Хороший отель, но нужно быть осмотрительным при выборе туроператора Good hotel, but you need to be careful when choosing a tour operator

We chose a hotel with a sheltered bay, as we understood that we were going out of season. Dikwella fit perfectly - despite the constant wind and rather high waves in the ocean (2-2.5 meters high) - there were no problems with swimming in the bay.
The hotel is quiet, calm, the staff is friendly.
They settle in 2-storey bungalows (3-4 rooms on the 1st floor, 2-3 on the second).
Almost all houses have a sea view. Although the sea view is relative, because the hotel is separated from the beach along the entire perimeter by a wooden fence, once painted white. However, the ocean is visible, and the sound of the waves is generally heard perfectly.
We can judge about food only by breakfast (we took BB). The breakfasts are all right - there are omelettes, sausages, peppered chicken, vegetables, several local dishes, juices, coffee, rolls, fruits, etc.
You can pay extra for HB directly at the hotel: dinner (buffet) will cost $ 20 per person + drinks separately.

In nearby restaurants, you will have to pay $8-12 per person for dinner (fish or shrimp 250-500g, rice, french fries, salad, fruit, fresh juice or beer), or up to $50 for four with lobsters and beer.
Briefly about the hotel:
Rooms: spacious, overlooking the sea. There is a kettle (coffee, tea). Daily 1 liter of drinking water free of charge. Minibar with drinks - for a fee.
Air conditioning - individual in the room, quite noisy, but you can get used to it.
TV, 10 satellite channels / 1 Russian-speaking
There is no safe in the room, but there are free safes at the reception. They can give out a large cell (laptop, camera, whatever). The cell has 2 keys, one at the reception, the second at the guest. The safe was used, nothing was missing : ).
There is a fumigator in the room, the plates are brought on demand within 5-10 minutes.
There were no insects in the room (1st floor). Every evening two guys came with a big can of insecticide - did the insects appear?
We said we didn't show up and they left a little upset.
In the bathroom - hair dryer, sets of 2 towels per person, shampoos and soap - at a minimum. Towels were changed almost daily.
Beach towels are available upon request around the pool. No cards or deposits required.
There is no Wi-Fi in the room, there is one near the reception and near the pool. Interruptions with the Internet happened, but rarely.
At the very beginning of the trip, we bought a SIM card from a local operator for $10 (up to 25-30 minutes of calls to Ukraine, and local calls are generally unmeasured). It turned out that the card has 1.5 GB of prepaid LTE traffic. It catches almost anywhere, including in reserves and in the mountains, and even more so in the room. The data transfer speed is enough for voice Skype, and sites are loaded no worse than via Wi-Fi.

There are a lot of squirrels/chipmunks in the hotel. Therefore, it is better not to leave anything edible on the balcony / veranda.
Hotel infrastructure: main restaurant, 2 cafes, swimming pool, one souvenir / jewelry shop. There is a type of diving center with water sports: canoes $5/hour, board $2/hour. Masks, flippers can also be rented, they were not interested in prices.


Beach: excellent, sandy, very long - probably up to a kilometer long (Dikwella in the local dialect means "long beach"). There are very few people on the beach. At the weekend, the Sri Lankans appear, and so - no one. 5-6 people per kilometer.
On the right side of the hotel - a bay with corals. Because of the strong waves, we did not go there, although the locals enjoy splashing in the shallow lagoon, which is completely protected from any waves by the remnants of a powerful reef.

From the negative - the main problems are associated with an unsuccessful choice of a tour operator, and we chose JoinUp out of ignorance, . Firstly, together with 11 promised days of rest, we got 9.
Moreover, the group transfer between the hotel and the airport was disgustingly organized.
Dikwella is located east of Matara, which is accessed from Colombo by a highway. And if we were taken separately from the hotels of the southwest, then the road would take 2.5 hours. And so it turned out 7 hours. That is, from our 9 days (with 11 paid) they took another 4 daytime hours. Moreover, a separate minibus was sent for us, which took us ...no, not to Colombo, but in a completely different direction - to a hotel in Koggala, where we had to wait another hour for a bus that circled southwestern hotels.
To find out about the time of departure from the hotel, I had to call the manager of the host (Concord exotic voyage) Dmitry himself, who explained in a very rude manner that a group transfer 10 hours before departure is absolutely normal, but if we want to get there 2.5 hours in advance, he this will arrange for an additional $150.
So if you plan to go to Sri Lanka and not spoil your vacation in any way, do not contact Join Up.
Otherwise, both the island and the hotel left a very good impression.