Helen & Jeremy
England, February/March 2023
What did you like most about Sri Lanka?
We loved the variation that the country had to offer. The hills, tea plantations, combined with the coast and animals.
What did you like least about Sri Lanka?
It was all lovely probably the safari, but that sounds spoilt, we have been to Africa several times. It was a bit like queuing for Eurostar at Dover and everyone kept racing to spot the leopard or elephants, there were so many jeeps that you could not get close. We had an all-day Safari but stopped at 12pm as you had the 2-hour gap and we had seen what there was and we were driving back to the same spots. [Your experience at Yala is disappointing. Yes, the national park has been very busy for a few years now but our safari jeep providers, who we have known and used for many years, usually make sure that you don’t follow the herds and get a much better experience off the beaten track. We will follow up to see what happened. The point of an all-day safari is to get away from the crowds and explore more remote areas of Yala, which is our standard programme. Again, it is disappointing to hear that this didn’t happen with your safari. I am sorry if this impacted on your enjoyment of the safari.]
What is your opinion of your accommodation in Sri Lanka?
Roo Mansala [Sigiriya] - fab hotel. One of the best and amazing food. Could have stayed longer. Sad it was so empty.
Hanthana [Boutique] Villa [by Amaya, Kandy] - probably the least favourite. A nice place, but a bit chaotic. No view from the room, you looked out at a wall, but you could sit by the pool.
To get a gin and tonic took 25 mins as they had to get it from the main hotel. We then asked for another, and again the same process, in fact it didn’t turn up after half an hour and dinner was ready.
Food came from the main hotel, even toast, which was very soggy by the time it arrived. It seemed odd they couldn’t make it there. It said you had your own butler. On the first night we did. I asked for coffee at 8am the following morning and breakfast at 8.30pm. At 8am I opened the bedroom door, no one around. At 8.20am I went to the kitchen and they said do you want your coffee… I would have preferred to have had a kettle in the room and not have to get dressed to try and find it. The second night we had a different waiter, all 4 courses came within 45 mins of each other. You had to pre order wine and couldn’t have more as they would have to get it from the hotel above. We didn’t know before we ate how much we would drink, so had to have a guess, which meant no after dinner drink. They made us pay before dinner on the second night as we couldn’t pay in the morning even though we didn’t leave until 8.30am. Annoying to pay for an evening of drinking before you have even had one.
[It sounds as though there was no management at all and the organisation was appalling at the villa. Waiting a ridiculous amount of time for drinks and then being rushed with your dinner hardly engenders a relaxed feeling on holiday. Bringing the drinks and food down from Amaya Hills is news to us as it has not been mentioned before. Did the villa have many guests? We will challenge the hotel’s management about your decidedly unsatisfactory stay and I am extremely sorry for the poor service you experienced there.]
EKHO [Ella] – great location, good food, nice staff, hotel a bit tired.
[Cinnamon Wild] Yala – I am sure you know this well, all fine, obviously geared for the safaris.
The Frangipani [Tree, Thalpe] – Beautiful. Only people there, went out the first night and couldn’t get back in, it was all locked up and we have to shout. It was only 10pm and we could not get a drink or anything. We ate in the second night, food tasted great, sadly my husband was very sick after eating Lagoon crab. [Was there no warning that The Frangipani Tree would be closed if you returned later in the evening? I hope that Jeremy recovered quickly from his illness.]
Club Villa – Bentota. Lovely hotel, good food, lovely beach. Airport was only 1 hour and 20 mins away so we think we should have stayed here for 3 nights as our driver wanted to allow an hour from Villa Hundira [Negombo] to the airport and the drive from the coast took 2 hours. So that was 3 hours travelling. Saying that Villa Hundira was another fab hotel, we just were not there for long as we only went to sleep and left at 7am. [As you say, Club Villa is a lovely hotel, and since the opening of the Southern Expressway, reasonably convenient for the airport when the roads are clear. Customers usually transfer to the airport directly from Club Villa for their flight home, however you requested a hotel closer to the airport on your last night.]
What is your opinion of your chauffeur guide in Sri Lanka?
Mahesh or Ayesh was brilliant. He worked so hard. Drove well and had such a knowledge of everything. You could tell that he had been reading the night before to double check everything. Whether it was birds, history or Tsunami facts.
He always got us the best tables at restaurants.
In Galle he had already been in to ask the police if we could look around the police station.
My husband was interested in some wooden art and Ayesh googled it and phoned up.
We could not recommend him enough.
We had Nihal to drive us from Bentota to [Villa] Hundira and the airport. He was fine, but did not have to do any touring as such and as mentioned wanted to leave very early to go to the airport.
What is your opinion of your flights to and from Sri Lanka?
Emirates, good. It would have been nice to have had a direct flight, but due to ATOL could not. [Economy Class – London Heathrow]
Any other comments?
Thank you for a lovely holiday, John. We really felt it was tailor made. We would stay at most of the hotels again. Not Amaya in Kandy and on Safari we should have gone tented but we enjoyed it all.
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