The furniture was faded, the tables wobbled, the locks were useless. The floorboards were scuffed, the light bulbs dim; the washstand, with ill-fitting plug, couldn’t hold water. A fat maid walked the halls with elephant strides, ponderously, ominously coughing. And the sad-eyed, middle-aged owner, stationed permanently behind the front desk, [had been] dredged up from an overnight soak in thin blue ink, soul stained by misfortune, failure, defeat… So who would stay in that hotel?”
—Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance
Give thanks that Murakami never saw Lanka’s boutique hotels before he wrote that. If he had, the Dolphin Hotel would never have been created, and Japan’s most famous literary export would have spent the rest of his life writing burbling hallelujahs in praise of boutique hotels instead of moodily brilliant prose.
I hate the phrase ‘boutique hotel’; it sounds like something you’d buy on discount at an overglitzy mall. It doesn’t begin to capture the variations in architecture, landscape, cuisine and history you’ll come across, or the wide cast of characters you’ll meet. There are the one-off gems built by the legendary Geoffrey Bawa, Lanka’s most famous architect; there’s the British colonial hangover, chased down comfortably with the robust aspirin of Dutch style; there are newer, fresher minds marrying traditional village architecture to the best of contemporary materials. And this list barely scratches the surface; Lanka seems to add a new plantation bungalow, converted estate, quirky villa or wildlife resort every second week.
##250915153446-hot2.jpg##
Being at Havelock Place Bungalow in Colombo is like dropping by the residence of a great aunt who can still do a mean jive. While the sarong-clad waiters discreetly light candles on the garden tables of this updated colonial bungalow, the owners fill me in on the boom in the boutique hotel business. And offer useful tips: never ask to be directed to a guesthouse. “Guesthouse,” says my charming host, “is a euphemism for the kind of place where you rent rooms by the hour.” Ah, so? Now I know why the nice lady from the tourist board looked at me hard when I asked after suitable guesthouses in Sigiriya.
The hotel most strongly identified with Colombo is the Galle Face, bang on the seafront, where Arthur C. Clarke wrote 3001, the final installment in his space odyssey. Noël Coward stayed at the Galle Face, and so, later, did Bo Derek. Its geckos and sleepily revolving ceiling fans were justly famous, but both are casualties of modernised interiors. Colombo also has its fair share of perfectly run hotels from the Hilton downwards, for those who want to stay in hotels that are just the same as anywhere else in the world.
Though why you’d want to do that and eschew the temptations of a small gem like Havelock Place, I don’t know. The rooms are scented with cinnamon oil; the Wi-Fi works; the pool is lushly fringed with flowers; the dining room offers some of the best fusion food in Colombo; and the garden has an opulence that borders on the vulgar.
A few hours’ journey from Colombo, places like Sigiriya and Anuradhapura play host to a much older history, the massive lion fortress of one and the sprawling monuments of the other testifying to a civilisation caught between brutal battles and a gentle spirituality. Elephant Corridor, the fabled resort with glass-lightened architecture set, perhaps not too wisely, in the middle of elephant migration paths, guards its privacy with jealous ferocity.
The Sigiriya Village is more accessible and more predictable, a giant, efficient, slightly anonymous eco-resort. Its USP isn’t the pretty but cookie-cutter rooms but the grounds, where you can go bird-watching, visit the organic farm, or have nightmares about the surreal scarecrow guarding your sleep. Swimmers might want to time their laps for sunset or sunrise—the pool offers a spectacular view of the Lion Fortress.
##250915153851-hot6.jpg##
It’s at Kandy that the deep vein of eccentricity running through Sri Lanka’s finest hotels begins to emerge. Kandy’s hotels include Helga’s Folly, a triumphant genuflection to High Kitsch. I’m much more at home at the Villa Rosa, a serene structure built out of stone that flows in waves, almost like the Mahaweli river at the foot of the hill. The food is out to prove that ‘gourmet’ and ‘Ayurvedic’ can cohabit without suing for divorce. The rooms, with fascinating contemporary art and furnishings, are elegant and well-appointed. And a hotel where the proprietor’s office is decorated with huge Che posters is a hotel after my own armchair revolutionary heart. La vie en rosa: it could grow on me.
The Villa Rosa has competition, not least from the recently opened Kandy House, a tastefully converted seven-room Burgher walauwe, but Sri Lanka’s boutique hotels seem to do well in free market conditions.
##250915153804-hot5.jpg##
The Aman group, so sickeningly sumptuous that the average visitor is positively overjoyed to be allowed to pay through his nose for the privilege of staying at one of their resorts, converted Nesta B’s legendary New Oriental hotel into Amangalla.
They’ve done a great job with the dazzling wood-floored Zaal or great hall, the koi-hai verandah, the glorious bathrooms, the jazz on the CD player, Fritz Zwahlen’s award-winning food, the spa. This is where decadence and colonial style meet, have a sinful affair and live happily ever after. It explains the reactions Amangalla draws: “Aman, yes, Aman, well, Sting stayed with us, you know.” “A-maaaan. So lovely. Soooo… formal, don’t you think?” “You’re staying at Aman?” (Long look at my faded black tee shirt.) “Awfully, terribly expensive, isn’t it?” That’s how you know a hotel’s doing a good job: ask the competition.
##250915154157-hot10.jpg##
Galle replaces duelling swords with the thwack of Top Ten 100 Hotel Guides—every hotel in Galle seems to be in some hotel version of the Who’s Who. Most of them, like Amangalla, are clustered inside the picturesque Galle Fort. The eponymous Galle Fort Hotel is a cheerful madhouse run by a friendly gay couple in Fawlty Towers-meets-Jules et Jim fashion. Chris Ong has a nice collection of porcelain and does awesome Straits Chinese and fusion cuisine. Everyone there, from the flirtatious waiter whose sarong keeps threatening to slip, to the guest who’s discussing the relative highs of E versus Zen meditation, is flamboyant. Even the small yappy hotel pooch.
##250915154020-hot8.jpg##
But my pick would be Doornberg, the Dutch House, sister property to one of the oldest boutique hotels in Lanka. The Sun House is famous for its Cinnamon Room, which a burbling journalist once dubbed the world’s most beautiful hotel room. Doornberg has vintage cars doubling as town taxis, a frangipani garden, an infinity pool hanging off the side of the hill, a croquet lawn and interiors that are jazz riffs visualised. If Amangalla’s for the sybarite, Galle Fort for the outrageous and the Lighthouse for the purist, the Dutch House is for the classicist who’s secretly a romantic at heart. (You want to burble? Lemme show you how it’s done.)
Don’t miss The Lighthouse, the early Geoffrey Bawa work that makes a focal point of Galle’s changing seas. The staircase is a work of art: Laki Senanayake’s sculpture of the battle of Rendaniya curves round the steps, his Dutch and Sinhalese warriors come eerily to life. If you’re dining on the terrace at night, the rough seas and rocks are illuminated by torches in sconces placed along the outcrop.
##250915154240-hot11.jpg##
The two places you must stop at in Bentota, halfway between Colombo and Galle, are designed by Taru, a fashion designer who uses colour to awesome effect. The River House is curled around the Madhu estuary. At Taru Villas’ Taprobana, each room plays around with different colours; the materials are all natural; the Thai restaurant cited as one of the best dining experiences in Lanka.
Oh, and Murakami-san? Sri Lanka’s boutique hotel directory doesn’t list the Dolphin, but I’d suggest you visit anyway. Make the next masterpiece a happy one, for a change.
The information
COLOMBO
Havelock Place Bungalow: www.bungalow.lk
Galle Face Hotel: www.gallefacehotel.com
KANDY
Helga’s Folly: www.helgasfolly.com
Villa Rosa: www.villarosa-kandy.com
The Kandy House: info@thekandyhouse.com
SIGIRIYA
Sigiriya Village: slcbhq@lanka.com.lk
Elephant Corridor: www.elephantcorridor.com
GALLE
Amangalla: www.amanresorts.com
Galle Fort Hotel: www.galleforthotel.com
Dutch House, Doornberg: www.thedutchhouse.com
Sun House: www.thesunhouse.com
The Lighthouse Hotel & Spa: lighthouse@lighthouse.lk
BENTOTA
Taru Villas’ Taprobana: www.taruvillas.com
River House: Contact Taru Villas.