The Wallawwa
Negombo

The Wallawwa, located just a 15 minutes drive from Colombo airport, is a luxurious private hideaway and is a perfect stopover for a beginning or an end of a holiday. Standing on a completely secluded location, this award-winning 18-bedroom country house hotel is designed around a central courtyard pool, with spacious interiors, columned walkways and tropical gardens. The Verandah is the resort restaurant serving a la carte Asian fusion cuisine at tables looking out over the 200-year old tropical gardens. Negombo has a lot to offer for day trips - the town’s Catholic churches, Dutch fort and lively fish markets, a mangrove-fringed lagoon and network of old Dutch canals to be explored by boat or aboard a kayak.

The rooms and suites blend the old and new, evocative of an 18th century manor house with elegant interiors, four-poster beds, antiques features such as vintage phones yet all fused with contemporary touches of bold prints and modern comforts. There are 4 room categories, Wallawwa Bedroom, Garden Suite, Family Suite and Mountbatten Suite. The rooms are spacious, have high-ceilings, four poster beds, and retro-chic style. The dishes here are created from local seasonal ingredients, many of which are grown in the resort's kitchen garden. Z Spa is a welcome addition to the resort amenities providing treatments for pre and post flight relaxation, as well a menu of traditional spa treatments including Asian massages, scrubs and wraps.

One of the most enjoyable ways to discover this city is on foot, touring the fort area and bustling Pettah bazaar district. Also not far away is Colombo proper which offers high-end shopping, dining and contemporary art galleries. This is the perfect opportunity to do some shopping if at the end of your holiday so that you carry it only to the airport on the way home, rather than loading yourself up with souvenirs at the start of your trip! You will be sure to buy an item or two and then can return to The Wallawwa after a hard day of retail therapy.

To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.
Bill Bryson