Geoff & Eileen
England, February 2026
What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
Scenery, people, food, wildlife, culture, beaches...
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
Overcrowding at Colombo Airport.
What is your opinion of your accommodation in Sri Lanka?
In general, we have never had bad accommodation in Sri Lanka, other than a 3* concrete box near Bentota (booked through Kuoni on our first visit to Sri Lanka) which was basic and full of Russians – I can’t remember the name and don’t think it still exists. All other accommodation has been good to excellent and including heritage, modern, boutique and tented properties [all booked through Tikalanka].
On this trip, Ceylon Tea Trails was superb in all respects (except the price!!!!), although the location means that it is best suited to local activities (eg relaxation or trail walking) rather than being a base for sightseeing (as an American found out when he did a day trip to Kandy for activities there, and was absolutely knackered when he got back to Tea Trails). The cancellation of many train services from Hatton following major storms a few weeks earlier (and is forecast to last for about a year) also affected the plans of a number of Tea Trails guests.
Our other hotel, Kumu Beach (4*), south of Bentota [Balapitiya], inevitably suffered by comparison with Tea Trails, particularly with food (which is more a reflection of the standards at Tea Trails than a criticism of Kumu Beach). However the hotel makes excellent use of its space and the accommodation is spacious and comfortable: our concerns were mainly about the location and food pricing [see below].
What is your opinion of your chauffeur guide in Sri Lanka?
As our journeys were essentially transfers, there was no requirement for guided sightseeing, although Wasantha and Ruwan both pointed out local attractions as we passed and helped us link these journeys to our recollections of previous trips. Both were prompt and helpful with luggage etc.
We felt that Wasantha’s vehicle which had only lap belts rather than lap and shoulder seat belts threw us about a lot on the twisty roads though the hilly areas. Also we do not know whether he was aware of the change in the first destination (which we did not know about until we arrived at Norwood): on the one hand it would probably have been unfair for him to have to break the news, other hand, with hindsight we would have like to know before we arrived.
Ruwan’s car was more comfortable, having full lap/shoulder seat belts!
What is your opinion of your flights to and from Sri Lanka?
Emirates Business Class was, as ever, excellent. [London Heathrow]
The Assistance Service at both Dubai and Colombo was excellent, especially the former where the transfers between terminals are somewhat labyrinthian for someone with walking difficulties. Both airports put Heathrow to shame.
Any other comments?
Our views on Kumu Beach are inevitably impacted by our superb experience at Tea Trails, so I've tried to be more objective and think about what I would expect from a 4* hotels.
Arrival at Kumu Beach is somewhat underwhelming - you are driving along a somewhat ramshackle part of the coast road when the driver suddenly swings left into what appears to be an equally ramshackle alley and halts after 50m at a gate which turns out to be the hotel entrance. There are no real facilities close by - when I wanted an afternoon walk to find a small shop, the Head Chef told me that the nearest was a garage about 0.5km away, and that I should be very careful as there are no pavement, lots of traffic, and roadside parking and undertaking. He was right!
Luckily things get better - the buildings are modern, light and airy and make extremely good use of the relatively limited space available. The bedrooms (we had an Oceanview Suite) are spacious, comfortable and well equipped. Our room comments were all about the bathroom. The shower cubicle is quite large but luckily the floor reasonably non slip (this is important to us because of Eileen's leg/foot problems - she always travels with a pair of reef shoes to wear in the shower). However we felt that (like many hotels) it would still benefit from a grab rail. And, again like many hotels, there should be a shelf in the shower cubicle for shower gel, shampoo etc (rather than having to put them on the floor or outside the shower). I should add that these are common issues and Tea Trails is also affected (and their shower floors are more slippery than Kumu Beach) - I have already passed these comments to Tea Trails.
On one morning we got up to find that we had no hot water. Once we reported it, Kumu responded quickly (although the first 2 visitors were to confirm that our water was cold). It turned out that the problem was that the water heating master switch had been turned off - these are the switches which usually have a red light and, in the UK, are usually located away for other switches and nearer the ceiling to prevent accidental switching. In our room this switch was part of a row of several switches beside the bathroom door, we had not been able to work out what all of these switched did, and had not noticed the red light on this switch. Seemingly in getting to go to the loo in the night, we had turned the water heating off whilst switching the bathroom light on. I accept that we had caused to loss of hot water but it seems to me that the switch should be more clearly labelled (relocating it is probably too much to ask).
Dining arrangements are somewhat ad hoc. There are 3 dining areas - open air, in the garden rooms (which can be "semi-outside"), and cafe bar indoors. The tendency is to use the first 2 options unless the weather is so bad that they are impractical. These 2 options are flexible in the case of rapidly changing weather (ideal for the period we were there!!!). However this could and did lead to moving from outside to semi outside in mid meal, and also capacity issues if several guests turned up at the same time. Also, the garden rooms are primarily furnished as lounges, so dining tables get squeezed into the corners - poor ambience.
The food is generally good, although it can be inconsistent - for example, fried items will sometimes be excellent, but soggy and oily on other occasions. The wine selection is limited and not particularly interesting. Early in our stay they ran out of 1 of the 2 white wines sold by the glass but did not replace it.
The information to guests stresses that they should contact the Front Office for any matters except Food and Drink Room Service. Easier said than done. The Front Office is located on the 1st Floor in an area that guests are not encouraged to visit. If you phone the Front Office or ask a staff member, someone from the Front Office will come to you (and, once you have identified them, you will sometimes find them walking around or assisting with meal service). My 2 experiences of dealing with the Front Office was that requests they said would take 5 minutes each took 30 minutes but I was not told of the delay.
My main concern about Kumu Beach is their HB offer which is priced at $50 per person per night. On arrival, the restaurant staff told us that this covered a starter or soup, a main, and a dessert from the All Day and Dinner menus. I asked if we could have additional items if there was room within the $50 charge (eg an additional starter) and was told "no, its only the 3 courses". I then asked if we could have a starter, a soup and a main, but no dessert (as we are not sweet-tooths, we often do this in restaurants) - again the answer was "no, its only a starter or soup, a main and a dessert".
I had changed some dollars into rupees at Colombo Airport at a rate of R306 per dollar. This means that the $50 HB price is currently equivalent to R15300.
On the first night we deliberately ordered the most expensive items in each menu category, as follows: Starter - Prawns @ R3650, Main - tenderloin steak @ R8500, Dessert - Curd Brulee @ 2300. This gives a total of R14450. A service charge of 10% is added to all food and drink items, giving a total R15895. This is a total of R595 over the R15300 HB limit (although, to my recollection, we were not charged for the excess).
As far as I can see from the All Day and Dinner menus, there is no other combination of starter/soup, main and dessert which would reach the R15300 threshold. In other words, Kumu Beach are making a profit on the vast majority of HB orders which are below the $50 charged. As a further comparison, I have also priced 3 "mid range" items from the menus: Starter/Soup - Tom Yum @ R2950, Curry & Rice @ R4750, Dessert - Banana Fritters @ R2050. This totals R9750, or with the service charge, R10725 - which is barely 2/3 of the $50 charged.
I have not investigated the recent history of Sri Lanka Rupee exchange rates but would assume that there have been some major swings. I accept that it is unreasonable for Kumu Beach (if they have to price bookings in dollars and sales in rupees) to have to reflect exchange rate changes daily, but the size of the current discrepancy would seem to suggest that a rebalancing is now required. If that is not practical, the HB product should probably be withdrawn. In the meantime, as "caveat emptor" seems to apply, perhaps travel agents should advise their clients to think carefully before buying Half Board. It would also be interesting to know if any other Sri Lanka hotels are "overcharging" for HB (especially Teardrop, Kumu's parent).
In summary therefore, we would happily recommend Ceylon Tea Trails to anyone who'll listen to us. However, because of the poor location and the HB situation, we cannot recommend Kumu Beach.
Finally, a quick word about the start of the tour. I recognise that you [John] and Pathi acted sensibly in a difficult situation and came up with a practical solution (with hindsight, I might say that the reduced time at Kumu Beach turned out to be a benefit because of the poor weather we were experiencing there!). However it was a shock for us to arrive at Norwood when we were expecting to be at Tientsin and as a result I did not react very well to the situation (thanks to the Norwood staff for calming things down). Unlike Eileen who always has her phone on for ebooks etc. my phone had been off from the time we got to Heathrow so I did not pick up your message and we were travelling in blissful ignorance (I still think that one of your messages went astray, although I did subsequently find one in the junk folder of one of my "alias" accounts). I used the phrase "blissful ignorance" deliberately as, had I picked up your message, we might have fretting and steaming all the way to Norwood! [For serially returning customers like yourselves, I still have no real understanding of how the initial mishap with the booking occurred - a mix up with coordinating your flights, I suggest. I offer no excuse except 'brain fog' at the time of your booking and I am so sorry that your first day/night was extremely fraught. Thankfully, you are extremely understanding and loyal customers of ours over many years and I appreciate your forebearance at the beginning of this trip. I am very glad that it all worked out well for you in the end!]
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