Sri Lankan resort sets the bar high
NOW that long-divided Sri Lanka has achieved peace after a 30-year civil war (it ended in 2009), hotel developers are rushing in to capitalise on the country’s pristine Indian Ocean beaches and tropical jungles, stately Colonial-era architecture and Buddhist temples. While smaller luxury hotels are cropping up on the island nation, Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort, which opened in December 2015, is the country’s first full-blown waterfront resort: a sprawling but graceful compound of 152 rooms and villas, a spa, beach cabanas and infinity pools. Its third restaurant, Verele, opened in October, raising the chic factor considerably.
Contact info
Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort, Goyambokka Estate, Tangalle 82200, Sri Lanka; 94-47-7-670-700; tangalle.anantara.com.
Rates
From $255 for low-season doubles and $435 for private villas. (High-season rates are $390 and $614.)
Location
The resort sits on an 8.5-hectare former coconut plantation, just outside the fishing village of Tangalle on Sri Lanka’s southeastern coast.
Several of the region’s attractions, including the walled city of Galle (home to elegant cafes, galleries and boutiques) and the temple complex at Wevurukannala (where a gold-painted, 50-metre-high Buddha statue looms above village rooftops), are within an hour-and-a-half drive of the property.
The room
For about the same cost of a room at a fancy US hotel, I splurged on a private villa with its own deck and small infinity pool and a view across palmshaded lawns. The décor was standard upmarket beachresort fare: coral-tile floors, a soaring roof, cream-coloured walls and upholstery in tones of sand. There were nice indigenous touches, though, like a teak-and-rattan settee and pair of chairs with curving armrests. A family of peacocks visited daily, including a preening male.
The bathroom
My bathroom was enormous, with a free-standing tub and a long double vanity leading to an open rainfall shower area. One wall had floor-to-ceiling windows looking over tropical flower beds.
Dining
The property opened with two restaurants. Il Mare, set on a bluff overlooking the beach, serves upscale Italian cuisine like handmade pastas and herb-crusted tuna along with a Continental wine list. At the more informal Journeys, the menu changed daily to reflect a different culinary destination, though I preferred its permanent selection of traditional Sri Lankan dishes, like coconut-sauced prawns and local banana-leaf-baked fish. At the new beachfront Verele, dishes such as chili-spiced short rib and seafood yakitori are flame grilled and served beneath a pair of dome-shaped pavilions.
Amenities
There is plenty of fabulousness: a 25-metre, chaise-lined swimming pool and 465square-metre spa. There is also an alfresco lobby bar, a teaching kitchen for cooking classes, a surf shop, a gift boutique and a tennis court. Beachfront cabanas can be reserved for daytime lounging or private, torchlit dining. Staff-driven golf carts and tuk-tuks can be summoned for transport around the resort.
Bottom line
The first bells-and-whistles beach resort to open in southern Sri Lanka sets the bar high for other properties to follow.