Lagoon Inn

Really nice owners, they cared that we enjoyed our time. They prepared every meal for us and we could get beer and wine down the street at a place that offered us a real cultural experience.

The room was really hot, we didn’t sleep well. Another fan or A/C would be nice.

The proximity to the Bundala Park entrance and the view into the park from the Inn is stunning. Kamal our guide and owner of the Laggon Inn was knowledgeable and was able to spot birds and animals we would have missed! We were lucky to come across a herd of elephants that wandered very close to us. A very memorable experience. The dinners at the Inn were delicious too.

Great budget option in an excellent location to visit Bundala NP. Especially liked to lovely balcony to relax and enjoy the beautiful nature. Good dinner provided. Highly recommend for a night or two. The owner organised our safari trip so mention it on booking.

Nothing.

If it wasn't for the lengths that the owners tried to look after us I would be a bit scathing about this property. We booked this a pit stop from the coast up to Ella and so weren't expecting too much as it is not in an area with much to see other than a safari in the local national park (which the property backs on to) which the hotel does. Although next to a main road in the evening it was reasonably quiet. The room was large, and the owner was happy enough to cancel the original booking and rebook another room when we discovered that we had originally booked without AC. The room had a great balcony overlooking the park which was pleasant to sit on in the evening and watch the wildlife whilst reading my book. You should note that the water is not heated - it gets its warmth from the tank being open to the sun - but actually this was just the right temperature when we were there and the shower was ok for power. The owners were happy to make us dinner (only string hoppers etc, but it was nice and there was plenty of it), and breakfast was a good feast too.

So our main problem was the bed. The damn thing squeaked like a million new born kittens. Any slight movement from either of us and away it went. You got the feeling that any sudden movement was going to deposit you in a pile of broken wood on the floor. Whether it is the same for the beds in the other rooms I don't know, but I have notified the owner of this and hopefully he has paid attention to my complaint. The room only had one socket, so charging anything was an exercise in organisation. And although the room had been swept any surface pointing up (tops of sockets/light switches, bathroom mirror etc) was seriously grimy and needed a good scrub. Although the Sri Lankans are quick to claim that their rooms are soundproofed as far as I can work out that just means they have a wall, which was illustrated here as the road noise was very audible first thing in the morning as the trucks hit the road. All in all this struck me as a place that needed a bit of investment but wasn't making enough money to do it.