Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
das singing to the moon rather than honking buses. The rooms are enormous, the beds
covered in pink and orange tropical blooms and there's tasteful art on the walls.
The food and the service are as good as the accommodation and the centre piece of the
garden is an immaculate pool.
Saman Villas
BOUTIQUE HOTEL
( 227 5435;
www.samanvilla.com
;r US$600-980; )
We would love to tell you just how incredible this place is, but the simple truth is that there
are no words to describe the sheer opulence of this hotel complex. How opulent? Well,
some of the rooms have private swimming pools - inside the bathroom!
If you prefer more communal swimming, there's also a heavenly infinity pool that
merges into an ocean horizon, and everywhere you go, you will be walking on flower
petals. But the real clincher is the setting: situated on the headland at the southern end of
Bentota beach, the sea views are simply overwhelming.
Nisala Arana
BOUTIQUE HOTEL
( 077 773 3313;
www.nisalaarana.com
;
326/1 Circular Rd, Kommala;d incl breakfast US$150-200,
houses US$464; )
For the ultimate in gracious and exotic Sri Lankan living come to this outstanding
boutique guesthouse 3km inland from the beach where everything is easy living: egrets
stand sentry by the pool, butterflies flutter and rooms are packed with beautiful dark-wood
antique furnishings. There are, however, an inordinate number of mosquitoes at certain
times.
Paradise Road - The Villa
BOUTIQUE HOTEL
( 227 5311;
www.villabentota.com
;
138/18 Galle Rd;r incl breakfast from US$264; )
Fabulous and intimate boutique hotel decorated in black-and-white zebra stripes and ad-
orned with karma-enhancing Tibetan Buddhist artefacts. Speaking of the Buddha, you can
recline like him on one of the oh-so-soft sofas, swirl up the pool like a koi carp or just take
things easy with a pot of tea in the shade of a garden pagoda.
Club Villa
BOUTIQUE HOTEL
