Grand Hotel

While the rooms may be old fashioned, this is all part of the hotel's historic cachet. It is a large, beautiful property with opulent dining areas and nightly musical entertainment in the cocktail area. Some of our fellow travellers complained about the 'step in' baths to be able to shower, an unusual sight nowadays, yet the hotel quickly supplied rubber slip mats. The buffets contained a huge variety of foods to suit everyone and again, presentation and style were faultless. The high tea is definitely a treat worth enjoying too with the chance to try four types of tea and a fine array of cakes and sandwiches. I would stay here again quite happily.

Afternoon tea is a must do ! Wonderful experience. Our waitress Niyomi was superb. Lovely afternoon.

This afternoon we were treated to the most wonderful high tea we’ve ever had. The service was excellent, especially from Niyumi, the food delicious and the setting glorious. The violinist added an extra element of pleasure to the experience. We enjoyed trying the four different cups of tea as well as three layers of tempting treats from savoury to sweet. The only disappointing things were the scones. Afterwards we were shown through various rooms on the ground floor- the piano bar, library , pool room etc and through the magnificent gardens surrounding the property. Overall it was a very memorable afternoon. The Grand Hotel is certainly grand !

Kumar was very helpful and kind to us!

Delightful staff in splendid hotel and gardens.

Awesome experience 🤩🤩
Anushka was great
Our kid enjoyed a lot

We have had the most incredible stay at The Grand Hotel. At the helm is the impeccably and welcoming professional Kumar who leads the excellent team of staff. We were made to feel so at home here and had such a luxurious experience. The food and hospitality are out of this world and you instantly feel like you’ve travelled back in time here. We cannot wait to come back soon and we want to thank all the staff for looking after us so well.

Lovely stay here and what made it so special was the impeccable service, especially thanks to Kumar and Roshan who were so kind! Highly recommend staying at this hotel as part of your Sri Lanka visit. It’s an experience in of itself.

Amazing food, awesome band, the best service.

Beautiful external building but experience inside did not meet up. Gardens fabulous. Inside loud clashing music keeping people away from bar. Service in bar bordering on rude - very unusual for Sri Lanka. Savoury food in the adjoining cafe bordering on inedible. Rooms cold.

Very disappointing. Full of promise but failed to deliver. Magnificent exterior but well below average experience. Food, friendliness and facilities well below what we experienced elsewhere on our trip. The cacophonous music is the lounges before dinner was painful to the ears. The service in the bar was bordering rude. The room was cold. Such a pity. We experienced such friendliness and interest everywhere we went, this was a low point of our trip.

This place is grand!! Beautiful old buildings in spectacular gardens.
We did tea and cake at the cafe. Anura looked after us so well and the lemon drizzle cake we had was so good!
Spoil yourself and enjoy the experience.

Came for coffee , Darsharni was wonderful. Lovely building , great history and friendly staff

This hotel is beautiful, from the amazing gardens to the historic features of its interior and exterior. Restaurants serve great food and cocktails at reasonable prices and staff are friendly, efficient and professional. It was a fantastic experience. The town was only a short walk away. My only criticism is that the bed was not the most comfortable. Otherwise it's definitely worth a stay on your Sri Lanka itinerary.

Beautiful, elegant hotel located in the centre of town. We really enjoyed staying here - very happy with our room and with the choice of facilities on offer. Great service in the bar, with the waiter remembering our order on our subsequent visit! Like many large hotels, overall the service was not as personal as we experienced in some of the places we stayed, but on the whole it was efficient and professional. Breakfast was an extensive buffet with a choice of cuisines to suit everyone - other than the coffee which was probably the worst coffee we experienced in Sri Lanka (this is clearly not necessary given that the Grand's coffee shop has some of the best coffee tasted in Sri Lanka!)
We had a disappointing meal in the Grand Thai - the restaurant was virtually empty but the table we had reserved was given to the only other people who arrived, and we were still eating our starter when we were told our main course was ready. When we had finished our starter, our main course was delivered cold - the reheated food was not great. I would not recommend.
We had a good meal in the Magnolia restaurant on our second night.
For some strange reason, the hotel only provides two small bottles of water per day - and charges for additional bottles - penny pinching and unnecessary.

Beautiful hotel with magnificent gardens. Service impeccable. Only complaint is about our room. Very dated and showing its age. Bathroom has no storage or shelving.

The building itself is stunning. The room mirror was covered in dust which questioned the cleaning standards.
Had high tea as part of our package then held prisoner in the restaurant by rude staff as they could not find the confirmation despite reception confirming this.
Overall the staff are chaos- running around looking stressed and under pressure and under delivering in front of house. One last in reception works very hard to limit the complaints.
Food displays are fantastic.
Something is very wrong at this Grand!

Lovely hotel and spacious rooms. Colonial style hotel with very accommodating staff.
The hotel gardens were immaculate and to see such a wide variety of plants and flowers all looking in tip top condition, you don’t see bedding that good in the UK

I really enjoyable bicycle riding in the countryside and up to the lovers leap waterfall also through tea plantations and small village great way to see some local life and countryside. Would recommend if you are relatively fit.!

Absolutely beautiful hotel, the most delightful welcome from Farzan who arranged a wonderful farm tour experience with Sadun, who was passionate about nature, wildlife and a fountain of knowledge and wisdom.

The room was lovely, although bath was very slippy and nearly had a few accidents in there and shower flow poor.

After a tricky start with the restaurant and my dietary requirements, the manager sorted the issue very quickly and we can’t thank them enough for their attention, kindness and support in catering for my multiple food allergies including gluten. A special thank you to the manager. Kamal who was truly wonderful and so supportive.

Afternoon tea was a very special experience and again, the team wonderful in accommodating my needs as coeliac vegetarian with multiple allergies.

The evening pianist and subsequent band were fantastic, really loved watching them and having a dance!

Hotel so well kept and gardens beautiful. A truly wonderful experience and can’t recommend this hotel enough.