Hotels near Thambalawewa Temple, Polonnaruwa

Another guest was checking out on our first morning at Seyara. She took us aside and said: ”you're in for a real treat here, these people will take amazing care of you.” The Australian lady wasn't wrong. Upali and his team were the most thoughtful hosts we came across in a country full of thoughtful and caring hospitality. The assistance they offered with seeing the sites was exactly that - helping us have a great time without a hint of upselling. We did spend a day with Upali's friend Sugash and his tuk-tuk and couldn't have been in better hands. Seyara's cooking staff are also wonderful. While a western breakfast was available, they also offered us a slightly different Sri Lankan breakfast each day of our stay (hoppers with a curry, plus halape/halapa, vadai etc) - it was delicious every time and something we found a bit hard to find at other hotels. Our room was comfortable and clean (and included a mosquito net but no products other than soap). All up, this hotel is incredible value. *We were also lucky enough to see Malabar pied hornbills sitting on the trees besides the pool - I thought they were toucans, but have now learned I was wrong.

After visiting the ancient city, I checked in to the hotel. It is very close to the scenic area, and it is only a 10-minute walk. 570 / night, outdated facilities, rooms are relatively tide, the price difference between the previous night and the Candara Heritage Hotel is only one hundred, but it can not be compared, the cost performance is extremely low, it is not recommended to stay at all. The hotel is built next to a lake. This lake is said to be the largest lake in Sri Lanka. Before booking, I saw some wild elephants drinking water in the morning near the hotel lake, so I booked it without hesitation. I had imagined sitting on the balcony overlooking the lake and eating the noodles of the motherland, but I opened the balcony door and found that I could not see the lake at all, and was covered by the canopy. I ran to the lake in the evening to wait for the elephant to drink water. , The elephant did not come.

This was the first stop to the hotel in Sri Lanka, and I stayed for one night. Location: Very close to Lion Rock, we returned to the hotel after playing! Service: Warm, give a glass of local juice as soon as you come, and take the initiative to send luggage into the room! Room: In line with the picture, we booked a triple room and a family room. The triple room has one large bed and one small bed; the quadruple room has one large bed and two small beds! There is a hair dryer with not much wind, the water volume is very small, the water temperature is not stable, there are mosquitoes, not too many, and there is no mosquito net in the room, and I have not been bitten this night! The cubicle is not good. The child sings ”Twinkle, Twinkle, Twinkle” while taking a bath, isolate a man, and also say ”Twinkle, Twinkle Twinkle,” with a smile! Food: As it was getting late, I did not go out for dinner purposely. I ordered the food and meal time at the front desk of the hotel. The taste is acceptable and the price is moderate! Breakfast and buffet, but rich! The recommendation index is 3.9 (out of 5 points)

The hotel is located around 10 minutes from the famous Sigiriya citadel. The hotel’s pool and the main lobby area including the bar overlook the sigiriya citadel (Sigiriya rock), making it one of the best views of the famous rock. Further the hotel is surrounded by lush greenery. Hotel staff are professional and also “extremely” friendly. They are a “true example of island’s hospitality”. The pool and the bar area are the best places to relax. Room service, laundry service and reception were really responsive and always available. Hotel rooms are of single category but some rooms need more attention in maintaining, especially the room that was given (Room 41). The room looked kind of rundown. Yet, house keeping was commendable. Same time, food menu, and the restaurant should be improved as breakfast was almost same every morning, “french toast” was not really “french toast” at all and there was no refilling of certain food items (especially cut fruits) for late risers.

I made a reservation around Dambulla to rest one more day in Sigiriya, and they let me check in 2 hours early. The staff were really friendly, and the owner of the restaurant next to the pool was really kind. They also provided room service, so I was able to rest well. The hotel was spacious, so it was nice to walk around, but I recommend going to the treetop. It would be really nice to do yoga there. I wanted to go to the pool, but there were too many Westerners, lol. They booked a taxi for me the next morning and packed breakfast for me, so I was grateful. The room was the same as in the picture and was very spacious.

This is not our first stay at the hotel. This was our 3rd or 4th visit and it is the last for sure due to their poor customer handling and management. I must say that our previous stays were fabulous and i have made positive reviews in TripAdvisor for those. However, this time most of the staff are new to us and not so friendly and caring as the ones who were there earlier starting from the front office. They just don't care, I don't know if its because we are local travellers. On the other hand, the ”amberella” welcome drink is awesome as always. We stayed in a Duplex as there were 4 adults and my 9 month old baby. The rooms were clean and spacious. The living area was giving a calming vibe and had the same look as their other villas we have stayes before. Our baby, husband and I were in the upstair room and when we entered the room is was heated up and the air conditioner was not working properly. It was so uncomfortable so we called the front office and they sent a team to repair. It was taking alot of time so we requested for another room as our baby was feeling tired and needed a nap. Plus, they had adequate rooms vacant and even had Duplex category rooms available too. Still, they refused to shift us to another room so we kept the baby in the ground floor room. The repair took around 2 hours! And then we went to the room and the air conditioner was working. Yet, we were not able to have a nap and relax as we had to go out to Anuradhapura which is the main reason for our visit. So we came back at around 9.30pm and the air conditioner was not working again. Again the same drill, a team came, inspected and told us they need to repair again and it was 11.45pm when they said this. We refused because we were already exhausted as needed to sleep. Also, now, at 11.45 at night they are asking us if we can move to another room (Duplex category). They had vacant Duplex category rooms all this time and in the moddle of the night they are asking us to shift. In my head I was bursting but we were all too tired to keep arguing or leaving the useless place so we stayed in the same Duplex room just till morning. Early morning we left the hotel without breakfast eventhough we had paid for full board. They charged us the whole amount and invoiced for the additional food as well as mini bar (just mentioned this if not someone could think that they must've given a discount or wave-off). So we paid almost 500USD just for one night for this drama. We will never go back to this hotel and not at all recommend. I guess the main issue was poor management of the situation and it shows how poor the hotel management is. We were in Duplex 3 (Kohomba). This hotel staff or management will never care about the customer if something goes wrong and lacks hospitality. Afterall, while we were having our breakfast we got a call from the general manager of the hotel and he apologized but I think it is too late as we have already left their property. On the plus side, t

Hotel was beautiful and clean ,staff was polite ,manager was so good man and helpful person ,location was in a beautiful village ,full of green nature and lake ,there was quite and relax place ,I like it and have a relaxing in that place ,you could heard voice of nature there ,voice of birds,pechock and see firefly I enjoy in there ,specially I have feel fafety as a solo girl traveller and it was important for me