Sri Lanka’s latest beach resort – Kalutara – is delightfully located between the winding Kalu Ganga and the shimmering azure sea. The British considered it the Richmond of Ceylon – a garden city, due to its picturesque location on the banks of the river where it meets the sea.
This town is now best known for the famous Gangatilaka Viharaya, where travellers stop to make their offerings at the Buddhist temple. A twelve-acre coconut plantation nearby was chosen as the site for a luxury hotel-by-the-sea, the Tangerine Beach Hotel, with a unique and natural landscaping and swaying coconut palms stretching up to an expansive tropical beach frontage. The cosy bedrooms all have private balconies commanding a superb view and are centrally air conditioned and equipped with telephones as well as piped music. You could choose a standard room, deluxe room, luxury suite or the Presidential Suite-whichever suits your m and purse. Amongst the numerous facilities for the comfort of their guests provided by the hotel are a 24-hour service coffee shop, a supper club, a large swimming pool, a kiddies’ park, and a shopping arcade.
The latest trend on our local beaches-windsurfing-and other water sports, as well as tennis, squash, badminton and also indoor games are some of the various activities and forms of recreation available at the hotel.
Tangerine offers you all this on a weekend package for only Rs. 850/-+ 10% per person. Or you could drive up for their sumptuous Sunday buffet lunch which is only Rs. 150/-per person or the Saturday barbecue and dinner dance which is Rs. 15/-per person.
However, if you fancy a change of scenery and yearn for the cool mountain air among the mist-covered hills of Nuwara Eliya you could choose to stay at the Grand Hotel which is an associate hotel of the Tangerine Beach. The Grand has the distinction of being a one-time residence of the former British Governor Sir Edward Barnes. It is a little bit of England in this tropical isle and has an olde world charm to appeal to any holiday-maker.
The hotel now has 114 rooms, which include two luxury suites, and is presently being refurbished. With the face-lift e historical ” Barnes Hall ” receives and with the addition of a discotheque and a coffee shop, it is unlikely you could want for more in the way of a holiday in the hill country.
Tangerine Beach Hotels lld. offers you two choices of holidays: at the Tangerine Beach Hotel with the rhythm of the waves lapping on the beach and the sea breeze in your hair, or at the Grand Hotel with its mountain air and the surrounding blue-green hills. Whichever you choose you can be sure of good service, comfortable rooms and plenty of fun-filled activity and excitement.
