleasant to do it on a sandy beach and in warm waves rolling in shallow water?
I was pleasantly impressed by the team at the Ayurveda Center: conscientious therapists and an attentive doctor, without whom procedures are not prescribed. He will determine your "dosha" - and only after that he will set the task for his assistants: what oil to take, what type of massage to choose, in what order to compose a set of procedures.
Service / staff
----------------------
I was touched by the diligent guys who put things in order in the rooms cleanly and neatly, and even with intricate ornaments of flowers and petals. Tea, coffee, water replenished daily without reminders. But if something seems a little, call - they will inform.
Extremely attentive, but archi-slow staff in the restaurant. As if their task is to teach you to stretch the pleasure of eating for an hour and a half. But really, what's the rush?
Savor it - and find a separate pleasure in it!
A little discouraged were sleepy employees behind the reception desk, as if meditating on your question or request. However, if you do not raise your voice and be prepared for the South Asian slowness, then the issues were resolved quite effectively.
Non-staff, but also on the level - these are polite beach-boys who kindly organized a trip for us to the Sri Lankan outback: in one of the villages a religious festival was held in honor of the god Skanda. And the tour to the old Dutch fort Galle performed by them was at the level (fortunately, each participant of the tour had a detailed text / mini-guide with a route around the fort from the host operator).
P. S.
After a four-day stop at a new resort (west coast of the island) under the blessed sky of Sri Lanka, we put - together with my friend (a rather strict business lady) - this boutique hotel three pluses for peace and serenity with service at the highest level.
©tatiana grybova / lanka-lanochka – text, photo, 2013
And even though this is a publicity stunt at the stage of introducing the hotel (the so-called 'preopening'), we liked it. Since the hotel is quite new and little known among us, I will make a brief review of it.
About style/design.
------------------
Simple pleasures in the spirit of elegant minimalism:
- elegant suites with huge windows and spacious balconies, with a tree in the hallway (living, freely growing in a giant glass cube),
- Absolutely fascinated by the size of the rooms and the ocean-facing baths.
Territory / space.
------------------------
- a linear and clearly planned compact area, as if open to the ocean.
The mirror of the long pool is cut into the lawn carefully "trimmed" by the gardener, and it is set off by the house-teremok of the Ayurveda center. The lobby illuminated by the sun and refreshed by the breeze seems to flow from the lawn under the roof of the hotel building - that's all the space. At the same time, it does not seem cramped or aesthetically cold, despite the long galleries and passages reduced to perspective rectangles...
It is easy to see in this apparent simplicity the exact calculation of the architect and landscape designer. Clarity and the play of light and shadow are in the best traditions of maestro Deffrey Bawa, the guru of Sri Lankan architecture of the 20th century and the founder of the tropical modernism style.
Catering / Hotel kitchen
---------------------
Quite definitely, without cunning, it can be called the author's. In each of the dishes one can feel the ability of the cook to combine tastes, emphasizing the merits of the components.
The classic recipes are played up by the chef, who is a connoisseur of the nuances of oriental spices and tropical fruits, so guests like a la carte food much more than a buffet, it looks quite harmonious for the average European, who fearfully expects a high degree of spiciness in everything, up to desserts.
What to take: breakfast or half board?
No noteworthy cafes/restaurants were found around the hotel, so half board is definitely preferable to breakfast only.
Things to do?
-------------
Relax-relax, swim in the pool, go for massages and wraps in the Ayurveda center, jump on the waves in the ocean, walk along the endless beach, read books (take it with you or read online on the Internet (Wi Fi is free and “takes” even on sun loungers under the magras, at the very edge of the beach).
At the same time, no one is engaged in your entertainment as such - only you yourself.
Health / sports
----------------
There is a fitness room with modern gadgets, but is it worth it to warm up if it is more pleasant to do it on a sandy beach and in warm waves rolling in shallow water?
I was pleasantly impressed by the team at the Ayurveda Center: conscientious therapists and an attentive doctor, without whom procedures are not prescribed. He will determine your "dosha" - and only after that he will set the task for his assistants: what oil to take, what type of massage to choose, in what order to compose a set of procedures.
Service / staff
----------------------
I was touched by the diligent guys who put things in order in the rooms cleanly and neatly, and even with intricate ornaments of flowers and petals. Tea, coffee, water replenished daily without reminders. But if something seems a little, call - they will inform.
Extremely attentive, but archi-slow staff in the restaurant. As if their task is to teach you to stretch the pleasure of eating for an hour and a half. But really, what's the rush?
Savor it - and find a separate pleasure in it!
A little discouraged were sleepy employees behind the reception desk, as if meditating on your question or request. However, if you do not raise your voice and be prepared for the South Asian slowness, then the issues were resolved quite effectively.
Non-staff, but also on the level - these are polite beach-boys who kindly organized a trip for us to the Sri Lankan outback: in one of the villages a religious festival was held in honor of the god Skanda. And the tour to the old Dutch fort Galle performed by them was at the level (fortunately, each participant of the tour had a detailed text / mini-guide with a route around the fort from the host operator).
P. S.
After a four-day stop at a new resort (west coast of the island) under the blessed sky of Sri Lanka, we put - together with my friend (a rather strict business lady) - this boutique hotel three pluses for peace and serenity with service at the highest level.
©tatiana grybova / lanka-lanochka – text, photo, 2013
Translated automatically from Russian. View original
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