I had stayed 2 nights at the Habarana Lodge 10 years ago as part of a tour of Sri Lanka, and it was one of the highlights then. Well, it didn't disappoint when I went back this year!

It feels like you're in the middle of nowhere, the rooms are in little buildings (our room covered the entire top floor of the two storey building, with terraces on both sides, and there was another room below us), it's so quiet and peaceful, the bar is lovely, the buffet fantastic (apart from the usual "Western" food, there is a fine selection of local Sri Lankan food - of course toned down for us delicate Westerners but still faaantastic!). I really can't fault it.

The rooms are huge, they have aircon, a mini-bar (we had to order the key from reception - maybe they'd seen us coming..!), a TV, seating area. All very pretty. The bathroom is clean and normal-sized.

When we went in September 2006 a whole section (incl where I stayed in 1996) was closed off for refurbishment, but we heard no building noise (mind you, we were out most of the day). Don't know when it will be finished or whether there are certain rooms that might be affected by noise - might be worth checking. Also, we were told by one of the bar staff that the hotel will reopen with a different name in the future - I think he said Cinnamon Lodge or something like that. As long as it remains as pretty, peaceful and pleasant, I'll certainly be back.

Stayed at this hotel for 2 nights whilst touring around Sri Lanka. This was the 1st hotel on our tour and we weren't disappointed. The grounds of this hotel are lovely and the lodge style rooms are equally as nice. The rooms were big and clean and staff in the hotel were very friendly and always willing to help. If you aren't a fan of creepy crawlies then this probably isn't the hotel for you. There is a fair amount of wildlife at this hotel due to the grounds it is set in compared to other hotels we stayed in. It was a common occurance to have monitor lizards sitting outside the rooms, monkeys around the pool and the odd snake slithering past you on the pavement but we feel this added to the hotel's charm. The evening buffet was really nice serving traditional food as well as western style cooking and then after dinner there was a nice cozy bar downstairs to relax in. If i ever went back to Habaranna i would definitely stay in this hotel again as opposed to any others we saw in the area.

This was the nicest hotel we stayed in on our tour. The lodge rooms were comfortable and large, the food was great (most of the places we stayed served a buffet, and this was the best range of food of any of them, lots of local dishes and plenty of veggie options). The bar in the evenings was friendly and the Lodge Special cocktail was very nice :-). The open plan, open air feel of the bar and restaurant was lovely and the hotel grounds very nice, with lots of monkeys running around. The elephant safari nearby was lovely, we thought it would be a bit naff and touristy but actually it was a really great experience, and the guide pointed out lots of the local flora and fauna as we traipsed. The elephants certainly seemed to be well cared for and happy.

Not a good idea if you have children, as they have a tendency to leave dangerous chemicals lying around the gardens, without any warning. Beyond that, unremarkable.