The Mango Nest

Helpful property manager (Mathushan) who was always around and willing to assist. Fantastic Jaffna breakfast served when ordered the night before. Clean indoor swimming pool (though not very deep) to help relieve from the Jaffna sun. Great rooms and bathroom. Interesting local art/photos on the walls as well.

Wifi not the greatest and spotty at times.

Massive villa with indoor pool. Very nice furniture.

A lot of mosquitoes and the bathroom could be cleaner.

Beautiful colonial building, spacious and welcoming. Exactly like the photos. Has an elevator available for older guests or those with mobility difficulties or heavy luggage. Plenty of living space on ground floor and 1st floor with sofa and chairs and dining table. The beds were large and comfortable and the linen very soft. The aircon worked very well in every bedroom as did the fans. Hot water was available in the showers. Every bedroom had its own bathroom ensuite. Two bathrooms were open to the outdoors at one end which kept them cool. The concrete floor was quite slippy, so indoor flip flops were needed. The plunge pool is a lovely addition, although we didnt end up using it because the male housekeeper was always present downstairs. Would I stay here again? Yes, but only if the two rooms furthest from the stairs had mosquito nets (easy to do on the four poster bed, harder on the twin beds) if this were put in place the whole stay would have been much more pleasant. It is a beautiful house in a convenient location for most tourism sites and centre of Jaffna, and there was plenty of space for time spent together in the house. We had a good stay overall.

The main problem was excessive mosquitos. I wouldnt usually complain about this as they are a natural part of the environment. However, the windows and doors do not close fully with a seal and the bathroom window shutters cannot be closed and are above the living areas, so mosquitos continuously come into the house. The two rooms furthest from the stairs were the worst affected, I had 42 mosquito bites in 4 days. This is despite the plug in mosquito repellent and going round my room and bathroom with an electric racket that was provided for this purpose. I also wore full length clothes and mosquito repellent spray to bed. The housekeeper arranged for take-away breakfasts and dinner as requested that were paid for at checkout. On one occasion, he asked us to order our own takeaway. We also had to prompt him to offer tea/coffee in the morning as he wasn't as intuitive/obliging as other hospitality staff elsewhere. It wasn't clear if he was there to help us or not. I suspect he was there to make sure we didnt damage the furniture/property and to flag any maintenance issues e.g a toilet that kept running, and he updated the internet box whilst we were there. Also, all the soap dispensers in the house were constantly empty which was frustrating.

The property is superbly put together. The lay out is really lovely with all the bedrooms ensuite and it is the first time that in our travel in Srilanka that we found a property with a lift, it is very convenient for elderly people. It was really confortable.

We liked everything