We are finalizing our trip for Feb.
Do you have any thoughts re: Kandy
Villa Rosa, Amaya Hills, or Kandy House?
Also Bolder Gardens - can you suggest a particiualar good room?
And how about a good room in Galle Face Regency?

Hi,

I think you missed the important part of what kja and JamesA were suggesting in your previous post. You really need to say WHERE these hotels are located in your title, so that you can get some helpful responses.

Something like:

BEIJING hotel advice
BANGKOK hotel advice
JAPAN hotel advice
NEPAL hotel advice

Good luck.

She did give the cities where she is going.

As I said in my previous reply, we loved Kandy House and will stay there again. I'd suggest you look at some additional options for Colombo. There are many lovely small boutique hotels, as well as another large hotel, the Cinnamon Grand, that gets better reviews right now than Galle Face.

Not that many people on this board have been to Sri Lanka. I assume you've done a search. There was a couple who stayed at Boulder Gardens a year or two ago, and I believe they reported which room type they had.

If you are using Boutique Sri Lanka, they have sections that describe the room types for each of the properies they book.

Kathie,

Sorry to correct your correction to me, but she did NOT ever give the cities she is going. At least not in either this post or the first one. I just double-checked. JamesA mentioned Sri Lanka in his suggestion that she repost and include the location in her title. Apparently he knew that the hotels she mentioned are in Sri Lanka. I did not. Regardless, she might still get more response (as suggested by kja, JamesA and myself) if she included the location in her post title. Disagree?

Kathie,

Thanks for the info. My husband really like the look of the Galle Face.

I did read your report but read it again and saw you used the Amaya Hills - sounds great!

By the way did you find any great ethnic jewerly?
Thanks.

jlaughs, her title to this post is "Hotel advice needed for Kandy and Galle" Kandy and Galle are both cities in Sri Lanka. her previous posts did not have that in the title, and peple were right to advise that she include the cities in her title.

impacked - I don't know where you got the idea we used the Amaya Hills... we stayed at the Kandy House and loved it. My report is titled "Kathie's 2007 Adventures in Sri lanka" For some reason, it doesn't seem to come up in a search for Sri Lanka, so I'll top it for you.

No, we did not find any ethnic jewelry. Indeed, other than buying fabulous tea, this was a trip that did not lend itself to shopping.

jlaughs, thanks for your help and suggestions.

Kathie, I laughed when I read your post cause I realized my husband was right when he said I'm doing too many things at once.
I have everything in my kitchen cabinets on the floor and counter (along with laptop) and am doing heavy cleaning and organizing. I think I'm going to find my vitamins with the dog chews!

Anyway, I meant to say I was glad to read that used and loved Kandalama (does not even sound like Amaya Hills) in Dambulla.

We're very excited about our upcoming trip and now have printed off your report so I can refer to it often.
Thank You Very Much!

impacked - When are you going to be there? We might cross paths - we'll be at Kandalama 2/17 - 2/20.

Have a great time, impacked! And do report back to us.

Craig you aren't far off from your trip, either!

If I can asnswer questions for either of you. do let me know.

Craig,
For now it looks like we will be at Kandalama Feb. 8 - 11.

Kathie, I'm surprised to hear the shopping was not that great as I pictured it to be like India.

Whoa, my kitchen is looking good!

Kathie,

My apologies. Because I didn't know that Kandy and Galle were cities in Sri Lanka, I assumed that she/he had failed to include the location. I thought, incorrectly, that Kandy and Galle were their names. Was just trying to be helpful and suggest how she/he could get more feedback. Obviously anyone who could help her/him would be familiar with Kandy & Galle as Sri Lanka locations.

I'd very strongly advise against choosing the Galle Face.

There's no shortage in Asia of other, better-run, Raj-era hotels, The Galle Face has a frankly seedy "colonial" wing, with shabby, poorly air-conditioned rooms and dreadful access by lift. The charm-free refurbished Regency wing wouldn't feel out of place in Columbus, Ohio. More importantly, practically the whole of our 20-strong family party recently came down with serious digestive problems (two requiring hospitalisation back in Britain) within 72 hours of arriving there. We travelled separately, with arrivals staggered over a week and rarely ate together: the only thing we had in common was staying at that hotel.

Doctors (we've consulted several, including the one in the party who was himself struck down) all put it down to something eaten or drunk at the hotel. So don't be tempted to sample the apparent colonial charms of tea at the hotel's terrace either. Stay and eat somewhere else. If you want to fantasise about life before 1947, go to the Galle Face terrace, but limit yourself to something - like a beer - there's zero chance of contamination.

Though if, as your earlier post implied, you're going to Nuwara Eliya, get your driver to take you to the Club. Even if you don't belong somewhere with reciprocal privileges, the Secretary will show you round. Now there's the real fugginess and dismalness of the Raj - right down to the chicken and ham pie served for lunch. The most extraordinary survival anywhere in the Empire. Like something out of Paul Scott's 'Staying On'

Incidentally, after the horrors of the Galle Face, we went off charm for a few days and stayed at the Earls Regency in Kandy. Bland, but it got my body back to being able to eat properly-made Sri Lankan food again without having to resort to Western-style pap and charming staff (that's not the Galle Face's forte either). Few people have stayed in more than one Kandy hotel, so you'll find it difficult to get comparisons. One of our party stayed at the Amaya Hills, where she was in raptures over the service, and I was in raptures over the view. As far as I can tell, all the international-style hotels "in" Kandy are at least a 20 mins' (in reality closer to 30+) rather rattling ride from the centre.

flanneruk, I had heard from others that the Galle Face was looking worn and the service was no longer up to snuff, but your first-hand account is truly chilling.

jlaughs, I wondered whether you had simply missed the title (I've done that sometimes).

impacked, it occurred to me that I should clarify my statement about shopping, We were mostly interested in Buddhist sites, and really focussed on the historical sites while we were there. I am a collector of crafts, so we did a little looking. The only craft purchases we made were some really lovely batik panels of moonstones (one purchase in Damulla, one in Kandy). Kandy is renowned to be the place for crafts, and we asked our driver to take us to the "best" crafts place. The goods were low quality. mass produced items for the most part. There was nothing there we wanted to buy. We also looked an an "antiques" store (recommended to our driver by an Australian couple). Clearly almost everything in the store was "antique." We did not have as much time as we would have liked just to walk around and browse in Kandy. We did stop at a couple of book stores and found some books that aren't possible for us to find in the US. Oh yes, our driver bought us vanilla beans in the market. Other than lots of fabulous tea from Tea Trails, that was the extenst of our shopping.

Have a wonderful time!