Fort Edge Retreat formally The Fort Edge - Unawatuna is proud to have been serving guests internationally for over 2 years. Our boutique hotel set in the tropical jungle and paddy fields of Southern Sri Lanka. We are a small team of Western and Sri Lankan hospitality professionals whose aim is to make your holiday or break as as enjoyable and memorable as possible. We strive to offer a magical experience and aim to exceed the official 3 star rating we have been awarded with 5 star service.
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Mid-range
Great View
Languages Spoken
English
Location
Sri Gunarathana Road Kalahe Kalahe, Galle 80000 Sri Lanka
A 20 minute Tuk Tuk ride from Galle and we where in the countryside driving through paddy fields with the sound of birds. Our room/bungalow had the countryside view and the sunrise. A spacious room, with a very good fan and a/c with Glass windows. We had a Fridge with water and a couple of fizzy drinks on arrival. A great shower. Unfortunately the bed was far to hard for us, I personally felt numb in the night and stiff in the morning. The infinity pool was very nice with trees all around. Shade on the loungers with cushions and towels provided. Monkeys can be seen in the trees. There where mostly families here but we had a quiet few days, only 9 rooms you can have the replace to yourself and it’s heaven. We used the pool in the evening and just us in it. We ate 3 nights here and the food was very good, great service, traditional and western and the same with breakfast. There where big fans over the table to keep away the mosquitoes while you play cards. Only 5 min Tuk Tuk ride 500rs to Unawatuna or Jungle beach. Big signage to find your way back, we enjoyed the adventure. The wifi in the rooms was ok and did manage to send photos home. No loud music here or parties which is perfect.
They have plans to extend which would be a shame as the title suggests it is a ‘retreat’. Staff are lovely here, the manager was alway around to ask questions and phone a Tuk Tuk.
We enjoyed our stay, thank you.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Amazing place to stay. Best value for money we have experienced in our 3 weeks of travelling through Sri Lanka. We came here to rest at the end of our travels and encountered an oasis of luxury and peace. The rooms are big, clean and have an awesome warm shower which does not run out of warm water. AC works properly. The pool is amazing, surrounded by some trees which create enough shade. This time of year some leaves will fall in but the staff maintains it almost every hour so this is no issue. The breakfast was delicious and prepared to the guests wishes by their capable chef.
Please note that this place has a 4.5 star overall score despite the recent 1 star reviews. The recent bad reviews are written by people of the same group who left just before we did. I cannot imagine the manager lashing out like they described, as we experienced him to be a very friendly man who knows all too well how to treat his guests.
Let's put it this way: I was not there to witness this big groups experience, but the staff was still frantically cleaning up after them when we arrived. Who discards of used diapers in the garden next to the pool?
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Fort edge is around a 10 minute tuk tuk ride from the centre of unawatuna making it a very peaceful and relaxing place to spend your holiday. You can see Monkeys in the early morning or late afternoon as well as land monitors and lots of nice birds.
The manager, Chandana, and the other employees are very attentive and nothing is too much trouble. They helped us arrange trips to the tea plantation and udawalawe national park, ensuring we were getting a good price for both. For breakfast you can chose between a western or Sri Lankan breakfast and we had a mix over the 2 weeks we spent here. There was a different juice or smoothie every morning along with a plate of fresh fruit. Followed by either fried egg or omelette with toast and your choice of tea or coffee. We also asked if we could have buffalo curd a few mornings which was arranged for us no problem. The Sri Lankan breakfast was amazing fish curry, dhal, coconut sambol and string hoppers. Even though we normally opted to go out and about at dinner time Our dinner before we left was incredible with a traditional Sri Lankan spread of curries (potato, dhal, fish, aubergine, beans, banana blossom and jackfruit) along with a platter of fried fresh fish and rice.
We had one treble room and one double room. The treble room was huge with a massive balcony, kitchen and bathroom. There was a great view out the window in the bedroom as well as from the balcony. The rooms were cleaned regularly and to a high standard.
Thank you for an amazing stay and we hope to see you soon,
The Miles Family
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Date of stay: January 2022Trip type: Traveled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We enjoyed very much our staying this hotel. Hotel was clean, quiet and comfortable. Room was clean and staff was friendly. It is perfect If you wanna stay peace and quiet. You can rent scooter here because hotel is little bit far from beach. Scooter is cheap. Nice pool to get relaxed.
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We stayed for 1 night at Fort Edge retreat while we explored the Galle area of the south coast. The hotel is beautifully situated amongst nature and you wake to the sounds of birds and monkeys. We had a room for 3 which was basic but catered for all our needs for the night. Rooms have fan/ac, shower, tv and balcony. Breakfast was superb with home made waffles, buffalo curd and your choice of omelette. Very good value for money. Some of the hotel is in need of a little tlc and parts are unfinished, however, I’d imagine this is highly likely to be due to the economic crisis and lack of tourists. Highly recommended despite this.
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Asantha Jayasinghe, Owner at Fort Edge Retreat
Responded Feb 2, 2023
Thank you very much for your lovely comments I really appreciate it. It's much valued for our future, thank you very much again Wish you all the best
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Great place to relax. Beautiful sorroundings. Very kind and nice people who work there, making it a great stay. Also good sri lankan food. The resort is located a bit outside of galle, between beautiful ride fields, forrest/jungle, and was very beautiful
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Date of stay: January 2022
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
It was an unforgettable holiday at Fort Edge Retreat. Hospitality was at its peak from the Manager to the lowest level of staff. They were very accommodative with all our requests. In spite of power cuts, we enjoyed ourselves very much. Food was average, but tasty. It was indeed Value for money. If I do not mention about the Manager, Chandana , it is a great failure on my part. The success of this property is Chandana. He is such a charming personality who can handle any situation. So, my message to all Sri Lankans is this an ideal place for you and your family.
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Date of stay: September 2022
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip:Â Best view is from the Rooms at the Entrance
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Asantha Jayasinghe, Owner at Fort Edge Retreat
Responded Oct 7, 2022
Really appreciate and much thank you for your feedback
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Confortable and peaceful hotel. Beautiful place to stay, lovely views and pool. The owner was very kind when we ask to stay one more night. Good option if you want to relax not so far from Unawatuna beach. The breakfast is tasty and varied. I will recommend 100%!
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Date of stay: February 2020Trip type: Traveled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Our stay was one the best in Sri Lanka. Staff is incredibly kind and they took good care of us,like we are part of their family. The cook is absolutely fabulous, his food was so good, we are going to miss it! We will come back with a great pleasure to spend more time in Fort Edge Retreat.
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Date of stay: January 2020Trip type: Traveled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Let's start with the positives. The food here was excellent once you realised that you could ignore the menu and request early in the day what you wanted cooked for you in the evening and then staff would go out on motorbikes to buy it. Breakfast was also good. The Cook/ catering manager was also very helpful indeed and made a genuine and effective effort to ensure guests were happy.
Unfortunately the hotel does not live up to the image it has created on it's own website, and the reviews on TA. Why is that? well if you look carefully at their own website you will see that it focuses a lot on soft furnishings, cushions, carpets, lamps, petals etc all of which presumably were returned to the photographer after the photo - shoot. As regards the TA reviews many of these are from travellers who have posted few reviews often of cheaper hotels.
This was the most disappointing property we stayed in during our 25 day tour of S-L, and the only one where we arrived, sat down on the bed and discussed whether we should try and move somewhere better, but we decided against it and made the best of what we had and it grew on us. So in brief: - dated furniture, with some broken parts and mattresses which were slightly too large for the bed - garden view rooms with an outlook over a patch of bare soil , a tree and a wall (website shows either pool views or views over paddy fields which are not the views from four of the rooms) - Pool furniture could do with upgrade - Room cleaning of bathroom poor- see photo's - Website refers to wood fired Pizza oven, it was there but never used - Booking.com clearly stated that the hotel accepted credit cards, but right from Check In the manager claimed that the machine wasn't working due to phone line down, despite this he was able to answer when I called the hotel from my local mobile. Credit card was finally accepted for payment! - Hotel is still being built in places - TV doesn't work on the channels you are likely to want unless staff go to the village and top up a pre-pay satellite TV card and then re-programe etc, a process which may take an hour each day
Having said all of that, the staff were very helpful and we enjoyed ourselves visiting Galle and local Tea factory. We resisted the hard sell for whale watching.
It wasn't a bad price $97 B&B, but probably should have been nearer $60 to justify value for money. So overall 3 stars is more than fair I'm afraid.
Overall I think it would benefit from a) being finished, b) having maybe $10k spent on upgrading rooms and pool furniure c) the owner being present all the time
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Date of stay: February 2019
Rooms
Location
Service
Trip type: Traveled as a couple
Room Tip:Â Pool view or paddy field view rooms are best
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Yes. in our Suite Room have private kitchen and we have a large size kitchen with all electric equipment . some times we'll give permission to use to our guests on there request.
There are more places to choose from in the Galle area.
PRICE RANGE
$43 - $63 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
The Fort Edge
LOCATION
Sri LankaSouthern ProvinceGalle DistrictGalle
NUMBER OF ROOMS
10
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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Are there any historical sites close to Fort Edge Retreat?
Many travelers enjoy visiting Galle Dutch Fort (3.4 miles), Old Town of Galle and its Fortifications (3.2 miles), and Galle Fort Clock Tower (3.4 miles).
