The Lakeside Hotel at Nuwarawewa

This property offered value for money - it was cheap. In its heyday, it must have been a very nice hotel but maintenance has fallen behind over the years. The common areas are fine but the rooms and exterior/grounds are very tired and badly need to be updated. Perhaps the owners can't afford it - there were only 4 guests booked in on the night we stayed.

Absolutely ugly thing hotel.com has done by booking a hotel which is reserved for quarantine travellers.

When we reached hotel, hotel staff didn’t allow us to enter as it’s reserved for quarantine people only. What a stupid joke of a service your company has done. We have been stranded without a hotel.

You should have not accepted the booking if the hotel is reserved for quarantine people.

I will NOT use your service again.

Room wasn't ready on time and check out also got delayed as only one person at the Service Desk to attend all guests.

The hotel was quiet and in a peaceful setting. Our rooms were very dark as there was bamboo in front of the windows and the first night a huge cockroach joined me in the bathroom. The front desk didn't seem particularly concerned about this when I complained. Communication with staff generally was very difficult due to poor English, a couple of staff members seemed quite pleasant but a lot were indifferent bordering on sullen.
We ate at the restaurant both nights - the vegetarian Sri Lankan curry I had the first night was very good but the other dishes were very disappointing.
My husband believes he left a wallet with quite a bit of money in it in our room but it wasn't able to be located.

The property was not at all what we expected, and not at all as described here on Expedia. I would describe it more as an upgraded hostel. There were no tours or assistance with finding tours, as the brochure in the room stated. The front desk lady way over quoted us for a tuk tuk, then later stated that she didn’t. The food was subpar, and the meal we were served (Sri Lankan curry) was not curry at all. We were not comfortable in the facility and so left after only one day even though we paid for 2 days. I would only suggest this place if you just want a place to lay your head, without any amenities.

Nice hôtel, central, very welcoming, helpful and smiling staff.

we stayed at the hotel on NYE so we partook in the hotel’s special gala dinner. It was a buffet but very well catered with a great variety of Sri Lankan and western food which was freshly made, regularly replenished and delicious. We have loved the local cuisine on our trip but it was a treat to have fresh salads, smoked salmon and readymade flambé desserts. The breakfast was also a buffet. Not your average buffet - everything was fresh and tasty! The room was compact but comfortable. The bathroom was quite small but like the room, spotless and functional. Hot water, ac, good WiFi and very helpful and attentive staff. Great value for money and in a lovely location close to town but next to a lake with peace and quiet.

Great pool and nice surroundings. Breakfast very good but leftovers are clearly used for lunch and dinner. Much better choices away from the hotel to eat however hotel itself fine for bed and breakfast.

We stayed a couple of nights and enjoyed using the hotel’s free bikes to cycle round the old town. Staff were very friendly and helpful. Food was okay, nothing spectacular. Room was good.

Very warm and formal Sri Lankan welcome. Staff very friendly and eager to please. We had booked one room, a triple, pre-paid through Hotels.com, but another person joined us late in our trip planning, so we had to book a whole second room. (Son's new girlriend.) Rate was higher for that second room, but not obscenely more, which was nice. (And the staff was very apologetic for this.)

Advantages: Hotel provides driver accommodation. Food (the breakfast buffet with Sri Lankan and Western choices) is outstanding. Pool shows its age, but it clean and pleasant. Free use of bikes to ride around the sacred sites in Anuradhapura or along the nicely graveled bank of the wewa (artificial lake/tank) on which hotel is situated. We did this at sunset and it was lovely.

Disadvantages: extremely poor wi-fi. We were happy by and large to be out of touch with the rest of the world, but one does need to check things from time to time, or obtain information about, e.g., restaurants or sightseeing. It was a primitive web-login based system that frequently disconnected and got slower the longer you were connected until connection to pages timed out. The hotel should fix this. Also, shower water took 15 minutes to warm up. That's not a deal-breaker, by any means, as the rooms were pleasant and the whole experience nice.

Because of its formal professionalism amongst the staff, the hotel has a "colonial" feel even if the decor reminded my of the 1970s.

Great staff, excellent food, decent accommodations. Wifi Awful!

Good, but one who manage the room shairing is not done her job perfect. other than that is ok.

Overall good, but please make sure to ask for clean towels. They have given us very dirty looking towels.

A decidedly mixed experience. Comfortable room, friendly staff, great food, and arranged an excellent tour of the ancient city. But hot water was out two days and the safari they arranged for us was very disappointing: the tracker spoke almost no English and seemed pretty disinterested in looking for animals. On top of that there was a band playing so loud one afternoon, the room windows were rattling. Multiple requests to turn down the vilume were ignored.

The hotel was fine, I guess, but we cut our stay early. The pool was nothing special, the rooms weren't as clean as they could be, and all the food (even the things that are normally served hot) were cold. We won't be going back.

Phenomenal service, excellent food, and a lovely hotel.

This hotel is perfectly decent for a night or two. The room was comfortable although the water pressure was a bit variable. The pool is nice and you can see the lake from the poolside. Staff were polite and helpful. My partner left her watch at a previous hotel and the lady on reception rang a couple of places and arranged to have it sent on to our next place. They could do with someone meeting you on arrival and there are were lots of little flies on the food at the buffet. If I stayed again I'd probably eat out but all in all a decent place to stay when you've seen enough temples and stupas!

A pleasant and comfortable hotel. Pool fine, massage good. Little English spoken, no local area information given. Alacarte restaurant for lunch, buffet breakfast and dinner. Food fine.

excellent hotel sad we had only one day. easy reach of town centre, ancient temples and royal ruins

Excellent staff and service, a lovely atmosphere and amazing food.
Room was good, could of been a bit cleaner. The balcony over looking the grounds was lovely.
My only complaint was the strange goings on, on the lane adjacent to the hotel and lake and the same 4 songs playing on repeat the whole stay
Apart from that highly recommended