Avani Kalutara Resort

Hommikulauas on kohvi nagu vesi.

Das Frühstück überhaupt das Essen schmeckte hervorragend. Der Zimmer sowie der Poolboy machten alles für unser wohlbefinden.

der Lärm und das spritzen von den Kindern am Pool.

Hotel crew is excellent, everybody is trying to make your stay better. Rooms were big enough and very clean all the time.

There is always 5-10men outside pool area like predators waiting for prey. Coffe at breakfast is really bad.

The staff was very kind and helpful

Food

Loved the architecture and low-rise buildings and gardens. In our opinion it was much nicer and better maintained than the sister Anantara resort next door (through which you have to drive to get to the Avani). The pool was nice, although there were very few umbrellas and could have been a few more sunbeds. The staff (especially the manager) were very helpful (they actually did what was promised which, in our experience, makes a change in Sri Lanka!). The hotel was very clean and we found we settled in after a couple of days, but wouldn’t wanted to have stayed for more than 3 or 4 nights. A good stop off on the way to or from Colombo.

Rooms sold as “sea view” don’t have a sea view unless they are above ground floor as the buildings are below beach level. The lagoon isn’t the most pleasant with views of the busy town and some rubbish on the shoreline. The beach has very coarse sand and the sea is very rough so swimming isn’t possible a lot of the time. There are also trip salesmen camped permanently on the beach who are annoying. There are just enough sunbeds around the pool when the hotel isn’t quite full, but guests seem to reserve them (with the help of pool attendants) before 8am and then hardly use them which seems unfair. There aren’t enough umbrellas so the beds with umbrellas always get reserved before breakfast. The breakfast buffet was just adequate, but quite poor compared to hotels of a similar standard, with a reduced range of dishes. There is only one restaurant and half board just includes the dinner buffet which, again, isn’t the best (no live cooking stations). The rice and curry dishes were the tastiest we thought, but as this is usually the cheapest dinner option in Sri Lanka, made the price paid seem poor value. It is possible apparently to eat at one of the Anantara restaurants next door, and have the meal charged to your Avani room, but this isn’t advertised and there doesn’t seem to be any credit given there for half board already paid for (although we didn’t ask). The indoor seating in the restaurant was too bright for an atmospheric dinner and made it seem more like a canteen, but the outside covered seating was better. We were more than happy to fill our own water bottles from a dispenser (which seems common practice in other Asian countries we have visited) but there is only one dispenser in the entire resort (in the gym). Although staff are happy to give you more water in your room, it seems such a waste to generate empty bottles (even though they were mostly glass).