The walls are quite thin

The food is incredible! Some of the best I have had in Sri Lanka. Home cooked and varied and abundant! The pool was great, the hosts were so so friendly, it’s close to Gal Oya. The garden is lovely and it’s nice to have a terrace with table and chairs

Stayed in January 2025

We asked for top sheets as these were not supplied. the beds had a cotton throw, but if you are used to sheets, it is difficult to sleep without them. Also one pillow per person, I guess again a different way of thinking of a bed. We had two beds, one a king size with only one pillow on it. I like reading in bed, before going to sleep and need two pillows. Not a big deal, obviously.

Lovely hosts. Two brand new large bedrooms available for guests as well as a couple of older rooms in another part of the property. Hosts were so approachable and helpful.

Stayed in August 2024

Bandula and his wife were very welcoming and thoughtful. We had some very nice tours and the food was perfect.

Stayed in July 2024

Room was a good price but we were stung by over priced meals as there was nowhere nearby to eat. Similar to another review the owner arranged a boat safari and we felt he price gouged .

Location to the park

Stayed in July 2024

Nothing really. There is a little road noise, there is a little noise in the morning from the nearby school but none of it disturbs you really.

This is a little gem. Wonderful people, very lovely property. We stayed in a superior double room. Newly completed, modern and spotless. We slept very well. The food options were excellent ‘home cooking’ and moderately priced. More than worth it. We stayed two days and our second afternoon was consumed with my desire to see elephants in the wild. it’s not as easy as you would think as the elephants are not in the ‘park’ at the moment. March is out of season and they are inland feasting on what is left after the rice harvest. We have to congratulate our host in his determination to fulfill my desire, he was not to be defeated and in the last hour of the light we probably saw 15 in three different sites. It was a long afternoon but worth every Penny. The hosts are an exceptionally lovely couple and if we are ever to return to Sri Lanka then we would visit again.

Stayed in March 2024

A mosquito net might be useful over the bed.

The hospitality of the owners was excellent. They made great effort to make us a good home for 3 days. Drove us to the local atm, made us lunch packages when we left and were always very kind and open.

Stayed in February 2024

Small grumbles, but the reason for not awarding 10. The bottom sheet was rough and didn't fit the bed properly so revealed the mattress when sleeping The private entrance wasn't usable, not that it mattered Cold shower

Great location for the Gal Oya National Park Lovely garden to sit in Fabulous food - breakfast and dinnerd

Stayed in December 2023

the room was a bit small and had nowhere to sit, but there was a lounge and dining room in the common area which was comfortable.

this is a lovely home style guest house near Gal Oya National Park. Our host Bandula arranged safaris for us and his wife cooked us lovely home cooked meals.

Stayed in September 2022

It's a pretty quiet place, so if you're not on safari you'll just be in your room or on the patio.

Very friendly hosts and delicious Sri Lankan food. The location is great for Gal Oya NP and they run safaris from the guest house. When I didn't see elephants on safari, Badulla took me to look for them near town at a very reasonable rate.

Stayed in April 2022

It was amazing because of the family! They we're so nice! They made an amazing diner and breakfast for us and show us the beautiful nature!

Stayed in April 2022

In a busy village, with local school

Owners were very attentive, ensuring we were Liked the boat safari. We were we

Stayed in January 2025

Nothing

Really nice bungalows, clean, comfortabel beds. Great pool for cooling down. The host and his family are really nice people and friendly

Stayed in February 2025

Closure to Dam and delicious food. Good service . Compared to luxury stays, this is good value.

Stayed in December 2024

The hotel owner is often watching and it’s hard to relax. He is very focussed on making money and selling his services and he’s dishonest in the way he does this. Some examples: - I asked in advance how much dinner cost. The hotel owner said up to 1500lkr per person depending what you order. We only had veggie curry and rice shared between both of us and didn’t ask for dinner the third night. The final bill for dinner was over 10000lkr meaning he charged more than what he said the maximum price of dinner would be despite us having only small meals. - ⁠We didn’t request breakfast but we were given breakfast, and then after 2 days we were charged 7200lkr for this which is extremely expensive and this should be transparent. - Before coming I looked into the cost of a boat and jeep safari. I asked the hotel owner what it cost and he told me a boat safari was $50 per person. This seemed a lot more expensive than what other places charged so I asked our driver who booked it for us for $50 total for two of us. The hotel owner was very angry when he learnt this and had a big argument with the driver, trying to get us to pay $100. He gave a lot of false reasons for this, for example: - ⁠he books in advance (untrue) - he needs to prioritise slots because it’s so busy (it was empty) - ⁠he needs to tip the boatmen (false, the boatmen said he’s known for this and doesn’t tip them) - ⁠he needs to charge for the journey in his jeep to the safari start (it’s 5 minutes from the hotel to safari start) When we arrived at the safari the hotel man had called them and cancelled our slot even though he had not been the one to book it. We rebooked for 45 minutes later with no problem. The hotel man then arrived and rebooked again for only 15 minutes later, saying he was doing us a great service as we were his guests and the driver was a bad man. It was very off putting and tense, and thankfully we had the driver to look after us. The safari itself was brilliant.

The location is great, close to the national park tours. There’s a pool now which is lovely in the garden area, and you can see squirrels and monkeys. The vegetarian curries were delicious and really varied.

Stayed in November 2024

Nil

Beautiful setting owner went above and beyond to organise everything we wished for Dinner was great and breakfast best of the trio so far

Stayed in September 2024

We didn't feel welcome at the guesthouse at all, so we only stayed one night instead of two. The landlord is very keen on selling his own safari tours which are insanely expensive! He told us how lucky we were to get a boat safari, and how crowded the landing dock always is, so we accepted the $45 fee. In the end we were the only ones there... Overall not a pleasant experience where you feel ripped off the whole stay. Food was not the best, and pretty expensive as well, just as everything here. Now we know how the landlord's shiny new car was paid for. Don't go there!

Clean Room

Stayed in August 2024

Nothind

Good food, nice staff, organised local tour.

Stayed in August 2024

I would not recommend staying here - the host told us that both our boat and jeep safaris were booked in advance. We arrived and he told us there was no space on the boat safari anymore - loads of mixed messages and it became very clear he was price gouging. We ended up getting hugely overcharged. When we politely questioned him about it he became quite angry. Definitely go to another national park in southern Sri Lanka for a more straightforward experience!

The room was clean and spacious

Stayed in August 2024

Fine place close to the Gal Oya National Park, pleasant owner family.

Stayed in July 2024

Friendly host, very familiar, close to the national park

Stayed in July 2024

This place is amazing. The owners who run this place are some of the kindest people we met on our trip through Sri Lanka. The accommodation is next to the Gal Oya park and the owner organizes boat and jeep safaris for his guests, as well as a hike to a nearby viewpoint. 10/10 recommend staying here for your visit to Gal Oya.

Stayed in July 2024

Clean, functional, nice lighting, friendly family, yummy food

Stayed in July 2024

The ower scammed us. Felt horrible as we trusted him as we were staying in his accommodation. He told us that all the boats for Gal Oya have been booked out and that we are unable to book directly with the ticket office so we had to book directly with him for triple the cost. When we arrived all the boats were empty so we realised he lied and that he just booked directly with the ticket office himself and took our money. It should have cost €16 per person. We paid him $80 for 2 people. He gave us back $22 as he realised we clocked on but kept the rest.

Close to the safari

Stayed in June 2024

Be warned the accommodation is reasonably priced however your 'host' is 'skilled' in price gouging. That is, he pleasant and hospitable however booked us into the boat safari without being asked to. We had already done our research and booked through our driver (direct with the NP office for 11,000 Rupees/head; all fees/tips/taxes included). However we could only get on the 9:30am trip and our 'host' informed us he had secured the preferred 6:30 slot. He assured us it would cost exactly the same to transfer to his tickets for the earlier trip, we would just need to tip the boat drier and guide. We agreed. However when we received the bill on check-out he had charged 18,380 Rupees/head for the boat safari which he claimed included; the boat safari, 5 mins transport, tips. Dishonest and deceptive, especially as we had our own driver and had paid the tips ourselves (on his request, rich!).

Facilities were clean and comfortable. Breakfast was good.

Stayed in May 2024