Top hotel recommendations along Sri Lanka’s southwest coast

In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, we took a wonderful vacation in the southwest of Sri Lanka in 2021. We were actually supposed to go to Bali and Lombok during a short sabbatical, but entry was not possible there.

After a few weeks on the island, a hard lockdown was also imposed in Sri Lanka, but until then we had a fantastic time with empty beaches and great people.

Due to the early return journey, we unfortunately didn’t make it back to the interior and report here on our most beautiful hotels in the south of Sri Lanka.

Travel to Sri Lanka

We flew non-stop from Frankfurt to Colombo with SriLankan Airlines, a flight that took around ten hours. Of course, we would have liked to use the Lufthansa miles we had collected, but the connections were too complicated at the time.

We booked Economy Class with SriLankan for just under 700 euros per person, but had the huge plane almost to ourselves. There were maybe 30-40 other passengers on the plane.

Because of Corona, however, there was hardly any service in the cabin, just a few drinks and cold food packed five times.

Getting around Sri Lanka

We booked the two-hour transfer from the airport to our first hotel in Unawatuna directly through our accommodation. Of course, you can also book a rental car in Sri Lanka, but only a few tourists do this compared to South Africa.

Shorter distances can be easily covered by tuk-tuk, which are available everywhere for a few rupees. We rented our own scooter over the last few weeks and didn’t pay three euros a day for it.

Hotel Villa Sielen Diva Sri Lanka

We inevitably had to book our first hotel for two weeks: Sri Lanka had very strict coronavirus regulations in 2021, including a two-week quarantine for tourists with several PCR tests on site.

In the end, however, these two weeks were the best of our entire vacation.

Villa Sielen Diva is located on the road between Galle and Ahangama, but you hardly notice it. In the front area there is a large park-like garden where they grow their own vegetables for the kitchen.

The minimalist villa has just seven rooms and is located directly on a fantastic beach. Between the large terrace with infinity pool, there is only a small stretch of lawn until you reach the fine, light-colored sandy beach.

However, there are large rocks in the sea directly in front of the hotel, so you have to walk 50 meters to the right to swim. There were strong waves here, but it was still possible to swim. And the best thing was that the beach was deserted, with just a few fishermen passing by now and again to say hello.

The empty beach is of course also due to the corona period. But I can’t imagine that it’s usually much busier there. There are only a few smaller hotels and accommodations in this bay.

Villa Sielen Diva is very tastefully furnished: There are various lounges and seating areas on the terraces, very high-quality furniture and comfortable loungers by the pool

The service was not intrusive, but always on hand. We particularly like to remember the chef, who prepares a fantastic eggplant curry and also fulfills special requests: We took a curry cooking course with him, including a tour of his own vegetable garden.

Otherwise, there was a great selection of wines, always cold beer, coconuts and lots of options for vegetarians and vegans.

Rooms at Hotel Villa Sielen Diva

We had originally booked the Monara room right next to the pool. It has a great, large bathroom with a small balcony next to the shower and a seating area in front of the room.

However, it had little privacy due to its location by the pool and a few small, flying visitors often came in through the large glass doors. That’s why we changed rooms after a few nights.

As almost all of the seven rooms were free, we were able to take our time to look at everything and then decided on the Mayil room on the upper floor.

From the bed and even from the bathroom you had a fantastic view of the sea, a beautiful wooden floor and everything was very clean.

There are even larger rooms on the upper floor that are similarly furnished, as well as two further rooms down by the lawn right by the sea. However, the latter seemed a little dark to us.

On April 14, the Sinhala & Tamil New Year is celebrated in Sri Lanka, on this day there was a huge, traditional breakfast buffet with sweet treats and a ritual where milk is brought to the boil on a fire.

Due to the strict corona restrictions, we were not allowed to leave Villa Sielen Diva – apart from the beach. Nevertheless, we didn’t miss anything and had an extremely relaxing and enjoyable time.

Abode Hotel Sri Lanka

Our next stop was the Abode Hotel in Ahangama, which we booked cheaper via a VPN. The accommodation had been closed for a long time due to corona and we were among the first few guests.

Unfortunately, you could tell that the hotel needed a little renovation and the pool wasn’t completely clean. But that was just a snapshot and due to the situation, it is probably fresh and clean again now.

Location of the Abode Hotel

The hotel has only 4-5 rooms in total and is located in a small residential area on the outskirts of Ahangama. It is a 5-10 minute walk to various beaches where you can also go swimming.

The Lighthouse is also within walking distance: A former lighthouse with a co-working space, restaurant and bar on the roof terrace – view included. Thanks to our free DKB current account with VISA card, we were able to pay by card here without any fees.

We had a small but cozy room with a very special outdoor bathroom. Beautiful, if you don’t mind the occasional little frog jumping through the shower.

We found the large “Spa” sign in the hotel somewhat misleading: it only consisted of two rooms where you can normally have a massage.

During our visit, this was not possible due to Corona, the rooms were used by the employees as bedrooms instead.

We left the hotel a little earlier than planned and drove on to the Palm Hotel, which we had discovered on Instagram.

Palm Hotel Sri Lanka

We have already seen many beautiful hotels, but this one is definitely one of the most spectacular: hidden in the jungle is a huge black pavilion with lots of plants, lounges, a bar and a small store.

A palm tree protrudes through a hole in the roof of the pavilion, with a fantastic pool directly in front of it.

Due to the location in the jungle, you have to take a car, scooter or tuk-tuk and it takes 10-15 minutes to get to the coast. Walking to the beach would be very long, but we didn’t miss it at all at this accommodation.

The rooms are either in triangular, tent-like luxury cabanas or in two brand new suites built on stilts a little off the beaten track.

We had one of the cabanas and it was breathtakingly beautiful: very clean, minimalist and high-quality. The highlight: the outdoor bathroom with lots of plants, toilet, rain shower and a fragrant eucalyptus shower gel.

In the huge pavilion there is also an excellent bar with delicious cocktails and a restaurant where you can also dine. Drinks and food were excellent.

We are not fitness junkies, but there is still a very large fitness room on the premises, which is highly professionally equipped.

The only drawback: there were no comfortable loungers by the pool, just cushions on the floor. So if you want to chill by the pool all day with drinks, you might be disappointed.

By the way: When booking the hotel, we were able to get a decent discount through Booking.com’s Genius program.

Verse Collective Sri Lanka

Before our trip, we had already read a lot about the small surfer town of Hiriketiya: About the beautiful beaches, the nice people and the many bars and restaurants. And it was just as beautiful as described.

We chose the Verse Collective on the outskirts of Dickwella as our accommodation, a combination of hotel, café, restaurant, bar, co-working space and tattoo studio.

Once again, we were among the first guests to stay in the new guest rooms. No luxury like in the Palm Hotel or the Villa Sielen Diva, but very nicely furnished, new and clean. Only the bathroom could have been a bit bigger.

Our room was upstairs on the second floor, with a large balcony and sea view. There are a total of four rooms upstairs, two of which have a partial sea view.

Outside is a large courtyard with a café, lots of tables and a small stage. We found the food quite hearty and greasy, but there is now a new menu with lighter snacks.

The Verse Collective may not have a pool, but it is located right by the sea. Only a very small road with hardly any traffic separates the accommodation from the huge beach.

The actual bay of Hiriketiya is next door: it takes around 15 minutes to walk over a small hill, five minutes by scooter or tuk-tuk.

The atmosphere at Verse was consistently nice and positive: the owners and staff were super friendly, lots of people came from other accommodations to work because of the fast internet and lots of surfers met up for sundowners.

Hotel Mana Sri Lanka

After our stay in Hiriketiya, we actually wanted to continue on to the east coast. Unfortunately, a tough corona lockdown put a spanner in the works, so our last accommodation was the Hotel Mana in Hiriketiya.

The Mana is located on the mountain directly between Dickwella and the bay of Hiriketiya, the perfect starting point for surfing and chilling.

The Mana is actually more of a guesthouse than a hotel: there are only four rooms and a kitchen where you can prepare your own meals.

The rooms are all quite new, nicely furnished and air-conditioned. We had the penthouse at the top with a highlight: a large daybed with a great view of the sea. The only thing we didn’t like so much was the bathroom, which was rather functional and unpretentious.

Restaurants and bars in Hiriketiya

There are some nice bars and restaurants in Hiriketiya, two of which we particularly liked…

Moon Hiriketiya

Right next to the Mana House is the Mond – a very stylish accommodation with purist rooms, a bar and a café with a fantastic breakfast.

At first we wanted to spend the night here, but opted for the Mana due to the lack of air conditioning. Renato, the owner of the Mond, comes from Switzerland and has fulfilled his dream with the Mond – he has succeeded.

There are a few guest rooms downstairs with entrances facing the inner courtyard. All rooms have a shared terrace with a view of the sea. On the upper terrace there is a large bar with lots of tables and chairs and an even better sea view.

If you like it a little shadier, you can also sit down for breakfast in the cozy inner courtyard, where large fans keep you cool.

Smoke & Bitters Sri Lanka

An absolute recommendation is Smoke & Bitters, which has already been voted one of the 50 best cocktail bars in Asia.

Owner Don Ranasinghe has often stood behind the bar himself together with his team. He lived in London for several years and recently opened Smoke & Bitters.

The location is a dream: there is not much more than a bar, tables and a huge smoker grill on a small hill. From the tables you can see the sea and the sunset.

It’s not just the cocktails that are outstanding – the food is also stunning and almost at star level. For example, the menu includes smoked cauliflower with onion salsa, sesame mashed potatoes and pomegranate seeds, tuna with homemade teriyaki sauce or We ate here almost every evening and had a lot of fun.

The name is made up of the smoke for the dishes from the smoker and bitters – i.e. special additives for cocktails.

The bitters are elaborately produced by the team themselves to refine the drinks, including a home-made strawberry syrup or the aroma of smoked orange peel.

Sri Lanka Map: Our tips

This article reflects my personal impressions. We booked and paid for the hotels as normal. The hotels did not know that we were writing an article about our stay.