спокойный рай calm paradise

We prepared for the trip for a long time. I wanted a quiet beach holiday, so the hotel was chosen for the beauty of the beach. I must say right away: we were not deceived - the beach is huge, the ocean, the soft sand is the color of baked milk, and palm trees... and greenery... in general, heaven on earth!
We flew by Arab airlines Kharkiv-Sharjah-Colombo. They don’t serve food on the flight, we stocked up on sandwiches, and on the plane we took only tea and juice (the price is 5 Arab dirhams for a cup of tea or a small jar of juice). Airplane food is generally very expensive, something like 10-15 dollars for a set of regular airplane food. In Sharjah, we immediately ran to the plane waiting for us to Colombo. In total, they spent about 10 hours in flight. At the airport, we recommend changing the currency (the exchange rate is much higher than at the hotel) and purchasing a mobile communication package from a local operator. I took Mobitel: 1000 rupees package, including 800 rupees falls on the bill. 800 rupees was enough for a week of conversations with Ukraine for 1-2 minutes a day. The road to the hotel takes about 5 hours - it's hard, I definitely do not recommend it with small children. We were settled in the hotel relatively quickly, although at first they said that we had to wait a couple of hours (we were outraged and they still gave us a room). As it turned out, we were given a number not in Koggala beach, but in Long beach, but we learned about this only after a week of rest from the guide of another tour operator (for such a replacement, the hotel manager gave me and my friend an hour of free massage). The hotel has 3 restaurants, you can eat in any of them. The food is quite tolerable, you definitely won’t stay hungry, delicious pineapples. In the evening, there is live music in restaurants and sometimes national shows. In general, everything for a relaxing holiday. We liked the Long beach restaurant.
About the rooms. You can live. It is better by hook or by crook to move to rooms with a sea view. There are more beautiful and there are almost no mosquitoes. Cleaned every day, diligently. But. . . The towels in the room are really not the best kind, we used our own. Shampoos and shower gels are also better to take with you, because. for the entire stay, we were brought soap 3 times and a couple of times 2 shampoos in sticks. Refrigerator brought after a convincing request. Tipping can be given, but you can not give - they clean the same way. Also take with you: anti-mosquito products and, of course, sun creams of the most maximum protection (I myself am very dark, I never used tanning products either in Turkey or Thailand, but here I smeared with a cream with a protection factor of 50 for the first few days and that face It was a pity to look at the fair-skinned, who became red-skinned, in general). To take a sunbed, you need to show that still ingenuity, in general, there are not enough sunbeds for all. But in general, the hotel is quite tolerable, the territory is green, lizards, chipmunks, turtles... well, the beach, the ocean, complete relaxation.

About excursions. It is quite far from this hotel to all sightseeing objects, so it is better to take a sightseeing tour + beach vacation in advance. The cost of the Kandy + Sigiriya tour (2 days 1 night) subject to a group of 6 people is $ 170-180. A group of 4 people is $ 192. Kandy 1 day is $ 90. (These are the prices of a foreign tour operator whose Russian-speaking the guide sometimes comes to the reception of the Koggala Village hotel) We faced a real problem of finding sightseeing tours, the guides from our tour operator (News Travel) simply did not want to come to our hotel because of the distance. Regarding excursion services from beach-boys: yes, you can ride with them for short distances, but for long distances... it’s just dangerous, because. It is not known what will actually have to pay extra. And besides, none of them speaks Russian (one guy boasted to us that he knows Russian, history and will conduct a wonderful tour of Halle). The tour of Halle lasted about 15 minutes, then we were taken to souvenir and jewelry shops and the guy was very offended that we did not buy anything. It is better to use the services of not beach-boys (they do not have their own transport and their earnings are to grab a tourist and bring them to a tuk-tuk or drag a tourist to a shop with their friends), namely, directly negotiate with the tuk-tuk driver. School English is enough. We got a very good responsible boy with his tuk-tuk - Chamil, his phone number is +94776698661. For an excursion to Matara, a tea plantation and a temple of the big Buddha, we paid him about 1200-1500 rupees for two. His prices are much lower than those of beach-boys (which is understandable - a beach-boy also needs to earn) Alien tuk-tukers, including him, are not allowed to the hotel by beach-boys (so as not to bring down prices. in general, their own mafia ) a Russian couple gave us his contacts before leaving. From transport, I will also add: we traveled by local buses - that is still exotic. Definitely recommend to those who want to experience the local flavor. The ticket price for two is about 50 rupees from the hotel to Galle. From the hotel to Matara 100 rupees for two. There are buses with and without air conditioning, with air conditioning more expensive. There are also trains, even more electric trains. The price from Galle to the hotel is also about 50 rupees per person (if my memory serves me right) In general, public transport is inexpensive and absolutely safe - checked. Although the traffic on the roads... is a separate conversation. In my opinion, no driver has ever learned the rules of the road there.
Regarding food in restaurants for tourists (not in a hotel): the portions are large, you order shrimp or meat - they bring a whole dish on which vegetables, rice, french fries. The price is about 10-15 dollars per dish.
Regarding shopping: if someone has been to the Kharkov Barabashovsky market - so this is the cheapest corner of it))). The quality is appropriate. Although pareos, T-shirts at a price of about 3-7 dollars can be taken. Just do not take bright blue shirts for the beach - they shed terribly. Buffalo leather bags are also painted - probably they were painted with tea leaves))).
In general, to summarize: A hotel for a relaxing, relaxing holiday, admiring nature and the ocean, beautiful sunsets, etc. etc. I think all of Sri Lanka is like that. Tourists demanding service, as well as those who cannot stand long journeys, should better choose something else. I really want to go back to Sri Lanka. That's how tired the fuss is. . .