Sacred City Tourist Resort

I had 2 nights here staying in one of the windowless rooms. A windowless room is no issue if you are wondering whether to book it as there are many places in the property you can sit outside if you don’t like spending time in a windowless room. The room was clean and the bed and pillows were comfortable. The family were lovely and helped us with every request. We had breakfast and dinner both days at the property, and the food was fantastic. Traditional Sri Lankan home cooked food, along with bottle of cooled water at each meal. Once we had finished they offered if I wanted any more. On the second night I had to say yes as the chicken curry was amazing. We had a day tour, booked through the family, with what seems to be a friend (he was great), who took us around the Ancient City of Anuradhapura (9:30 - 13:30). By night we were also taken to the Ruwanwelisaya Stupa, it was beautiful and a very peaceful place - even though there were 100s of people praying, giving offerings and a sermon being conducted. There were also two gorgeous dogs at the property. Some people in the reviews have mentioned this as problem. The only reason I’d say it was a problem is if you didn’t like dogs, as they were such lovely happy animals. I think people forget this is a homestay not a hotel. Overall a really great stay.

The property is difficult to find. There are two ways in. The first is through what looked to be on old hair salon, which is under building renovation, on the main road (Maithripala Senanayake Mawatha). You have open the glass door, go through to the end of the room, up the staircase, move the wooden board (then move it back, what I presume is to stop the dogs getting out), follow the walkway round and then continue up 2 more flights of stairs until you reach the communal area. The other entrance, and the one I’d say is used more, is on a road off the main road, next to Sorriso Restaurant. You need to go through the large black gate (often open and often with a car parked on the path), go left at the building site, through a smaller black pedestrian gate, up three flights of stairs and you’ll come to the communal area. The WhatsApp commutation could be improved. I often asked a question and didn’t receive a reply after many hours, so I had to go and find the hosts; however, this wasn’t difficult as they were always about and able to answer and help very promptly. Finally, was that the shower wasn’t warm. Not a major issue as some of the other home stays I’ve been to in Sri Lanka only have cold water. Also we didn’t say anything to the hosts (as we did not mind too much as a cold ish shower in 30 degrees is fine) so there is a chance that they may have been able to make it hotter, I just never asked. These are the only improvements I’d suggest, and are very minor and did not affect the quality of the stay.

Nice clean spacious room with a comfortable bed. The air conditioner has a fabulous comfort mode which made sleeping really easy. They were very kind to me and I got the impression they would help anyone that they could. It's a no frills guesthouse but is really very good at what it does!

The street isn't the nicest.. just a couple of blocks behind is much calmer and greener. It's quite a noisy building so take earplugs. You will never find the entrance without calling them. I'm not sure why they don't send people instructions before hand.

The hotel is close to the new bus station and a few restaurants.

When I arrived, it was impossible to find the location. Turns out I had to walk through an under construction / abandoned store (very creepy in the nighttime) - I had to find the owner by going 3 stories and l and getting past 3 dogs. I paid my room 50$ for for 2 nights (very pricey for Sri Lanka) - it had no windows, and. When I very kindly asked for another the only other room they had was without windows. At the end of my stay, I paid and gave my honest review to the owner that I found it too expensive for the quality (can literally get a 4 star hotel at this price - they both (husband and wife) said they don’t care about reviews. I came here mostly because every review said it was amazing and the owners are so nice but with me, they really weren’t.

The staff approach was very nice. Room size is small but clean.

No tea making arrangement in the room; The size of the room is small