After staying in 4 different hotels in the previous 8 days touring Sri Lanka, it was great to walk through the impressive main doors of the Fortress Hotel and Spa, knowing we had a week to relax. The hotel did not disappoint. My wife and I had booked an Ocean Room, these rooms are located on the upper floor of the hotel with a balcony overlooking the sea. Of course, it is a matter of personnel preference, but these rooms have an advantage over the Beach Rooms below, in that there is always some shade, whereas the rooms on the ground floor have sun on them most of the day. Our room (room 51) was lovely, large comfortable bed, with a view straight through the balcony doors to the sea. A nice seating area with Sofa, very large TV (not that we watched much). The bathroom was impressive, large Jacuzzi bath, huge shower room which would fit 4 people!, together with his and hers basins and plenty of storage space. Rooms are provided with tea/coffee making facilities and two large bottles of water. We drink a lot of water and it was never a problem asking for more. Rooms are serviced twice a day and our room boy Weerasinghe, did a great job of keeping things well looked after. Bedding and towels are changed daily, but you can opt out of this. The main restaurant is called White, we were so happy with it that we ended up eating in the hotel every night, which is unusual for us. The dinner menu is a la carte and there is a huge range of food on offer, from local dishes, Indian food, pizza/pasta, seafood and other international choices. On Saturday evening in addition they had a seafood barbeque/buffet, with fresh fish cooked to order, all excellent. We also thought the prices for food and drink were very reasonable. There is also a separate ‘fine dining’ restaurant, although we didn’t try this. Breakfast is also served in White. This had a good selection of seasonal fruits, various egg options, including our favourite egg hoppers, bacon, etc, together with a range of breads/pastries. The hotel pool and gardens have a large number of beds and umbrellas and even though the hotel was a full occupancy some days there was never a problem getting beds/umbrellas. The Pool was lovely too. The hotel is situated on a long beach and you can walk for miles, the beach was also very clean. Immediately In front of hotel is a small reef and towards high tide you can see many turtles swimming, within a few metres of the hotel. Note although it is a public beach there are some traders selling goods and tour services, but you are never pressurised and most of the time they seem more concerned about whether you like the country. We made a couple of trips out from the hotel, once to Galle Fort, which is a part of the city and about 25 minutes’ drive from the hotel. We also visited Handunugoda Tea Estate, about 15 mins by Tuk Tuk. Transport is arranged by the hotel, but you pay directly to the operators who have a stall across the road, you are probably paying top dollar but th
Cemerlang
50 Ulasan