Review: Amangalla, Galle, Sri Lanka

Thanks for the review. My wife and I recently completed a stay at Aarunya Nature Resort near Kandy, which was one of the most amazing properties I've stayed at (vastly preferred to our stay at Al Maha a few days later). Being in the middle of the country allows for easier access to the tea plantations, which are just as spectacular as everyone says. I really hope tourism picks up again following the Easter bombings--we went a couple of weeks after the attacks and most attractions seemed deserted.

Thanks for the review. Sri Lanka has been on my list; mostly the Amans and Tea Trails...

This review; however, doesn't seem to get me to want to jump on a plane. Also, was the property full? I've never not received an upgrade at an Aman unless the property was fully committed....

FDW

Hi Lucky, always look forward to your trip reports.
This hotel reminds me a lot of the Tower House Cochin, a Neemrana Property in Cochin, India. I think it is the colonial architecture and the Dutch influence that renders a similarity.

Always a pleasure to read,
SG

I must say that the rooms look just OK at best.

The things you refer to as "service" - cleaning up every time you leave, being over attentive - most people would consider annoyances. At $700 a night, please leave me tf alone!

To @Sam's point, this didn't look luxury like a lot of the Amans in Asia. It looked peaceful and historic, but pretty OK at best.

Great report.

One minor correction - the hotel used to be called the "New Oriental," no the "New Orient;" I only know because I stayed there 15+ years ago, well before Aman got its hands on it. It was certainly showing its age. My friend and i were assigned a giant room on the floor above the main floor facing the street. The hotel had no air conditioning and no elevator, so just walking up the one flight of stairs left us a bit sweaty. Because there was no a/c, we had to run fans at night, which barely helped. It was still a great trip, and yeah, a couple of days or nights in the fort is probably plenty for most people.

With the gym, well, there's not really any excuse not to take one of the guestrooms and turn it into some sort of a serviceable gym, unless the hotel regularly sells out and they want to keep the extra guest room for revenue. For example, at the Amanjiwo in Java, they used one of the suites for their spa, so using a room for a non-guest room certainly has precedent.

It's too bad you didn't go to any tea plantations. Maybe on another trip? We were there for ~10 days, so had a lot more time to explore the middle of the country as well as Yala National Park as well as the south.

One other fun fact: If you look at the photo of the chairs (posted here: ), you'll notice the curved armrests. Under these armrests a two pieces of wood (it's easier to see on a tablet where one can make the picture bigger). In practice, the bottom slat swivels outwards to the front of the chair, allowing the person sitting to place their legs on the extension, as shown here:

It's not a very dignified look, but, well, yeah, there you have it...

@cara lockwood: You say "The things you refer to as “service” – cleaning up every time you leave..."

I don't think you understand that you NEVER EVER see the people servicing the room. It's weird, they're in and out like magic, so there's no "over attentiveness" and no annoyance associated with it whatsoever.

When I was in Galle I just did one night at the Tamarind Hill which used to be the governor's mansion way back when (17th century). My room was very historic feeling. Giant king size bed. The bathroom was a sort of outdoor patio that had been converted. It was a very unique place. I think I paid something like $300 for the night. Service was very good but unobtrusive for the most part.

There are so many fascinating places to visit around the country. I think the mountain areas are more interesting and the weather is more comfortable. The cultural triangle is not to be missed IMHO. I'd say that service was maybe not as polished as it is in other places I've been, but it was always quite sincere and friendly.

I'm headed back early next year. My guide friend who's organizing things for me says that tourism is starting to pick back up and getting back to normal

One other note of history this hotel became a makeshift hospital after the tsunami right as the among was going to open they volunteered to open it up as needed.

interesting I had a very very different experience at this hotel we had a private Butler who made sure everything was taken care of and was everywhere we asked to be If we order drinks at the pool somehow he brought them even though we ordered from someone else he gave us our guided tour of the town he was there breakfast is there when we went to bed when we went to bed. General manager was always available but our butler took care of us. He even gave us reserved spa space for a full hour without anyone else allowed in. This day was definitely a amn quality and very memorable and not my first aman.

Amanwella was a big disappointment for me so I look forward to review of that see if it's gotten any better

Funny how you let yourself scam again and again. that roti dinner is a joke! sure it looks yummy, but Aman is really perfect in selling 1-2$ dishes for innocent westeners. Sorry, but there is no excuse for such an overpriced meal, if you get basic stuff like roti.

thanks for the review. Sorry to hear it, though. I, too, love the Amans. I'm going this weekend to Amanpulo and hope it's as wonderful as the other Amans I've visited.

You should have tried Cape Weligama!

When I was in Galle, I stayed at the Tamarind Hill, which was an SLH property at the time. We got upgraded to their enormous Admiral Suite replete with antique furniture, huge living room, bedroom, bathroom and wraparound veranda. It's located outside the historic fort area, but a quick and cheap tuk tuk ride got us there and back easily, and if I recall the price was about one-third what the Aman's were charging.

Never stayed at an Aman as the ones I've looked at were either priced at $2000/night, which is beyond my max hotel budget of $1,250/night, or were double the price of really good hotels that I already trusted (ie. in Tokyo where the Aman is priced higher than 4S, Peninsula and other very good comparable properties). I did notice when planning our Sri Lanka trip a few years ago that the Amans there were priced lower than other Amans ($700/night as you said)... but I also read reviews which suggested they weren't quite at the same level as other Aman properties.

Good review, as always.

For me, I would never spend $700 a night here. It just doesn't look anywhere near that good/worth it. I'm not sure I'd spend $350 a night for this property.

Honestly i am tired of reviews of 700$++ Amans with 150$ per person dinners, give me decent price/quality ratio four- and five-star hotels instead. This blog used to talk about hotels where anyone could stay, now it has ascended into rockstar territory and became boring.

I personally don't think you paint a very accurate picture of Galle, having been four times myself. Galle is a small, relaxed 'hipster' town situated close to the beach resort areas of Thalpe and Unawatuna. It's not the sort of place I'd recommend for a city holiday, but is a nice place to explore if you're staying at one of the nearby beach towns. Also, going to Sri Lanka and staying in a £700 hotel in a town area isn't worthwhile, you're much better off staying at a hotel closer to the beach or in a more remote area - and you certainly do NOT need to pay $700 a night to get luxury (of a much higher standard than this Aman property) in Sri Lanka. I'd also really recommend not getting half board in a hotel in this area of Sri Lanka, there are loads of really nice restaurants in the surrounding areas that are much cheaper and generally have food of better quality than the hotels. And I wouldn't recommend drinking the milk from Sri Lanka, it has given my family and I stomach issues in the past.

Seems like any decent hotel in South Asia to me. I have never been terribly impressed with Amans. I prefer the Taj and Oberoi properties for luxury.

@Max - lol@the $2 roti. I wonder what the cook is thinking, and how much they laugh at the people who do this, afterwards or in the kitchen.

@Emily - I agree, the Oberoi hotels are more luxurious, and authentically so, for half the price.

This hotel looks like a 3 star hotel when compared to the luxury and elegance of the Oberoi Vilas properties such as Udaivilas, Rajvilas and Amarvilas.

Also roti, by definition is a type of bread preparation. Any roti dinner would therefore be a heavily carb laden bread driven dinner (with low amount of protein).

It is a dream to stay at an Aman but not necessarily this one - just seems underwhelming. I'd like to do the one in Turks/Caicos, just to keep it relatively close to home.

@William: I'd agree with you that it seems like not all Amans are created equal. The one in Utah (Amangiri) looks really interesting to me, but at a minimum of $1900/night (and usually priced more than that), it's just too much for me. When I consider that you can get pretty amazing hotel rooms for half that rate, it's difficult for me to justify $2000/night for a hotel no matter how good it is.

Enjoyed the report as always Ben. But Wow $1000AUD a night. I know Aman’s are supposed to be the best but this looked like it didnt live up to the hype......? And as for the cost of the roti bread meal WOW that’s a lot of cash for bread and candles !

What a beautiful review. I thought the food looked amazing!

Dear Lucky,
Just out of historical accuracy, we - the Portuguese - were the first to settle in Sri Lanka and the fort was built (partly) .
The Dutch arrived many years later 😉

As for the Amans, I'm really not a fan. As you said, they are normaly very small hotel where you barely cross another guest. Hence, no interaction, no travel chit-chat.
This said, I praise the Amanpulo in the Philipines as one of the best hotels in the world...

The biggest problem for me at this Aman is they open the restaurant to the public. Because of that, staff don’t know who’s actually staying at the hotel and who’s just there for lunch/dinner. Thus out goes one of the perk at staying at an Aman: every staff knows who you are. With every non city Aman, staff knows who you are and when you come back from an excursion, staff is ready with cold towels and your favorite cold drinks and warm smiles. But because they let non staying guests into this Aman, staff can’t possibly differentiate who’s staying here and who’s not. So no hellos and no warm smiles when you walk back to your room from the forte. I can’t say I blame the staff. With so many people trekking through front part of the hotel, it’s not possible to remember who are the staying guests.

With that said, once you are inside the private part of the hotel... ie spa and pool, service standard is similar to what you would find at other Amans. It’s a beautiful property, sadly owner decided to open restaurant part to public to earn those extra coins thus lowering experience for staying guests. I’m sure management would rather not have the non staying guests trekking through front part of the hotel.

Lucky it’s too bad you didn’t experience the Bawa brothers tour. They are the most famous architects in Sri Lanka and were openly gay during mid to late 20th century. Their architecture sets the precedent of what we see today at various tropical resorts.

I’m sorry Ben/Lucky,
I understand that value is subjective to each of us. However, One would have to be a FOOL to spend their own money on that hotel for $700 a night plus a near $300 for a roti dinner! Seriously, one would have to be out of their mind!

Good thing Ben can claim it as a business expense.

So ... $700/night, no gym. Apparently they can't put a few treadmills into a spare room and they can't even make a decent cappuccino. No thanks. Better off staying at the Weligama Marriott which is under $80 USD/night (highest-tier suite is under $200/night). I'm sure they have well-intentioned people working there too who can make a stay enjoyable and memorable at a more realistic price point.

"We ended up spending very little beyond the room rate, given all that was included." Really?! I saw an additional $670 = $195 for an airport transfer, $190 for 2 massages, and (the kicker for me) $285 for a candlelight dinner consisting of ... sandwiches.

Amans may be our host's favorite hotel chain. The reasons, however, escape me. Every one reviewed on here has some sort of glaring flaw. One commentator put it best that they are basically short-term assisted living facilities.

Thanks for this review. I have been researching what Aman to choose as my first Aman experience, and nothing about this one compels me to ever stay at this one - unless they do some major revamping. What is your favorite Aman out of all the ones you have visited?

Seems like a bit of a shame to visit Sri Lanka and miss out on the most beautiful parts of the country (tea trails, mountains, etc.). I'm sure 700 USD a night would have gotten you a spectacular stay in those areas as well.

@peter yep glad I’m not the only one who thought this was madness

agree with the commentors. not worth the price at all!
i stayed at tamarind hill as i saw a couple others post--lovely accommodation there but i would not recommend for solo travelers

If you have $700 to throw around per night stay at a Taj Hotel or Oberoi. You'll get a suite and a meals which make these seem like McDonald's. Seriously seems like you got shortchanged while staying here. Rates in USD lol

Hi Lucky,
Finally got to read your review. My 1st visit to Lanka was in May 18...but I am sure many more visits will follow. I simply love the place, the food, the music (baila) and most importantly the people.

I did notice your breakfast picture is incorrect. You were served Pittu and not String Hopper...both are solid options!

There is always an "emperor's new clothes" quality about Aman hotels and this one is another good example. Everyone is so desperate to rate them highly based mainly on their price point and brand name, despite not being at all competitive on price or experience. Its actually an impressive con they've managed to pull off. This would be a terrible waste of money for anyone who actually cares about what they spend, especially in a country like Sri Lanka.