We stayed at the Cinnamon Lodge Habarana for five of an eleven day visit to Sri Lanka and it was our favourite hotel. This is more of a complex than a hotel with individual buildings with a ground floor apartment and top floor apartment all interlinked by narrow lighted paths. Walking from your room to the front desk or restaurant area feels more like a walk in the park than anything else. The complex is intertwined with the natural environment meaning there is an abundance of wildlife around of the curious and cute rather than creepy crawly variety. We actually changed our itinerary to skip a couple of activities in order to spend more time on the grounds of the hotel. We spent one afternoon in the organic farm/butterfly garden which my girlfriend absolutely adored and another walking along the lake where we saw a variety of kingfishers, storks, one hawk, woodpeckers and many other species of birds, as well as lots of monkeys of course. The room itself was very spacious, about four times the size of an equivalent that you would pay for in most European hotels with the same category. The room was nicely decorated and clean and the bathroom also spacious. There are a large number of grounds keeping staff sweeping up the leaves and keeping the place looking immaculate, every single one of them greets you with a genuine smile as you pass by. The front desk was very helpful in supplying me with small change, advice and free DVDs which we never got around to watching. There was also a wedding being hosted at the hotel whilst we were there which was a bright and colourful event featuring elephants and traditional drummers. At breakfast we were often visited by the local wildlife but without it ever being intrusive. Opportunist monkeys will sometimes leap onto an outdoors table after guests have left to steal a bread roll before a waiter has a chance to clear the table, but that's just part of the fun. You can also expect to see lots of squirrels and birds in the trees that line the swimming pool. The pool itself is very clean which surprised me given that it is an outside pool prone to lots of bugs and falling leaves, none of which were evident in the two occasions I took a dip. The restaurant was delightful and the buffet is essentially divided into four plentiful areas. The first is a glass pane, chilled room that offers an artistic selection of cakes and treats in the evening or yogurts, fruits and cereals in the morning. Then the grill area where fresh food is prepared as you wait. This is mostly Western dishes such as omlette's, pasta dishes, stir fry noodles etc. Then you have your row of warm trays and pots serving mostly rice, noodles and varieties of curry and finally another area serving artisan salads, pastries, cold meats, cheeses etc. The waiters are always friendly, never imposing and there is a large number of them meaning your glass is never empty or you're never kept waiting to sign for your bill. Overall, a very satisfying experience with no gripes or quibbles of any kind. The only service we didn't use was the spa although it looked very nice and was modestly priced and the hotel tours because we had already arranged those through our driver/guide.

The Cinnamon Lodge is located in a wonderful park very well mainteined with marvellous huge trees.
It has a large swimming pool surrounded by beautiful palmas on which sometimes it is possible to see monkeys jumping from one tree to another one.
In the open restaurant there is a big buffet with many different sri lankan very spiced specialities. There is a refrigerated room for fruit and desserts. From the restaurant it is possible to admire the pool and the park. In the morning, it is easy to make breakfast with squirrels coming from the top of the trees sorrounding the pool.
De luxe suites are located in very nice cottages disseminated in the park. In the morning the wake up call is provided around at 7 by very funny birds. Air conditioner in the rooms are quite old and noisy in the night.

This is a beautiful hotel where all the accommodation is in "chalets" spread throughout he grounds. The "chalets" are two storeys high and we had a top floor room. The room was magnificent almost a suite in size and took up the whole of the top floor. It had everything one could require, a huge bed, several chairs and a sofa, a dining table, a dressing table and good sized wardrobe. There was a safety deposit box and a fridge/mini bar at no extra charge, there were tea and coffee making facilities. Bath robes and slippers were provided and an iron and ironing board. The electrical sockets took Sri Lankan plugs, English plugs and two pin plugs so adaptors were not needed. Everything worked well including the air conditioning. The large bathroom had a bath and a walk-in shower. We had furnished balconies on both sides of the room which ran the whole length of the room, never had such large balconies anywhere!
The staff were splendid, efficient, polite and always smiling. Nothing was too much trouble.
The dining room is in the main building and provides a range of very good food to suit all tastes. There is a "cool" room where desserts, fruit, cheeses and cold meats are kept. I particularly enjoyed smoked salmon and cream cheese for breakfast. The dining room is not fully enclosed and a man on the roof keeps the monkeys away!
The grounds are very well kept and there is a lovely lake. Birds and monkeys abound and there is plenty of other wildlife too.
The pool area is lovely with plenty of loungers and parasols. The pool itself is large and rectangular and I had one of the best swims ever in lovely warm water.
Having said all this you may wonder why my overall rating is only 4 not 5 and why Sleep Quality is 3 not 5 in spite of a very comfortable bed. The answer is loud Western pop music! Although our chalet was some distance from the main building I was kept awake by this. It also spoiled the peace and tranquillity of the setting and seemed totally inappropriate in Sri Lanka, such a shame.