Hotel Kolam Air Panas di Koggala

We stayed at the Fortress for a week after a week exploring Sri Lanka and what a bit of paradise it was. Our room was a beach room and it opened up onto the pool with the beach just beyond. I loved being able to open the patio doors and having sun loungers just there. The pool staff were phenomenal, they saw you before you even had a chance to look for them and arranged the loungers exactly how and where you prefer. The restaurant was brilliant, Samantha and the team really made us feel welcome and greeted us everyday by our names. We ate in White most days but tried out the teppanyaki (brilliant) as well as the restaurant in the wine cellar - Duo. All the food was superb and there’s a wide choice, the Sri Lankan food was super tasty. There is a buffet on Saturdays which guests, not in the hotel, come to so that should show how good it is but they’re willing to cook you anything should you not want the buffet. My husband and I both had spa treatments which we enjoyed, the spa itself is a little dated and it backs onto the main road so you can hear horns beeping whilst having your treatment which was, sadly, not very relaxing. The only other odd and slightly negative thing was in the afternoon whilst by the pool a large number of crows always appeared trying to drink from the pool. The team did attempt to get rid of them but used a sonar detector which omitted a very high pitched noise and didn’t deter the crows - again not very relaxing. That wouldn’t stop us going back, it was one of the most relaxing hotels I’ve been to in a long time. Galle is about 30mins away and the hotel can arrange transport for you. If you like to go in the sea then be warned it’s very rough outside the hotel, we attempted a couple of times but the current is very strong. There were a large number of trainees either serving by the pool, in the bar or in the restaurant - all of them excellent. As well as Samantha, I would like to mention Sashan who looked after our drinks orders night and day! We will definitely be back