Land's End Bungalow Matara Sri Lanka - Oceanic Delivery Device - Hotel / Holiday Villa

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Matara has some great beaches. What it does not have is some of the best accommodation. Hotels in and around Matara are basic at best and do not use its best feature. Polhena Reef Garden Hotel, for example, is on a really good beach. But you can't see the beach from the room and you have to cross the (asphalt) road to swim.

Which is why I was excited to be invited to stay at Land's End Bungalow in Matara, run by a friend of my mom's. I was told it was on the beach and that it was in Matara. I didn't need to know anything else; I bundled up my wife in our old rented Mazda and trundled on down.


The bungalow (LKR 8,000 for the whole bungalow) is right on the beach at the end of SK Town Road. It has three double bedrooms - no airconditioning - and 3 bathrooms - one with hot water. The furniture is antique, the design is modern. There's also a smaller bungalow (LKR 6,000) with 2 bedrooms and one bathroom on the other side road also right in front of the sea.

In front of the bungalows is a nice garden with coconut trees and an raised seating area to hang out in. The garden overlooks the pretty good beach which is usually also pretty deserted: on a Sunday evening just before New Year, I was the only person swimming in it. The water is pretty shallow too: I had to walk out quite distance before the water came up to my chest.

Food is basic Sri Lankan - you have to bring your own groceries and the staff will cook them. Oddly, enough the security guard (guy) made better food than the cook (gal). He told me he didn't like to tell people he could cook because then he'd have to. Mahattaya, dannawa ne rupiyal 10,000 kata food city eken kema arang uyanna kiyayi. Ah, the Lankan work ethic!

The bungalow has a nice collection of books ranging from modern authors like Harlan Coben to those practically forgotten - I read Captain Blood for the first time there. Apart from that, it has no other amenities - no AC, no TV, no nothing.

But none of it matters. In Sri Lanka, most beach hotels make it so difficult to get to the sea - walk through the restaurant, cross the road, etc - and most other beach hotels have pretty crappy beaches - I love Beruwela and Bentota but the beach there is not great by any means.

Land's End Bungalow, by contrast, is a nicely designed, almost criminally low priced on ramp to the sea. Like a a gigantic crack pipe full of salt water, it is one of the most efficient oceanic delivery devices I've been to.

Hotel Name:Land's End Bungalow
Address: SK Town Rd, Matara Sri Lanka
Directions: Go past Matara Town on the Dikwella/Hambantota road and, before the Ruhunu campus, you'll see SK Town Road on your right. There's a hotel called surf-lanka on the road so you'll see the sign.
Phone: +94 777 332812
Rates (full board): LKR 8,000 for the 3 bedroom/3 bathroom bungalow and LKR 6,000 for the 2 bedroom/1 bathroom bungalow.
More Photos: Visit Land's End Bungalow Matara Sri Lanka on Picasaweb
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