There are lots of great hotels in Sri Lanka these days, but there’s still not the breadth of choice that you might find in say Thailand
The best ones can therefore get booked up quickly or can fetch some pretty high prices. A great alternative to hotels, however, is to hire a private villa, which are ideal if you’re travelling as a group or family – or just as a couple if you fancy something more chilled and private than a hotel for a few days.
For our recent Sri Lankan trip, we booked a couple of nights in a beautiful coastal home called Walatta House via Eden Villas and it made for the perfect break in between hotel stops. Founded by Jack Eden way back in 1999, Eden Villas now has a huge portfolio of luxury villas in Sri Lanka, from lakeside hideaways to modernist hilltop villas and ultra-glamorous beach houses. Each villa comes with a small team of staff, including a private chef, so you get all the benefits of hotel service but within your own private home with no other guests.
Walatta House is located on the south coast, about 10 minutes from the town of Tangalle. It’s a beautiful modernist villa right by the sea, with an open-air main living area filled with tropical plants. On one side are three bedrooms, with the main master bedroom having fold-out glass doors that lead out to the gardens, with lovely views of palm trees and the ocean down below. The structure of the house is actually integrated into the slope of the land, so it sort of sinks into the landscape under a green-planted roof, keeping the natural beauty of the place very much intact; the overall experience is like living outdoors but under cover – and with all the luxury that comes with a mega pad of course.
In the grounds surrounding the house there’s a great pool and sun loungers, as well as sofas and chairs dotted around the garden. But the real killer feature to the location is a little path that runs fairly steeply down the hill into the trees, and then up to a fence. Follow this along for about 15 seconds and you will be at your own private gate that goes directly on to a beautiful beach. It’s a real touch to be so close to the beach, and the area right by the gate is usually completely empty. If you move along to the left there is a slightly busier beach (but not usually more than a handful of people) as well as a small beachside cafe that’s great for lunch. It’s one of the best beaches we saw in Sri Lanka, so to have it on your doorstep is a real plus.
We were very happy just pottering between the house and the beach, but if you do want to go further afield for any excursions or activities, then the house team will be on hand to arrange anything you need. On booking, you’ll get access to the Eden Villas App, which you can use to customise your stay however you want, from booking private yoga teachers to live music and even a blessing from the local temple. The most activity we managed was arranging some in villa massages one evening (highly recommended) but it’s good that the options are all there if you want.
When it comes to food, the chef will ask what you want to eat during your stay from a menu of western or Sri Lankan options. You then just pay for the ingredients and the team will head off to the shops to stock up. We went full Sri Lankan on the food front, tucking into egg hoppers and local fruits for breakfast and a huge spread of curries and rice for dinner both nights. It’s often said that the best food in Sri Lanka is found in people’s homes rather than out in restaurants and this definitely rang true here – the curries especially were absolutely up there with the best we had on our whole trip.
We really enjoyed the Sri Lanka villa experience and would really recommend giving it a go, especially if you value privacy, peace, and quiet. With its prime beachside location and beaut interiors, Walatta House is a great choice, but there’s loads of others to choose from too.
You can see the whole collection and book at edenvillas.com