aa213bb

As I mentioned, we booked the “Fort & Beach” package, with four nights at Wella and three nights at Galla, and I easily could have spent another night or two at Galla.

To me, this is such a charming property. My wife and I both grew up in Louisiana, and we kept finding ourselves commenting on how much we were reminded of home, and the Garden District in particular. There is such a beautiful aura and depth of character. I particularly enjoy that, when Aman came in to revive this grande dame, they purchased the whole lot – Nesta Brohier’s family artifacts, the dinnerware, signage, etc.

After getting settled in, we were feeling a bit peckish and settled onto the front porch to enjoy a light lunch.


We found the food at Galla, on the whole, to be a notch or two above that at Wella – from breakfast, to lunch and dinner. I also enjoyed that, in keeping with the rich history of the hotel, many dishes were served on “New Oriental Hotel” dinnerware.


My one complaint would be the dinner menu is a touch limited, though again I found a ready willingness to make lunch dishes or come up with something completely off menu.

Service, too, seemed a bit more polished, though still several steps below that of what one would expect in other parts of Asia.

However, we really did enjoy Krishantha, our butler. I never felt like any request was too much, or too difficult. And we greatly appreciated him bringing us snacks and drinks on the third floor balcony while watching the sunset each evening.


Also, we very much enjoyed the tour of the fort (included in the “Fort & Beach” package) he gave us …


Another time he offered to go out with us as we explored Tangalle on foot, and when I assured him this was not necessary he insisted on providing a detailed map with many suggestions …


But while his service was great, there were a few small hiccups in other areas.

The spa in particular had a couple of availability issues – despite being a standard of the package I imagine most people book, a sandalwood facial was impossible to arrange for my wife. Too, even though they are highlighted in the Amangalla brochure, it was also an impossibility to arrange a pedicure … even though the property has a room solely for this purpose.


I will say, the staff was very apologetic, though it took an intervention on Olivia’s part for them to realize another treatment could be substituted. But, that being said, our treatments (massage for her, massage and shave for me) were quite good.

In other service areas, our room was cleaned/refreshed almost any time we left, and evening turndown saw a few neat little gifts left for us – from postcards to a hand-made fan (now in a shadowbox on a wall in our house). Additionally, pool service was warm, prompt, and courteous, with plenty of fresh towels and water.

So, despite a few minor miscues and imperfections, we very much enjoyed our stay at Amangalla.

Our days consisted of … Wake up > Breakfast by the Pool > Exploring the Fort/Tangalle > Lunch on the Verandah > Pool > Cleanup > Drinks at Sunset > Dinner > Sleep … and before we knew it, it was time for our 0500 wake-up call and ride to CMB.

Krishantha had been kind enough to arrange tea for the room at 0515, and two breakfasts packed into the Hiace. We loaded up – understandably for that hour Olivia was not on hand to see us off – and headed off to leave Sri Lanka.

UP NEXT … Amangalla Final Thoughts

Ericka

We really want to do Amangalla one day. We had a reservation once on our way to the Maldives, but some sort of political unrest at the time caused us to cancel. We'll get there next time!

Love your spice market picture. All your photos, really.

Thanks.

TRAVELSIG

+1

Thanks- I was in Sri Lanka over Christmas and New years and seeing your photos makes me want to go back today!

By the way- despite the bad press it gets- I really do think Colombo warrants 2 days- and the Park Street Hotel while not an Aman is very very comfortable and has great service and location as well as decent F&B.

cakegirl

Thanks for all of this great information. We are doing the 5 day fort/beach package and now I am thinking about spending more time at Galla than Wella. We have really enjoyed similar walled seaside towns like Cartagena and Essaouira, so I think we will enjoy Galle.
It is funny that you compare Galla to a home in the Garden District-we live in uptown NOLA.

Kagehitokiri

^
more incredible pics
going back to wella as well, great room details
dont recall if behuman or anyone else had posted about lighthouse stop before
this is not the first time 'difficulties' re aman packages have come up

http://www.i-escape.com/amangalla/overview
zaal/veranda open to public - dining room as well?

accurate?

7 bedrooms adjacent to reception, ground level Middle Street Wing
3 bedrooms within the property’s gardens
6 chambers Church Street Wing (2nd floor?)
4 chambers Garden Wing Chambers
6 suites Church Street Wing (3rd floor incl amangalla suite?)
2 suites Middle Street Wing (so these are exterior ground level past 7 bedrooms)
1 garden house within the resort gardens

sfoactuary

aa213bb, thanks for the detailed trip report on amangalla! i'll be in sri lanka later this year, and can spend anywhere from 1-3 nights there. was leaning toward just 1-2 nights since i was worried there wouldn't be much to do, but it sounds like you easily filled the time during your 3 night stay.

one question re: your point about the 5am wake up call - my flight from CMB back home is scheduled for 9:45am. how was the drive in the early morning to CMB? it says on the website that the time needed at that time of day is approx. 1.5 hours, was that your experience? trying to decide if we should head back and stay the night in colombo the night before leaving, or just leave straight from amangalla in the morning.

TRAVELSIG

Based on my recent experiences- you will need 3 hours to get from the hotel to the airport- on top of this need to arrive at the airport at least 90 minutes prior to departure (I would say 2 hours for safetey)- so I would stay by the airport the night before or in Colombo or Negombo (personally I prefer Colombo).

UA Fan

OP how much were your taxis between places? Trying to figure out how much a 3 hour ride from CMB to Sirigaya would cost.

TRAVELSIG

Taxi prices were as follows:

Negombo to Tangalle- $190 USD through jetwing tours (5 hours)
Tangalle to Bentota- $85 USD through local travel agency
Bentota to Colombo- $50 USD through hotel
Colombo centre to airport- $45 USD through hotel

All new cars- air conditioned with good drivers. You can pay very little for transport around Sri Lanka- but be very careful as some of the cars are really not well maintained or have drivers that like to take every drive as a new rally mission. All other movements just grabbed a car locally or a tuk tuk- easy to find and prices to be negotiated prior to getting in the cab.

One point to remember- if you want to take the new autostrada make sure you point that out- and also you will be expected to pay for this- it is not very expensive- from one end to the other is about 4 USD (maximum length from Colombo to Galle).

Larkin

Downtown Colombo to the international airport can take anywhere from 1-2 hours depending on traffic and time of day. They are working on completing the highway which will reduce the time they say to 20-25 min., but in the meantime, There is a nice little boutique hotel that is 15 min from the airport called Wallawaa. It is not luxury, but given there are few choices near the airport I think for luxury travelers this is a good option. Ask for a garden suite in the original building if you decide to stay. The newer section is not as nice surprisingly. It also has a very nice restaurant. I would not stay more than one night but it is a good choice for an early morning flight or late arrival. We stayed on our way out in January.

TRAVELSIG

Excellent suggestion. The other alternative is the Jetwing in Negombo which is about 20 minutes drive from the airport. It is also not luxury but is not too bad. I would agree it is good for one night on the start or end of a trip.

DrivingRain

Amazing report. Thank you.

flamboyant 1

One of the best reports I have ever read, thanks so much for sharing.

cadogan1

Oh i have loved reading this report and seeing all of the pictures - and it has bumped Sri Lanka right up to the top of places i want to visit soon.....so hoping all of you experts on the area can assist me a bit....thinking about a 2 week visit over Xmas and new Year this week, maybe combined with a few days in the Maldives. Will be travelling with 3 children under the age of 7, so need to bear in mind the limitations of what is reasonable to expect of them in terms of travelling distances and itineraries. Can anyone suggest a starting point for me in terms of where we should focus our time - start point will be HKG by the way - and suitable accommodation options bearing in mind we need bedding configurations for 5 people everywhere! Any help and advise much appreciated as realise that i probably need to get my skates on if i'm going to try and get into the best places over such a busy time, and i don't really know where to start!

Musken

Thank you so much for this detailed report and all the wonderful pictures. Amangalla and wella are on our list, thinking maybe March next year. Since we will travel with our son, we would want to only visit galla and wella, not the tea trials or other resorts to avoid too much travelling around. We will have 12-14 nights and would like to have time to enjoy lots of activities but also the beach and pools. Would it be too long to stay at just these two resorts for 12-14 nights? Enough activities to do? Eating out? Other suggestions? And March should be good weather wise, or not?