Heritance Kandalama

the staff in the kitchen and restaurant was exceptionally good the food extraordinary the "dine in a cave" experience superb Chef Dinesh went out of his way to organise a live cooking under the rock! we will not forget this

Great location and fantastic views over the lake and Sigiriya in the background. We first came here when we were living in Colombo 18 years ago - was our favourite then and good to see it still is one of our family favourite hotels in Sri Lanka. Liked how the hotel has integrated with the natural surroundings and maximising its position with great views - we were fortunate to even see some wild elephants while having breakfast!

We visited Kandalama about 15 years ago when it was more of a business hotel. Now it seems to cater for mass coach groups, primarily Chinese groups who seem to be coming for one day stays. I was surprised to hear a Sri Lankan singing songs in Chinese to welcome a group! As previous comments, the buffet was like "feeding time at the zoo" with badly behaved people pushing in as if they have never seen food before! The staff seemed overwhelmed. The rooms are a little dated and electrical sockets for charging anything are non-existent and you have to unplug something like a lamp to use the socket, which is inconvenient. The views are spectacular and our lake trip was amazing with a sighting of an elephant. The staff at reception and the naturalist were really poor. We asked several times about the various activities on offer, but all the staff told us that the naturalist deals with the activities and that he was on holiday and will be back tomorrow. We were told this everyday of our for day stay and no staff member had a clue bput the activities other than the costs,which is really poor. The assistant naturalist was terrible and it looked as if they had a stuck a safari hat on someone's head and said he was the assistant naturalist! His English was poor and the boatman who were rowing were telling him which species of bird and where the birds were. It was independence day when we visited and they put Sri Lankanflags on all the breakfast tables and that's it. No explanation, no celebration no nothing! All rather lack lustre!

vegan friendly and greatFood , great location , very polite and gracious staff, clean and spacious bathrooms , swimming pool the sport swimming pool is very nice. The view is superb. So many things to do. Great place, great food. Recommended for vegans as the staff is well aware of it and prepared to serve vegan guests.

Everything!! The ambience of the hotel, the natural environment, the variety of food options, live music, scenic view, the infinity pool, the multiple sitting areas to enjoy nature are our favourites. We did the bird watching tour too. Had a very knowledgeable and keen guide who showed us a variety of birds. There is not one thing not to like this place!