elspey
I've been meaning to leave a review for Cafe Ceylon since we stayed there last July (2015). We stayed in Jasmine Cottage with our three little boys aged 5, 4 & 2. It was the perfect place for us as it was near a beautiful beach without being directly on it (so no need to worry about our kids disappearing into the waves!) with a huge garden that the boys enjoyed exploring. The 2-bedroom cottage gave us privacy as a family without being cut off from civilisation as the restaurant was fabulous. The food was wonderful and reasonably priced and the breakfast was amazing with fresh papaya and homemade bread and jam. ||||Some of the reviews here are unfair. Cafe Ceylon is not 5-star, nor does it claim to be. The price is pretty much spot on for what it provides. It is pretty, comfortable and charming with hot water and ACs in the bedrooms - what more do you need? We didn't want to be in one of these huge, character-less 5 star resorts where you could be anywhere in the world. We wanted to experience and explore Sri Lanka in earnest, and Cafe Ceylon was certainly the ideal place to do this from.||||The staff were also charming and extremely helpful. Chandra, the housekeeper who came everyday, put us in touch with her nephew who was a tuk tuk driver. He was absolutely lovely and took us all over the place for less than a third of what other tuk tuk drivers were asking for. He even took us to Galle for the day, showed us around, waited for us outside the restaurant where had lunch and brought us back - all for around £5!!! Obviously we gave him a huge tip as I couldn't believe he asked us for so little!||||Sadly, we had to cut our break there short (only five days into our three week stay) as my father passed away unexpectedly. I can't thank Fiona, the owner, enough for her understanding during what was the most devastating experience of my life. She helped arrange a taxi to take me to the airport as soon as I received the news that my father was dying and thanks to that, I made it back to the UK in time to say goodbye. The rest of the staff were extremely helpful and rallied round to help my husband who was left behind for another day or two with three small children until we could arrange more flights to the UK. Thankfully, he and the children still managed to have a lovely time visiting Koggala lake and the nearby turtle hatchery. ||||All in all, a lovely place to stay with charming staff and great food :-)