Location:
Galle Fort is one of the most uplifting cultural experiences that Sri Lanka can offer and the Galle Fort Hotel, which began life as an 18C Dutch villa, can rightly claim to be at its heart, offering magnificent accommodation in one of Sri Lanka’s most historic locations. The journey from Colombo’s International Airport will take approximately four-and-a-quarter hours - or take the Air Taxi and fly to Koggala, which is a 20-minute drive away.
Description:
The renovation of Galle Fort Hotel is a triumph. The hotel evokes a subtle sense of colonial grandeur, skillfully updated for the modern age. Its social heart is a convivial café bar, offering good-quality snacks, tea, coffee and alcohol, where Galle’s great and good come to gossip or watch the world go by. Yet the demands of guests are never overlooked and once you walk into the main hotel area, a more private interior unfolds – verandahs and courtyards, columns and arches, all carefully restored to their original grandeur. A newer building at the back blends seamlessly, following the same period architecture. The interiors are elegantly furnished with a minimalist style, blending the old with the new. A sense of romanticism and tranquility permeates this hotel, enriched further with the occasional chanting of the Muezzin from the nearby mosque. This 12-roomed luxurious boutique hotel is an ideal base from which to explore Sri Lanka’s southern heritage.
Accommodation:
The Galle Fort Hotel has 12 exquisite a/c rooms and suites each with a unique interior and opening out to the central courtyard and the swimming pool. All the rooms are luxuriously furnished with king-sized beds dressed with canopied mosquito netting, crisp white linen and comfortable pillows. The ensuite bathrooms are stylish and have showers with hot and cold water.
Garden Rooms: The three a/c Garden Rooms have a small private garden, wall fountain, verandah and attached bathrooms with showers. The rooms are elegantly furnished with a modern king-sized four-poster bed. The Garden Rooms can accommodate two people.
Loft Suites: There are four a/c Loft Suites. These two-storey suites are more like small villas with a romantic loft bedroom overlooking the garden and pool. A cozy sitting room is located on the ground floor. A child’s bed is added at an extra cost. The ensuite bathrooms are stylish and fitted with modern, Italian ceramics. A private verandah, furnished with planter’s chairs, overlooks the swimming pool, garden and grand colonnade.
Admiral Cheng Ho Pavilion: This is a large two-storey suite that commemorates the visit of Admiral Cheng Ho to Galle in 1406. The upper floor bedroom has a carved Chinese opium bed and work desk. A screen made from rare, antique columns provides privacy from the generous living area below, furnished with intricate pieces of oriental furniture and a day bed. The attached open-air bathroom has six-metre columns with a large, elevated waterfall shower, which makes bathing seem like a fresh tropical downpour.
Blue & White Porcelain Suite: This magnificent a/c suite opens out to the central courtyard and swimming pool and has a twenty-foot ceiling and its own separate dressing room and ensuite bathroom. The towering bedroom walls feature 18th century blue & white Chinese `export ware' porcelain. The suite is furnished with an antique four-poster bed and cabinets.
The Mews Suite: This is Galle Fort Hotel’s latest addition. This two-storey a/c suite is more like a small villa and is ideal for a family. Children will enjoy spending time on their own on the mezzanine floor furnished with a large single four-poster bed, while the adults relax in the downstairs area, which has a large king sized bed. The open-style ensuite bathroom has a granite shower. This suite opens out to a small private garden and separate entranceway. The Mews is your own luxurious private villa in the Fort with the swimming pool less than a stone's throw away.
Library Suite: This a/c suite has two king size beds and separate bathroom with shower. The sitting area opens as a balcony onto the archway of the main building. The Library suite houses a fine collection of traditional Kandyan hat pins with rough cut semi precious gems and glass, part of the Royal dress worn by chieftains in the Kandyan Perahara. The antique ebony and satinwood chest and almirahs and two enormous daybeds make this one of the most beautfully furnished chambers in the hotel. Three adults or two adults and two children can be accommodated in this suite.
Le Grand Apartment du Comte de Mauny: This grand suite is more like an apartment and occupies the entire top floor of the old wing and has two king-sized bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and a private verandah. Covering an area of 2,500 square feet, this apartment also has a living and dining room with views of churches, a mosque and the scenic Galle harbour. Private in-room dining is offered at the eight-seater antique dining table. The apartment features original artworks, antique chests and cabinets and two large Dutch period four-poster beds. The floorboards and fifteen foot, lime-washed ceilings are part of an original design by the Comte de Mauny, an Edwardian `faux noble’, and acquaintance of Oscar Wilde, who lived on the island after fleeing his wife, who caught him in a compromising situation with a valet.
Facilities:
The inner courtyard, with a small garden and 10-metre swimming pool, one of the largest in the Fort, offers a tranquil and exclusive area for guests. But a sense of history does not mean that the Galle Fort’s guests will gather dust; far from it. The charming bar-cum-cafe is becoming a favoured meeting point, with the Australian owners encouraging a genial atmosphere where intelligent opinions are to be shared, not hidden. An exciting restaurant, somewhat expensive by the standards of Southern Sri Lanka, yet very much in tune with Fort prices, receives positive feedback for its classic Asian-West dishes, freshly and locally bought, and overseen by the owner-chef Christopher Ong. The staff ensures a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Meals can be taken on the terrace, the bar or in a grand dining room. Samanthe, the in-house male masseur, is trained in traditional Thai and Swedish Oil massage. A UNESCO award of distinction was given to the Galle Fort hotel in 2007 for "conservation excellence" and for "capturing the spirit of the Fort."
Excursions:
Lying within the walls of the 17th century Galle’s Dutch Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Galle Fort Hotel is an ideal base from which to explore its heritage and see life unfold each morning within the Fort. Hours can be spent exploring the maze of narrow streets lined with Dutch and British period buildings still in use, the sturdy ramparts looking out to sea, the growing collection of art galleries, antique shops and restaurants. There are some fine beaches just outside of the Fort including Wijeya, Unawatuna, Mirissa and Hikkaduwa.
Reviews of Galle Fort Hotel:
"Ingenuity and iconoclasm" – Financial Times, weekend travel.
"An effortlessly elegant haven of good taste" – Wendy Hutton, A Sybarite’s Guide to the South.
"Galle Fort’s 12 suites are perfection. Each room evokes a sense of colonial grandeur: crisp, white bed linen, antique furnishings, lofty ceilings, private verandahs and minimalist styling throughout" – Fiona Fraser, Dream destination.
"Asian classics are testimony to the success of Ong’s kitchen" – Serendib magazine.
"The scent of lilies lingers in the air as eccentric expats mingle over tea with young cosmopolitan professionals" - The Independent
"I loved the romantic lost-in-time feel of both the hotel and the Fort" - Australian Gourmet Traveller
n range overlooking a deep tea-bushed valley, Warwick Gardens offers guests seclusion and convenience since attractions such as Nuwara Eliya, Hakgala Botanical Gardens and Horton Plains are located just a short distance away. Painstakingly restored under the watchful eye of renowned architect Channa Daswatte into a warm and luxurious five-bedroom home, Warwick Gardens is an impressive granite-bricked two-storey mansion surrounded by 30 acres of colourful gardens, abundant tea and organic farmland.
