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SET ON A SPIT
OF LAND BETWEEN THE BENTOTA RIVER AND THE SEA,
this
fine hotel is a perfect stop for those who are after a great sun
and sand holiday. You can drive down to the hotel by a longer
route on the beach side but it's more fun and shorter to take
the boat from the hotel's own pier in Aluthgama Village and glide
over to the impressive entrance, leaving all your cares behind
you as you go.
The
lofty, open front hall creates an impression of breezy spaciousness.
It's very peaceful to sit here and watch the river flowing to
its meeting with the sea.
Almost
all the rooms have sea-views, while some face both the sea and
the river. Superior or standard, the rooms are comfortable, large,
soothingly decorated in shades of blue, yellow and white, with
adjoining spacious balconies or terraces.
Probably
the country's widest range of sports and watersports facilities
are just a short distance away, in the Club Intersport. The hotel
happily arranges trips there and back. A private boathouse on
the premises arranges snorkeling, deep-sea fishing and river cruises.
You
might see crocodiles, birds, even a Sri Lankan wedding ceremony!
One trip takes you to an old Buddhist temple up a hill known as
“Small Adam's Peak”.
The
bar beside the lobby has a well-used pleasant ambience. Breakfast
and dinner, usually buffets at the sea-view second-floor restaurant,
offer a fairly wide range of choice food. For lunch you can also
take your pick at the pizza hut near the swimming pool. Dinner
too can be exotic with a seafood barbecue buffet provided on a
pontoon cruising the river - great for birthdays or weddings,
with an accompanying calypso band.
Evenings
are fun with light entertainment such as karaoke, snake show etc;
arranged at the open outside lounge. But perhaps the stretch of
beautiful, golden, private beach is enough to keep one happy and
busy. Very romantic - to say the least!
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