Pahalage Gästehaus Restaurant Guesthouse — Hotel in Sri Lanka

I'm an expat living in Sri Lanka for 2 years. Been to a dozen of hotels around the island and so far this one of my favorite places. It's a nice small hotel/guesthouse for like 10 rooms. The garden and scenery inside is absolutely marvellous! They have a pool and unlike most of the enormous hotel pools with water temperature +30C in SL, it's small and really refreshing! The staff is really pleasant and helpfull (special cheers to Achala :). There was a construction works going in the neighborhood, and they moved me to the better room in another block far away from the noise for free. All the minor problems with the equipment have been dealt immediately. Very pleasant people and atmosphere where I felt like home. The location is also very nice - it's 1.5 hour ride from Colombo and you can just go there for a weekend. I came for 3 days, stayed for 2 weeks. WiFi is pretty good. It's also 3 minute walk from northern Moragalla beach which has a distant underwater reef that protects from waves and high tide even at the worst weather and during off season. Breakfast is good as well as dinner a-la-carte. This is not a luxury place but really cozy and totally worth the price. Will come back there...

The initial impression of the beautiful poolside garden quickly turned sour. The hotel turned out to be run-down and dirty. The towels were dirty, and the bed linen was never changed. Chemical powdered juice was served for breakfast. The soundproofing of the rooms was very poor; you could hear everything the neighbors were saying. Good spots by the pool were given to some guests through connections, with some paying for them. The mosquito nets were small and holey, causing constant discomfort while sleeping. As a result, we had to urgently look for another hotel. I really hope that the owners pay attention to this review and address...

We chose the hotel because of good reviews. But our experience is different: WiFi does not work in the room or even on the balcony. The beds in the hotel do not have mosquito nets so we were bitten by mosquitoes all night. In addition, the mattress is terribly hard. Also, the noise of some pump or other installation did not allow to sleep. I do...