Kandalama Hotel

Overview

The Kandalama Boutique Hotel in Dambulla is one of the top luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. A hotel that doesn't sit on the landscape but is part of it. Where monkeys climb your balcony pillars as if they were trees, swifts nest in the corners of corridors as if they were cliffs, granite crags erupt into the sinuous white walkways. Where you can float in the infinity pool while gazing across at the Sigiriya Rock Fortress, an UNESCO Heritage Site.

Watch the Kandalama Hotel emerge from the lush foliage of the mountainside. Enter the fantasy ambience of five star luxury suspended in a natural dreamscape. Relax and let your vision blend the sapphire blue of the infinity pool with the cool grey of the Kandalama Lake, where time has stood still for 2000 years. Gaze upon the Sigiriya rock citadel from your room window. Absorb the magic of Kandalama; transcend time and reality.

As you step into this architectural masterpiece by Geoffrey Bawa, Sri Lanka's famous architect, you are greeted by a world of minimalist white pillars and cool curving corridors, enormous boulders intrude and birdsong hangs in the air. The Kandalama Boutique Hotel is shaped like the outspread wings of a bird, following the line of the cliff from which it seems to emerge. The hotel is a staggering 1km from end to end, and rises up seven floors, yet appears to be a perfectly natural extension of the mountainside. The flat roof and timber pillars support a screen of vegetation that attracts local wildlife.

The abundance of real-life animals around the hotel is complemented by wonderful large-scale sculptures within it. A metal owl is suspended outside the main restaurant; wooden elephants inhabit the lounge; a stone cobra uncoils along the terrace overlooking the infinity pool.

The hotel sits at the heart of the cultural triangle of Sri Lanka, close to five UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the perfect gateway to find out more about the local wildlife and Sri Lanka’s amazing heritage.

Drawn from ancient Asian traditions, the highly skilled in-house Spa therapists use indigenous herbs as well as tropical fruits and exotic oils combined with steam, sauna, massage, scrubs, baths and wraps.

The 152 rooms at the Kandalama Boutique Hotel showcase the architectural genius of Geoffrey Bawa.

Split between two wings, all rooms overlook the Kandalama tank and forest. Those in the Dambulla wing also have views of the enormous Buddha on Dambulla Rock, while rooms in the Sigiriya wing look out over the famous rock fortress. Every room is set at a different angle from its neighbours, so the view from each is unique.

You have a choice of bathrooms fitted with luxurious rain showers, bathtubs or Jacuzzis. The glass fronted bathrooms make you feel as if you are a part of the picturesque natural landscape outside your windows.